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German

CURRICULUM

Students study two hours of languages per week with the initial option in Year 7 being German.  We have chosen this language to have support from our sister Academy which has a strong German department.

During the year students receive introductory lessons in the four key competencies of:

  • Speaking
  • Listening
  • Reading
  • Writing

 

Students who already speak a second language, or those who are struggling with English, may receive additional English tuition at this time after consultation with parents.

Year 7

In Year 7 students are introduced to essential vocabulary and structures which lay the foundations for further study. The emphasis this year is on spoken German and allowing the students to become confident in their use of the language. Students are assessed in four skill areas – Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing – throughout the year.  A range of useful phrases and grammatical structures are taught through the following topics: Essentials, Family and Friends, Physical Descriptions, House and Home, and Skills.

Year 7 Curriculum

Autumn Term 1 and 2

Unit 1: Talking about me and my age

  • Saying name and age
  • Saying someone else’s name and age
  • Counting from 1-15
  • Words for brother and sister


Verbs:

  • Heißen 1st 3rd

 

Communicative function:

  • Describing yourself and others


Unit 2: Saying when my birthday is

  • Origins of you and another person
  • When birthday is
  • Numbers 15-31


Verbs

  • “kommen aus”
  • “sein”


Communicative function:

  • Describing yourself and others


Unit 3: Describing hair and eyes

  • Describe what a person’s hair and eyes are like
  • Describe details about face
  • Colours
  • I wear , he wears , she wears

 

Recycled content:

  • Verbs “haben” , “sein” and “heißen”  in 1st and 3rd person singular
  • Verb ‘’tragen’’
  • Numbers 1-15

 

Communicative function:

  • Describing yourself and others

Spring Term 1 and 2

Unit 4: Area and origin (sub-unit weather)

  • Describing house using adjectives “klein”, “groß”, “schön”, “hässlich”
  • Flat, house: modern or old
  • Area we live in: stadtzentrum, stadtrand, auf dem Land, in den Bergen, an der Küste

 

Recycled content

  • Introducing self
  • Telling age and birthday

 

Communicative function:

  • Indicating location


Unit 4a: The weather

  • Saying what the weather is like
  • Seed planting: adjectives of frequency:
  • Normalerweise, immer, oft, manchmal, selten, nie
  • Weather adjectives
  • Introduce seasons through adverbials: Im Frühling, im Sommer, im Winter

 

Communicative function:

  • Indicating location


Unit 5: Talking about family members: age, how well I get on with them

  • Introduce family using “es gibt”
  • Introduce “ich verstehen mich gut mit”
  • Learn numbers 31-100

 

Recycled Content:

  • Numbers 31-100
  • Hair and eye description

 

Communicative function:

  • Describing people and relationships

Summer Term 1 and 2

Unit 6: Describing myself and another family member

  • Describing immediate family members using adjectives of personality and physical description (pp.38)
  • Adverbs of intensity and frequency
  • Using “denn” to express opinions


Verbs

  • sein
  • können
  • haben 1st 3rd


Grammar time focus:

  • Sein and Haben

 

Recycled

  • Numbers 1-31

 

Communicative function

  • Describing people and expressing opinions


Unit 7: Talking about skills

  • Use of modal auxiliary with infinitive
  • Talking about skills (pp. 50)

 

Verbs

  • Sein
  • können
  • haben 1st 3rd

 

Recycled:

  • Introducing oneself

 

Communicative function

  • Describing people and asking questions

 

Unit 8: Talking about pets

  • Talking about common house pets
  • Using conditional tense with “ich hätte gern”
  • Additional adjectives of personality and physical
  • Articles in nominative and accusative
  • Question words

 

Recycled:

  • Introducing oneself
  • Family members
  • Describing people
  • Verb ‘haben’

 

Communicative function

  • Describing people, animals and asking questions

Year 8

In Year 8, students deepen their knowledge of core structures from Year 7. They will begin using a range of tenses to express themselves fluently on topics relevant to their daily life. The ambitious scope of the units will begin to encompass wider societal issues that are discussed in L4L lessons and later in GCSE German. Explicit teaching of grammar is begun, building on the solid building blocks of the Y7 course. Students are assessed in four skill areas – Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing – throughout the year.   A range of useful phrases and grammatical structures are taught through a wide range of topics including Free time, Weather, Daily Routine, Where I Live, School and Food and Drink.

Year 8 Curriculum

Autumn Term 1 and 2

Unit 8: Saying what jobs people do

  • Jobs people do
  • Opinions on jobs
  • Where they work

 

Verbs:

  • Heißen 1st- 3rd
  • Wohnen 1st -3rd
  • Arbeiten 1st– 3rd
  • Finden (expressing opinion) 1st-3rd

 

Communicative function:

  • Expressing opinions
  • Describing people
  • Indicating location

 

 

Unit 9: Comparing appearance and personality

  • More … than
  • As … as / not as
  • New adjectives to describe people (pp.76)

 

Verbs

  • “kommen aus”
  • “sein”

 

Recycled content:

  • Family member, pets, appearance and character

 

Communicative function:

  • Comparing and contrasting

 

 

