“Kolik jazyků znáš, tolikrát jsi člověkem.“ (Czech Proverb)
“We are fortunate to speak a global language but, in a smart and competitive world, exclusive reliance on English leaves the UK vulnerable and dependent on the linguistic competence and the goodwill of others.” Nuffield Language Enquiry 2002
Have you ever really considered why language learning is important?
Here at Newport Girls' High School, we are privileged to teach French and German to girls who are very aware of both their surroundings and of different cultures. We are living in a forever-shrinking world – new technology certainly opens the doors for direct contact with other countries but this will never replace true, face-to-face contact with our neighbours. Other nationalities learn and use English because it is practical to do so, but we, as English speakers should not expect them to use it all the time. Linguistic ability amongst future medics, engineers, politicians, journalists, entrepreneurs, lawyers etc serves to make them stand out from the crowd and succeed in a demanding and competitive workplace.
At Newport Girls' High School, we hope to share our passion for languages and encourage the discovery of new cultures and countries. Not to learn languages is to be ignorant of the world around us. As teachers, we try to enthuse and engage our pupils through a range of fun, interactive and creative activities as well as more traditional methods. The key to any language is grammar and once mastered, it provides the stepping-stone to the world. We have four language rooms and five dedicated, specialist members of staff.
We believe that every student should have the opportunity to participate in visits abroad and experience using the language in real life and run regular trips including a visit to the Chateau du Broutel near Abbeville (Year 8) a trip to Nice and to Berlin (Year 10). We offer extra-curricular language opportunities through our Chinese, Italian, Japanese and Spanish clubs and participate in competitions, such as with the British Language Champions and the Linguistics Olympiad whenever the opportunity arises. We also host the Onatti theatre group who perform a play in French or German to Key Stage 3 pupils.
We celebrate European Day of Languages every September with a variety of events in school. In the past this has included a multi-lingual cake sale, treasure hunts, quizzes and lots of prizes. For the first time in 2018 we also celebrated the International Day of Francophonie by encourage other departments across the school to include French in their lessons for the day.
We truly believe that learning and using foreign languages leads to mutual understanding, to a sense of global citizenship and to personal fulfillment; the ability to understand and communicate in another language is a lifelong skill for education, employment and leisure in this country and throughout the world. As the old Czech proverb says:
“You live a new life for every new language you speak.” (Czech Proverb)
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Faculty Staff
The faculty comprises a strong team of experienced practitioners who are all qualified to teach more than one language. We are delighted to have two native language speakers (M. Audouin and Frau Rosbach) among our team, both of whom teach their native tongue to A-level. To ensure the highest standards in teaching & learning, most of the faculty specialise in one particular language.M. Audouin joins NGHS in September 2022 from a Language College in Essex. He completed his PGCE at NGHS in the late 1990s and, after a career teaching around the UK and abroad, he has returned to NGHS.
Monsieur C. Audouin Head of Faculty, French Mrs T Fujii Second in Faculty (KS3 MFL Lead)
Teacher of German & FrenchMiss R Crevis Teacher of German & French Mrs H Furnival Teacher of French Mrs L Payne Teacher of German Mr S Matlak Teacher of German and French The nominated link governor to Modern Languages is Mrs Katherine Evans.
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Faculty Vision / Intent
The MFL Faculty teaches French and German. We aim to create and develop enthusiastic and successful learners. Students who study languages at NGHS should be curious about the world around them and enjoy learning about how that world is shaped by languages and the people who use them. We are committed to establishing a learning environment that encourages students to feel confident about taking risks and developing informed opinions about the world around them.Students will have opportunities to independently extend their skills beyond the classroom and therefore prepare for life where they belong in a global market place. All students will be offered the opportunity to visit France or Germany and will have the opportunity to practise the language in authentic environments, and will be offered several opportunities to find out about how learning a language can be useful for their further study or careers. Furthermore all students will have contact with a native speaker of German for the whole of the summer term.
Fundamentally, our team want to inspire, foster and nurture a love of foreign languages and a greater respect for the cultural appreciation of the countries in which they are spoken.
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Faculty Development Plan 2023-2024
During the academic year 2023-2024, the Faculty will focus on:- Applying Rosenshine's Principles to maximise the impact of assessment in MFL and improve reporting for students, staff and parents
- Ensuring all students can access trips and benefit from an enriching culture of worldwide experiences at NGHS
- Fostering stronger Sixth Form connections with previous NGHS linguists to augur success for Year 12/13
- Demonstrating our success and further developing partnerships in Germany, France and Japan.
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Curriculum Sequencing
Please use the links below to access the curriculum sequencing documents:
Curriculum Sequencing KS3-5 French Curriculum Sequencing KS3-5 German As well as the curriculum sequencing documents above, at NGHS, we produce a short curriculum summary for each year group. We call these 'Learning Overviews' and the primary audience is for students/parents to know how the curriculum is mapped in a particular year group.
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Learning Overviews KS3-KS5
Please use the links below to access the Learning Overviews for each key stage:
Learning Overview - Year 7 French Learning Overview - Year 7 German
Learning Overview - Year 8 French
Learning Overview - Year 8 German Learning Overview - Year 9 French Learning Overview - Year 9 German Learning Overview - Year 10 German Learning Overview - Year 10 French Learning Overview - Year 11 French Learning Overview - Year 11 German Learning Overview - A-level French Learning Overview - A-level German -
Examination Board Links
Please use the links below to access the correct external exam board websites for each qualification offered by this faculty:
GCSE
GCSE French (AQA) GCSE German (AQA) A-level
A-level French (AQA) A-level German (AQA) -
Faculty Accommodation
The Faculty is mainly housed in three classrooms in our Reception building. These were constructed in 2018 and boast the latest in classroom technology. Light, airy and purpose-built, these are ideal spaces for language learning. The faculty also uses a fourth classroom in the main teaching block, particularly for A-level smaller-class teaching as well as making use of the Reading Room for oral language lessons.
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Wider Opportunities
The faculty prides itself on opportunities for pupils to practise their language learning abroad.
In 2022-2023 we offered:
- A visit to the German Christmas Market in Birmingham for Year 10 students.
- A cultural visit to Northern France for Year 8 students.
- A cultural visit to Boppard in Germany for Year 8 students.
- A cultural visit to Paris-Euro Disney-Amiens for Year 9 & 10 students.
- A Japanese Club for Year 7 students.
- A Spanish Club for all Years in the Autumn Term.
- Support in German for KS4 and KS5 classes from two students from Wuppertal University https://www.uni-wuppertal.de/en/
- A talk from a former alumni who had studied French and Law.
- In addition, we run language workshops in Curriculum Enrichment Week and invite guest speakers to talk about careers using languages.
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Relevant website links
The Faculty recommends students use the following websites to aid their learning:For French:
https://www.wordreference.com/
https://www.reverso.net/text_translation.aspx?lang=EN
https://www.languagesonline.org.uk/Hotpotatoes/frenchindex.html#gsc.tab=0
https://www.instagram.com/nghs_mfl/ (our MFL Instagram page)
Key Stage 3:
Key Stage 4:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zhsvr82
Key Stage 5:
For German:
All Key Stages:
https://dict.leo.org/german-english/
https://www.reverso.net/text_translation.aspx?lang=EN
https://german.net/?fbclid=IwAR2jCi1kJPd614op02bsT52r5R-cppXf-CxrHKzXZ_JsJDvhW4ZjKyW7oec
https://www.languagesonline.org.uk/Hotpotatoes/germanindex.html#gsc.tab=0
Key Stage 3:
https://www.thefablecottage.com/german
Key Stage 4:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zhsvr82
Key Stage 5