Bienvenue! Bienvenido! Willkommen!
Breckenbrough pupils usually take French in KS2 and KS3 and may choose it as a GCSE or A Level subject. We also offer Spanish and German on an ad hoc basis.
We actively promote a sense of achievement amongst Breck boys, building self-confidence and developing social skills, giving them the tools and skills to become able language learners. We focus mainly on oral skills, learning through games and conversations, but we also tackle more demanding grammatical and academic work. We take a flexible approach, building as much as we can on the pupils’ centres of interest.
Bringing languages to life
In the past few years, the school has taken groups of boys on trips to Belgium and France, and we aim to give as many boys as possible the chance to experience life and culture in a foreign country at some point in their time at Breckenbrough School. Trips are carefully planned and well-staffed, and allow all participants to go out of their comfort zone in a safe context.
In our globalised world, languages are more important than ever! Learning a foreign language develops literacy skills, supporting and reinforcing first language learning. It also trains youngsters to think flexibly and opens up their horizons to the world beyond.
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.” Nelson Mandela
Language graduates are the third most employable graduates (after medicine and law) and can work in a wide range of fields. Employers welcome even a basic knowledge of foreign languages. You can work in fields as varied as the police, the army, finance, industry, or academia.
Languages are also, of course, a huge advantage when travelling and experiencing other cultures first hand.
Our curriculum is wide, varied and flexible. Here is a flavour of the topics studied.
Me and my pets, The Week Before Christmas, My favourite hobbies.
Year 7: Welcome, My Year, My home.
Year 8: In and around town, What I eat (and don’t eat!), Fashion, The Grand Tour.
Year 9: Spooky Tales, The Media, Things we do to our body, At the cinema.
We aim to develop speaking and writing skills further and prepare students for the AQA GCSE exam.
Topic 1: Identity and culture.
Topic 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest.
Topic 3: Current and future study and employment.
All 4 key areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing are assessed. New to the GCSE syllabus from September 2016 is translation both from English into French and French into English. Controlled assessment disappears.