Outstanding Teaching & Learning and Achievement in MFL

Outstanding learning involves giving the students the opportunity to demonstrate what they can do. Engaging with film as part of their learning provides many opportunities but the use of our study guides is likely to result in students being able to demonstrate and develop their ability to:

• perceive patterns quickly and demonstrate assimilation of new grammatical structures.
• recognise familiar language in an unfamiliar context.
• transfer skills when adapting language to new situations.
• cross-reference and transfer language and skills.
• use verbal and non-verbal clues to understand challenging reading and listening material.
• ask questions about exceptions to the rule or more complex grammatical queries which have may not been addressed in class.
• use study a range of skills to investigate areas of linguistic and cultural interest.
• notice new features and structures and to develop constructions on their own.
• grasp the gist of spoken language without having to know every word.
• pick up accents quickly recognising differences and inquiring about differences (e.g. regional dialects).
• use appropriate language in different contexts and make wider links.
• be accurate and precise in their use of language and to enjoy the new expressive possibilities that different language provides.

What is noticeable about this list is the opportunity that film presents for students to acquire language for themselves, to develop a passion and curiosity for the study of languages and culture. This cannot simply be given to them, but has to be experienced as part of the routine of classroom learning. Using film can play a key role in changing the dynamics of learning.