what will students do?

In Year 8, students  continue with the language that they began in year 7, so either French or Spanish. Students develop their knowledge of the countries that the language is spoken in, alongside developing skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking.

In Year 8 students study the following topics:-

• Describing a past holiday
• Technology, music and free time
• Food

We end the academic year with a project, where we bring together different language that we have studied throughout the year. This might link to a global event that is taking place at that time, for example, the Olympics.

what can i do to support my child?

Students have regular vocabulary tests and are often given short lists of words to memorise. Encourage your child to learn these by heart – they might need to be tested on them by someone at home or a friend, to check that they are remembering them accurately. It is important that they understand what the words mean, but it is also important that when they see the English word, they are able to copy the Spanish correctly from memory. This will boost them in all four skills. We use Quizlet (see link below) so that students are able to access the words at home and have extra practise.

We also encourage  students to use the ‘Duolingo’ app. This develops their knowledge of the language that they are studying and helps them to further understand grammar that is covered in class.

It is also important that students have a love of the language and understand the culture of the countries where the language is spoken. Encourage your child to discover the food, music etc. of the language that they are studying.

websites for self study/revision

• Y8 Quizlet – This is the link to all of the words that are learnt in year 8. Students can practise these on the following links.

            Spanish: https://quizlet.com/join/VWv2yNUpX

            French: https://quizlet.com/join/A6Wn8kYQT

• KS3 Bitesize – This website is an excellent resource, where students can go over key language from KS3 that they need. There is a range of video and audio material to support learning. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z2nygk7
• Online dictionary – some online dictionaries can be inaccurate. We find that this website is well trusted when needing to look up a new word: www.wordreference.com