This document provides information about studying languages at St. Mary's school. It discusses the GCSE and A-level language qualifications available in French and Spanish. It outlines the topics and exam structure for AS and A2 language courses. It encourages students to continue studying languages at university, noting opportunities to study or work abroad. The document features testimonials from graduates who have used their language skills successfully in careers like recruitment, travel, and medicine. Overall, it promotes language learning and highlights the lifelong benefits it provides.

3. Why am I here?
0Consider how MFL can fit in to your future
aspirations
0Understand what route your language
learning journey can take
0Options available to you
0Hear from real people who use languages on a
day-to-day basis

4. MFL at St Mary’s
0All of you are taking a language
qualification right now
0GSCE French
0GCSE Spanish
0AS French
0Take AS after gaining your GCSE
0 Take A2 after gaining AS level

5. What is in the AS/A2?
0AS
0 Unit 1 – L, R, W
0 Unit 2 - speaking exam
0 Topics: Popular culture, Healthy Lifestyle, Media &
Family and Relationships
0A2
0 Unit 3 - L, R, W
0 Unit 4 – speaking exam
0 Topics: Environment, Multicultural Society & Social
Issues plus two cultural topics eg. Film, Literature
History, Region, Architecture, Artist etc....

6. What next?
0Good linguists could take a language (or
two!) at university
0 you DO NOT have to take a language by
itself
0 Combined degree
0pick up a second language
0 spend a year abroad

7. Why take a language
further?
0you enjoy learning languages
0you might like to work or travel abroad
0a good qualification to have for entry into college
or university
0employability
0makes you stand out from the crowd
0lots of well known people speak other languages
and it has helped them in their careers

8. Give yourself the edge… they did!
Match the names on the left to the degrees on the right:
J. K. Rowling
Author (Harry Potter)
Paula Radcliffe
Athlete
Lucy Liu
Film star
Jonathan Ross
TV and Radio Presenter
Rory Bremner
Comedian
Fiona Bruce
Newsreader
Chris Martin
Musician (Coldplay)
Nigella Lawson
TV Chef
Chinese Language and Culture
(1990)
European Studies
(1982)
French and German
(1983)
Modern European Studies
(1996)
Greek and Latin
(1999)
French and Classics
(1987)
Medieval and Modern Languages
(1983)
French and Italian
(1986)
J. K. Rowling
Author (Harry Potter)
French and Classics
(1987)
Paula Radcliffe
Athlete
Modern European Studies
(1996)
Lucy Liu
Film star
Chinese Language and Culture
(1990)
Jonathan Ross
TV and Radio Presenter
European Studies
(1982)
Rory Bremner
Comedian
French and German
(1983)
Fiona Bruce
Newsreader
French and Italian
(1986)
Chris Martin
Musician (Coldplay)
Greek and Latin
(1999)
Nigella Lawson
TV Chef
Medieval and Modern Languages
(1983)

9. Give yourself the edge… they did!
Match the names on the left to the degrees on the right:
J. K. Rowling
Author (Harry Potter)
Paula Radcliffe
Athlete
Lucy Liu
Film star
Jonathan Ross
TV and Radio Presenter
Rory Bremner
Comedian
Fiona Bruce
Newsreader
Chris Martin
Musician (Coldplay)
Nigella Lawson
TV Chef
Chinese Language and Culture
(1990)
European Studies
(1982)
French and German
(1983)
Modern European Studies
(1996)
Greek and Latin
(1999)
French and Classics
(1987)
Medieval and Modern Languages
(1983)
French and Italian
(1986)
J. K. Rowling
Author (Harry Potter)
French and Classics
(1987)
Paula Radcliffe
Athlete
Modern European Studies
(1996)
Lucy Liu
Film star
Chinese Language and Culture
(1990)
Jonathan Ross
TV and Radio Presenter
European Studies
(1982)
Rory Bremner
Comedian
French and German
(1983)
Fiona Bruce
Newsreader
French and Italian
(1986)
Chris Martin
Musician (Coldplay)
Greek and Latin
(1999)
Nigella Lawson
TV Chef
Medieval and Modern Languages
(1983)

