This document provides information about taking modern foreign languages (MFL) at St. Mary's school. It discusses the MFL options available, which include taking Spanish from year 9 and continuing it to GCSE level, picking up French from beginner level to take the GCSE after 2 years, or taking both languages at GCSE. It also outlines what is assessed in the GCSEs and why taking an MFL at GCSE can be beneficial. The document then shares experiences of two speakers - a trainee language teacher and employees from a travel company - and concludes with a recruitment consultant sharing how French has helped in their career in Paris.

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 Year 9 do one language: Spanish
0Option choices
0Carry on with Spanish through Years 10 & 11
(GCSE)
0Pick up French from beginners level and take a
GCSE in 2 years
0Take both languages at GCSE!
0Not take any languages

5. What is in the GCSE?
020% reading exam and 20% listening exam
0 undertaken in May of Year 11
030% writing controlled assessment and 30%
speaking controlled assessment
0 completed at various points throughout Years 10 &
11
0two CA tasks for speaking and two CA tasks
for writing in total sent off

6. What is in the GCSE?
0Topics
0 Work & Education
0 Family & Celebrations
0 Healthy Living
0 Free Time
0 Holidays
0 Environment
0 Town
0 House & Home

7. Why take a language at
GCSE?
0you enjoy learning languages
0you might like to work or travel abroad
0a good qualification to have for entry into college
or university
0some universities require a GCSE in MFL eg
University College London (C grade or higher)
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. The Language Learning
Journey
0 each MFL teacher has taken a different route

11. Today’s speakers
0Miss DiNiro
0Italian, Spanish & French
0 Trainee teacher

12. Today’s speakers
0NST
0Anne Bekel & John Kaya
0travel company
0 school trips including WW 2015
Barcelona
0 based in Blackpool

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!