At MEA Central, our vision for the MFL curriculum is to create a vibrant and inclusive learning environment where language learning broadens students’ horizons. We believe in the power of languages to build cultural capital, spark curiosity, and equip students with the confidence and independence to communicate beyond the classroom. Our curriculum is rooted in strong linguistic foundations of phonics, vocabulary, and grammar, while also fostering a love of language that prepares students to thrive in future study and new cultural experiences within an increasingly global society.

Our curriculum allows scholars to:

1. Build Linguistic Independence
   Equip students with secure foundational knowledge by regularly revisiting key vocabulary, grammar structures, and phonics. This cyclical approach enables students to curate and manipulate language with increasing independence, both inside and beyond the classroom.

2. Inspire Cultural Curiosity
   Cultivate a genuine interest in the cultures, traditions, and people of the target language countries. Through cultural exposure, we aim to spark curiosity and foster a lifelong enthusiasm for language learning.

3. Set High Expectations for All
   Empower every student to ‘talk like a linguist’ by embedding grammatical conversations and academic vocabulary into lessons. We promote high levels of oracy and written accuracy, encouraging all learners to think, speak, and write like a linguist, with precision and confidence.

Our curriculum is underpinned by the three core pillars of phonics, vocabulary, and grammar, which are systematically revisited throughout each scheme of work.

By the end of each unit, all students have:

• Practised the four key skills of listening, reading, writing, and speaking,

• Learned and revisited new vocabulary through consistent retrieval practice,

• Engaged with formative and summative assessments to consolidate learning,

• Understood and applied essential grammatical concepts,

• Grown in their confidence and independence as linguists.

Our vision is for every student to leave MFL lessons not only more knowledgeable but more curious, articulate, and empowered to connect with the wider world and meet every citizen as an equal.

Our Key Stage 3 curriculum is carefully designed to ensure that all students become confident and capable speakers of Spanish or French. Central to our curriculum is the consistent and balanced development of the four key language skills, (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) which are embedded into every lesson and assessed regularly. These skills are deliberately interwoven to complement and strengthen one another, laying a strong foundation for continued language learning beyond Key Stage 3.

In line with our curriculum vision, the building of strong foundational knowledge is prioritised through regular revisiting of key structures and phonics. Building on students’ Key Stage 2 knowledge of literacy and grammar is important, this is done when using consistent phrasing and terminology when teaching grammar in French or Spanish lessons. This enables students to transfer and apply their prior understanding of grammatical concepts, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and sentence structure, in the target language. This supports students in developing their ability manipulate language and be able to verbalise how they do so, in order to ‘speak like linguists’.

Speaking

The development of speaking skills is a central focus, embedded systematically within our four-part lesson structure to ensure consistency and progression across all key stages. Each lesson incorporates purposeful opportunities for students to practise speaking in the target language, allowing them to rehearse phonics, pronunciation and intonation through structured activities.

The consistent emphasis on oracy across the curriculum reflects its importance as a foundational skill in language learning. Mastery of oracy not only builds fluency and accuracy but also fosters student confidence and nurtures an inclusive classroom environment. Within this culture of speaking, we subsequently establish a ‘culture of error’, a safe space where students understand that making mistakes is a natural and valuable part of the learning process. This approach is key in MFL, as it encourages risk-taking, resilience, and reflective practice, all of which are essential for language acquisition and long-term progress.

Reading

The skill of reading is developed through carefully planned and purposeful exposure to vocabulary in context. Students engage with texts that draw upon both new and previously taught language, supporting the process of retrieval and strengthening long-term memory. By encountering vocabulary embedded in meaningful contexts, learners are better able to understand and retain new language, as research indicates that recall improves significantly when vocabulary is introduced in chunks or phrases rather than in isolation (Boers et al., 2006). This contextualised approach not only enhances linguistic understanding but also enables students to make more confident links between prior knowledge and new input.