Unit 10: Describing what is in your school bag and classroom

  • What objects you have in your school bag/pencil case/classroom Words for classroom equipment
  • What you have and don’t have (haben/haben kein)
  • The indefinite article “einen/eine/ein” with an adjective and a noun after “ich habe” (I have) and “es gibt” (there is/are)

 

Recycled content:

  • Colours
  • Introducing yourself (e.g. name, age, town, country)  Pets

 

Communicative function:

  • Stating possession
  • Describing objects

Spring Term 1 and 2

Unit 11: Talking about food

  • What food you like/dislike eating and to what extent
  • Why you like/dislike
  • New adjectives
  • The present tense of ‘essen’ [to eat] and
  • ‘trinken’ [to drink] ‘gern’, ‘lieber’, ‘am liebsten’ to say what you like, prefer, and most like eating
  • What meals you eat every day and
  • What you eat at each meal
  • Word order in main clauses

 

Recycled content

  • Time markers
  • Providing a justification

 

Communicative function

  • Describing food
  • Expressing opinions

 

 

Unit 12: Talking about clothes and accessories

  • Say what clothes you wear in various circumstances and places
  • Give a wide range of words for clothing items and accessories
  • Use a range of words for places in town
  • Make the full present tense conjugation of ‘tragen’ (to wear)

 

Recycled content

  • Time markers/ Frequency markers
  • Colours
  • Self-introduction phrases
  • Adjective endings in accusative case after
  • “einen/eine/ein”

 

Communicative function

  • Describing routine behaviour in present tense
  • Indicating time
  • Expressing opinions

 

 

Unit 13: Talking about free time/weather and free time

  • Say what activities you do using the verbs
  • ‘spielen (play), ‘machen’ (do) and ‘gehen’ (go)
  • Add information about when, how often, with whom, and for how long you do them
  • Use different types of linking words
  • Different types of weather
  • Where you do them and who with
  • Words for places in town

 

Recycled Content:

  • Time and frequency markers
  • Weather
  • Expressing likes/dislikes
  • Adjectives
  • Pets

 

Communicative function

  • Describing routine behaviour in present tense
  • Indicating time
  • Indicating location
  • Sequencing actions

Summer Term 1 and 2

Unit 14: Talking about daily routine

  • What you do every day
  • At what time you do it
  • Sequencing events/actions (e.g. using ‘then’, ‘finally’)

 

Recycled content

  • Numbers
  • Free time activities
  • Nationalities   Clothes
  • Hair and eyes
  • Food
  • Jobs

 

Communicative function

 

  • Describing routine in present
  • Indicating time
  • Sequencing actions

 

 

Unit 15: Describing my house and what I do at home

  • Where your house/flat is located
  • What your favourite room is
  • What you like to do in each room e
  • The present tense of key reflexive verbs: “sich entspannen”, “sich konzentrieren”

 

Recycled content:

  • Adjectives to describe places
  • Frequency markers, Countries
  • Indefinite article + adjective + noun in the accusative case

 

Communicative function

  • Indicating location
  • Describing things
  • Expressing likes and dislikes

 

 

Unit 16: Holidays

  • What you intend to do on future holidays
  • Where you are going to go
  • Where you are going to stay
  • Who you are going to travel with
  • How it will be
  • Means of transport

 

Recycled:

  • The verb ‘gehen’
  • Free-time activities
  • Previously seen adjectives

 

Communicative function

  • Making plans for the future
  • Indicating time and location
  • Expressing opinions

Year 9

Year 9 Curriculum

Autumn Term 1

Bridging the Gap

 

The aim of this unit of work is to revise the key concepts needed for success in German, namely mastering the 3 tenses and using opinions and justification.

 

We start with a brief introduction to language learning in Year 9 and expectations and then move onto the following activities which are combined with a topic previously covered in Year 7 and 8 to put the grammar into an appropriate context.

 

*Parts of Speech

 

*Verb types – (strong/weak/separable/reflexive/modal)

 

*Present Tense

 

*Future Tense

 

*Perfect Tense – with ‘haben’ /’sein’

 

(Year 7 and 8 topics revised alongside and used as a context are myself, my family, my routine, my school and my hobbies).

Autumn Term 2

Theme 1: Identity and Culture                                            

 

Topic – Self, Family and Friends 

 

Content Covered:                                

 

*Revision of personal descriptions

 

*Relationships with family and friends

 

*What were you like when you were younger?

Spring Term 1

Theme 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest

 

Topic – Home town, neighbourhood and region  

 

Content Covered:         

 

*Revision of house types and regions

 

*Revision of house and home vocabulary

 

*Describing your bedroom

 

*Revision of places in town – shops/buildings

 

*Town or Country

Spring Term 2 and Summer Term 1

Theme 3: Current and Future study and employment.                                        

 

Topic – My Studies                                                                                                               

 

Content Covered:      

 

*School subjects and opinions and the timetable

 

*School uniform

 

*School rules and regulations

 

*School in Germany

 

*Work and future careers

Summer Term 2

Theme 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest                                         

 

Topic – Healthy/Unhealthy lifestyle                                       

 

Content Covered:   

 

*Music / cinema / TV

 

*Sporting activities

 

*Food and eating out

 

*Healthy/unhealthy lifestyle

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