The Modern Foreign Languages department at Teesdale School and Sixth Form utilises these core beliefs to develop curious and confident language learners of the future who will have the skills and capacity to master whichever language they may choose.
During their first years of study, students will have the opportunity to visit France or Spain with the Academy. These highly popular cultural visits aim to ‘put into practice’ the skills learnt within the classroom and students are encouraged to speak in the target language throughout the visit. This is a real opportunity to bring the subject to life for our learners. For those unable to travel, we bring the world to our classroom by celebrating festivals, food tasting, exposure to the latest songs, cultural anthems, clips from French and Spanish news and interviews and authentic texts from French and Spanish literature, newspapers and magazines. All students have the opportunity to develop conversational language skills and the necessary key language to successfully complete daily tasks in France such as booking a table in a restaurant, hotel reservations, asking for directions etc. Comme c’est génial!
After learning French in Year 7 students will pick up Spanish in Year 8 and consequently have a choice of languages when it comes to GCSE options. In addition, both subjects are offered to A Level.