10. Today’s speakers
0Mrs Olga Gomez Cash
0Lancaster University
0Department of European
Languages & Culture

11. Today’s speakers
0NST
0 Anne Benkel and Stuart Robinson
0travel company
0 school trips including WW 2015
Barcelona
0 based in Blackpool

12. Zoe Leigh

14. My Work
Role – Recruitment Consultant
Location - Paris
Company - Swift World Wide Resources
Swift WWR Is a recruitment agency specialising in the oil
and gas industry, we find engineers and managers to work
on oil rigs and other oil and gas platforms all over the
world.

15. Benefits of being able to
speak French
0 You will be able to communicate with around 340 million
more people than your average English speaker.
0 Your understanding of grammar and vocabulary is
massively improved.
0 In a French working environment you will be the best
English speaker.
0 It opens you up to opportunities abroad, even at A-Level
standard.
0 There is nothing that you can learn at university about
speaking French that you cannot learn at A-Level if you
take advantage of the opportunity.

16. How French Has Helped Me
0 Graduated from St Mary’s Sixth Form with a B in
French and went on to study at the University of
Sheffield.
0 Spent a year as a student in the south of France.
0 Went on to work in customer service at NS&I (boring)
0 Did a Marketing internship with a local Fylde
company.
0 Moved to Swift WWR UK last year in March, then to
Swift Paris in June.

17. My Tips
0 Learn the irregular verbs as quickly as you can.
0 Practise listening, use youtube, watch films that you
know well in French.
0 Speaking- use music to improve your pronunciation, it
helps with accent, rhythm and breathing. It also helps
with listening, I strongly recommend Emily Loizeau
for this purpose.
0 If you want to say something learn how to say it! Use
all the tools you can to find out how to say what you
want to say, it makes learning far more fun if you
express your own opinions in your work!

18. 0There is a tendency to think that you should only study
languages if you are going to become a professional
linguist.
0This is a mistake!
0Being able to understand and speak another language
is helpful to most spheres of existence, whether you
are a linguist-medic, linguist-lawyer, or linguist-
gardener.
0I suppose the question you are now asking is ‘why’?
0I am now in my second year of medicine, and studying
French at A Level was not something that I thought
twice about
0If you have any sort of interest in languages, you
ought to pursue it - it can never be detrimental

19. 0Shows enormous breadth when applying for uni, jobs,
or whatever you want to do after school/college
0Doing a language shows that you are different and
multi-talented
0Will also improve your English; this may seem trivial,
but when competition for good jobs is ever-increasing,
this should not be underestimated
0 It’s interesting! It is not just learning words and how
to put them in the right order in a sentence
0 Discuss issues (social, political, environmental etc.)
that are, and will remain, relevant to all of us

20. 0 Studying a language stimulates interest, encourages
perceptive thought, and improves your ability to
debate on such issues.
0 It’s always handy to be well-informed about the world
around you (and, therefore, how you change it……)
0 In a world that is becoming ever smaller, learning
different languages improves job prospects and opens
up more of the world to you, whether this be working
abroad, or just going travelling
0 Languages are something that any employer would
find attractive in an applicant

21. 0 If you are wanting to go to university, it also opens up
the possibility of studying abroad for a year,
experiencing a different culture, and making new
friends (cheaper holidays in the future!)
0 The year abroad is the highlight of people’s degrees
0 From a medical perspective, I’ve always had an
interest in working abroad at some point for a charity
such as Médecins Sans Frontières
0 Having a language greatly improves your chances of
being able to do something like this, which can be
personally rewarding, as well as supporting those who
so need it.

22. 0 Furthermore, as part of a medical degree you do an
elective, where you can go essentially anywhere in the
world to do a bit of doctoring for a few weeks.
0 Being able to speak more than just English opens up a
lot more interesting places
0I hope that this has been useful
0If you are even just thinking about studying a language,
do so! It will only benefit you, your future, and
potentially an awful lot of other people, too.
0There are no drawbacks