Language Driven Pedagogy Self Study MFL Curriculum Design and Pedagogy - six modules

This asynchronous version of our LDP CPD course has been developed for participants who wish to work flexibly through the modules at a personalised pace.

Course Content

The course consists of six modules on: principles of curriculum design, phonics, vocabulary, grammar, culture and assessment.

Module Configuration

Each module is split into a number of parts. This allows participants to undertake each module in a number of different sittings. There are activities included within in each part to help strengthen participants’ understanding of the themes, such as reflection questions and ‘hands-on’ tasks.

At the end of each module there is a suggested follow-on task. Often these tasks are about taking what you have learnt back into the classroom and/or discussing your learning with your MFL colleagues.

Audience: Secondary MFL teachers/Secondary subject leads for MFL

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Module one - Curriculum Design

How to plan a scheme of work for KS3 and KS4

The new GCSE subject content for French, German and Spanish requires that students learn and can readily use key vocabulary, grammar and phonics so that they can understand and produce meaning, writing with increasing accuracy and speaking with increasing fluency.

A KS3 and KS4 curriculum planned to support preparation for GCSE specifications ‘will ensure systematic, well-sequenced coverage of the specification’s linguistic content, avoiding overloading pupils at any given point, and with ample opportunities for practising the content taught at each stage receptively and productively, in the oral and written modalities, with an approximately equal emphasis on each.’

In light of these requirements, this first module sets out the main principles for designing a successful curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.

Module two - Phonics

Teaching the sounds of the language at KS3 and KS4

The new GCSE subject content for French, German and Spanish considers sound- symbol correspondences as core literacy and sets out a list of the sound-symbol correspondences that represent key differences between the new language and English. Students are expected to learn these, to be able to read aloud and transcribe them. What is the rationale for teaching the sound-writing relationship? How do we teach it effectively and engagingly? How can we integrate it with meaning and with culture?

Many of us as teachers did not learn how to teach phonics as part of our training. This module aims to equip teachers with the pedagogical knowledge, but also with ideas and resources, for phonics teaching in Modern Languages at Key Stage 3 and 4.

Module three - Vocabulary

The why, what, how well and how much of vocabulary learning in MFL

In this module we address the following questions:

Why is vocabulary learning so important?
What does it mean to know a word?
Which words and how many words should students learn and how do they relate to themes and contexts?
How can students best learn and retain words?

Module four - Grammar

Making form-meaning connections an essential part of practice

In a time-limited context for learning languages, what kinds of grammar practice are likely to be most effective? We first present some principles drawn from relevant research. For example, studies have found benefits for activities that ‘trap’ a grammar feature and make form-meaning connections essential to task completion, both in the 'input' (reading and listening) and production (writing and speaking). We then consider how to put these principles into practice in the design of classroom activities for French, German and Spanish.

Module five - Culture

Culture and cultural capital in language teaching at KS3 and KS4

Language and culture are two sides of the same coin; closely related, there cannot be one without the other. This module offers a practical and holistic view on language and culture in classroom language teaching, showing how culture combines easily with phonics, vocabulary and grammar teaching, providing students with a strong linguistic and cultural foundation, encouraging them to ‘step beyond familiar cultural boundaries and develop new ways of seeing the world’. Particularly relevant to the new GCSE subject content, all ideas come with freely available resources in French, German and Spanish.

The module will finish by looking at an introduction to assessment, as a platform from which participants will then be able to undertake module 6, an optional further self-study module which builds on this introduction.

Module six - Principles of Assessment Design

You will develop an enhanced understanding of the LDP assessment design principles that underpin test design for both achievement style tests and the more holistic knowledge application tests. This module aims to equip teachers to be able to go on to design their own tests and assessments that join up their KS3 practice now with the assessment requirements of the new GCSE for French, German and Spanish.