Modern Languages
Are you an enthusiastic and well-qualified linguist, who would enjoy passing on your love of languages to young learners? Awarded grade 1s in every aspect by OfSTED, this course will encourage you to think about ways of ensuring MFL is relevant and stimulating to the students you will teach. Particular emphasis is placed on the need to develop 'communicative competence' in learners and on their resulting enjoyment in using the language successfully.
Teachers need to be able to draw on a wide range of ideas, skills and materials to make their subject relevant and effective across the full range of ages and abilities. Trainees following this course are encouraged to explore a wide range of creative and systematic approaches to teaching, covering the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing), as well as focusing on the role of grammar, cultural awareness and new technologies in language teaching. The course is based on a close, interdependent relationship between faculty-based and school-based learning, with trainees working alongside an experienced mentor, who provides key training opportunities and regular systematic support and feedback on classroom teaching. This structure provides the basis for progressive competence in teaching languages to A-level, and is aimed at the development, by the end of the course, of language teachers who are enthusiastic, knowledgeable, innovative and realistic.
Applicants must be able to offer two languages for teaching; one of these must be French, and the other a choice of German, Spanish or Italian. Degree level or equivalent in the first language (for teaching to A level in schools), and an A Level or equivalent in the second language is a minimum requirement of the course. Applicants should also have spent a substantial period of residence abroad in a relevant country. The course seeks to promote a general language teaching methodology which is adaptable to a range of school languages, but includes some language specific sessions.
When inspected by OFSTED in 2002, courses were awarded grade 1 awards for every aspect inspected, judged to be very high quality, and described as being "very good with many outstanding features". This grade was confirmed in the short inspection in 2004.