Listening

The skill of listening is developed through frequent and deliberate exposure to a wide range of audio materials in the target language. Regular listening tasks are embedded into the curriculum and lesson structure to ensure students consistently engage with spoken language. This enables them to practise decoding meaning in real time, while simultaneously reinforcing students’ understanding of sound-symbol correspondences - the relationship between how words are pronounced and how they are written. Through this repeated exposure, students are supported in making essential connections between the sounds they hear and the written forms they have previously encountered in reading and vocabulary tasks.

Writing

The development of writing skills is systematically embedded into the final phase of each lesson. In Phase 4 (see above), students are given the opportunity to consolidate their learning by responding to the lesson’s learning question in the target language. This task serves as both a reflective and productive exercise, encouraging students to apply newly acquired vocabulary and structures in context. All teachers have high expectations of every single student in their class and consistently teach to the top. Every lesson includes a bank of high level 'key phrases' which are re-used each lesson, whereby students add these to their written work. This technique allows complex grammatical phrases and high-level structures to be accessible to every single scholar at MEA Central.

Crucially, this phase is supported by frequent live feedback (ActiveObs) from the teacher, which allows for immediate correction, clarification, and reinforcement of key linguistic features. Research has shown that students are significantly more likely to register, process, and act upon feedback when it is delivered live and in the moment, making this approach highly impactful in promoting progress and addressing misconceptions (Nutbrown, S., Higgins, C. and Beesley, S., 2016).

Year 7 French Curriculum

Year 7 Spanish Curriculum

Year 8 French Curriculum

Year 8 Spanish Curriculum

Year 9 French Curriculum

Year 9 Spanish Curriculum

At Key Stage 4 students build on the topics learnt at Key Stage 3 exploring them in further detail and complexity. For example, beyond learning about the topic of ‘School’ at KS3, their KS4 topic of ‘Life After School’ encapsulates study or work experiences that students may have beyond age 16 and discusses the topic of careers and ambitions beyond the classroom. Students become exposed to cultural capital by referencing scholarly habits and cultures of other countries.

Speaking

Building on from routines established at KS3, phonics opportunities at KS4 ensure that expectations for verbal participation remain high, there is a culture of ‘no opt-out’, and that speaking is inclusive and habitual for all students. Crucially, this approach also facilitates essential phonics practice, enabling learners to explore and internalise sound-symbol correspondences. By making explicit links between spelling patterns and their phonetic representations, students develop a deeper linguistic awareness and build the confidence needed to communicate effectively.

Listening

By routinely practising listening, learners not only develop their ability to understand spoken language at increasing levels of complexity, but also strengthen their overall phonological awareness, pronunciation, and spelling accuracy. The use of transcripts provides an opportunity for students to hear vocabulary in context, which in turn deepens retention and improves recall. Listening also enhances students' ability to process unfamiliar language, make educated inferences, and cope with partial understanding - essential skills in both classroom communication and formal assessments. Overall, this approach supports a more confident better equipped to navigate authentic language use at KS4 and beyond.

Reading

Regular reading and translation tasks are designed to mirror exam-style questions, teaching students how to interpret and respond to unfamiliar language with resilience and strategic thinking. In doing so, learners develop the essential skill of inference, which is an integral component of successful reading comprehension. This practice helps to foster a classroom culture in which not recognising every word is not a barrier to success, but rather an expected part of the learning journey. The approach builds a ‘culture of error’, where students are encouraged to make informed guesses, take risks, and learn from mistakes in order to be successful.

Writing

In KS4, students will build upon their writing skills by engaging in exam-style structured writing practice, mirroring questions included students’ writing exam at the end of Year 11. This not only develops grammatical accuracy and allows opportunities to reflect on sentence construction, but also fosters learner independence and confidence by building on their knowledge from KS3. The nature of our MFL curriculum’s consistent framework allows students build the resilience and fluency needed to succeed in more extended writing tasks and formal assessments. Furthermore, integration of ActiveObs and instant feedback creates a dynamic and responsive learning environment, ensuring that students are continually supported in refining their written communication in the target language.

Year 10 French Curriculum

Year 10 Spanish Curriculum

Year 11 French Curriculum

Year 11 Spanish Curriculum