State of the art MFL technology comes to South Yorkshire
Trinity Academy St Edward’s is an exciting and inspirational place to be. We believe that there are many factors that contribute to this unique environment – from our distinct Christian ethos, to our innovative curriculum and approach to rewarding students.
We are here to make a difference to the community. Our vision is for each student within our care to achieve their potential. We do this through high-quality teaching, a knowledge rich curriculum and an environment characterised by our Christian values.
The underpinning aim in the French classroom at Trinity Academy St Edward’s is to develop students’ ability, independence and ambition in order to communicate in speech and the written word. The study of languages will broaden their horizons and encourage them to step beyond familiar cultural boundaries and develop new ways of seeing the world. The curriculum is designed around the four key skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. As part of every knowledge rich sequence of lessons, students are given the opportunity to explore and analyse how the target language works.
They are encouraged to be honest about their own learning experiences and understanding of their own language in order to gain independence in the target language. In every series of lessons, students engage in activities and tasks that increase their knowledge and understanding of the grammar of the target language allowing them to use language across contexts. Our broad and balanced curriculum allows our students to develop their language skills as well as their cultural awareness giving students access to new cultural dimensions and encourages them to reflect on their own culture.
Many lessons have opportunities to make comparisons between England and Francophone countries which initiates discussion. We aim to use as much authentic material in the classroom as possible to bring languages to life. Students are encouraged to support their learning in school with home learning showing the responsibility of reflecting on their learning journey and to use the opportunities provided to enrich, develop and refine their skills all whilst making life-long memories.
The new school building opening in September 2024
Along with a fantastic new school building which opened in September 2024, The Modern Foreign Languages department were given the opportunity to provide their students with a chance to use the very latest modern languages technology from Finland, the Sanako Study Range Language Centre.
This enhanced technology not only enthuses pupils to study French at the school but also gives them tremendous opportunities to improve their linguistic skills for both speaking and listening.
Jennie Skitt, Head of Modern Languages at Trinity Academy St Edward's, had previously used a version of this technology as a student when at University, To Jennie the benefits of this MFL technology was obvious;
- Live monitor & intercom with individual students
- Perform whole class oral assessments simultaneously saving time and money
- Launch exam mode exercises
- Collect back all students work for marking
- Automated vocabulary testing
- Group work for differentiation
- Audio and video pair work for role play activities
- Practise telephone discussions in a target language
- Automated reading practice for oracy and literacy activities in any language
- Many more engaging MFL activities to enhance lesson