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MFL
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The National Languages Strategy
In the global society of the 21st century, language competence and cultural understanding are increasingly important. The Strategy aims to address our society's attitudes towards language skills and increase the value people attach to learning and teaching languages. We must provide high quality teaching and learning opportunities to equip young people with the skills they need to access opportunities in the world of work and travel. Language skills are central to breaking down barriers both within this country and beyond. (DFES)
Welcome to the MFL pages for Secondary Schools in Walsall. On these pages you will find a range of resources to support you in the development and teaching of MFL in your schools. These pages are under development and will be updated on a regular basis.
At present the resources are restricted to the main European languages of French, German and Spanish but it is hoped that more languages will be included as time goes by. We are grateful to the schools who have kindly allowed us to include their resources on the site and we hope others will be willing to share in the same way to save everyone valuable time.
GCSE 2007
Commenting on Summer 2007 modern foreign language results, Jim Knight said:
“It is too early for Lord Dearing’s Languages Review to have had an impact, but we are pleased that A* to C passes continue to rise. Our long-term, radical measures will increase the number of people studying languages at GCSE, A-level and beyond. We are investing massively in engaging future generations at primary school and creating a stimulating new secondary curriculum so they thrive at GCSE or alternative language qualifications. We know ‘one size fits all’ compulsory French or German GCSE study simply does not motivate pupils – a view backed by Lord Dearing, teachers, employers and trade unions.”
The A* to C pass rate for French has increased 1.8 percentage points from 64.7% to 66.5%; German increased 2.1 percentage points to 71.4%; and Spanish 1.4 percentage points from 69.2% to 70.6%. Entries for French GCSE has gone down 8.2% and German 10.2% but Spanish has risen 3% and other modern foreign languages by 5.5%.
The numbers opting for modern languages, as entries for French and German
show, maintained their downward spiral. French fell by 8.2 per cent to 216,718,
meaning that entries are down by more than 100,000 in the three years since the
Government made languages optional at key stage 4.
For German, the trend was even more dramatic, a 10.2 per cent drop to 81,061,
meaning the subject is in danger of being overtaken by Spanish as the second
most popular language. Entries for Spanish rose by 3 per cent to 63,978.
