Spanish

Whether you’re exploring Spain, travelling through Latin America, or expanding your career prospects, knowing Spanish is a game changer. As the third most spoken language globally, it’s not only essential for connecting with others but also vital in the world of politics, business and culture.

With Spanish, students gain a powerful tool for the future, opening up a world of opportunities in both their personal lives and careers.

The emphasis at Key Stage 3 is making language-learning fun while gradually preparing pupils for their GCSE studies. Students follow the MIRA course and we aim to give students a flavour of Hispanic culture as well as the language.

Key Stage 3 Spanish at Sheffield Girls’ is taught in a lively and engaging way to help every student to enjoy learning the language. For pupils entering Year 7 without any prior language-learning, our activities and curriculum caters to all levels of experience and confidence.

GCSE Spanish

We follow the Edexcel IGCSE curriculum, which is a linear course, finishing with final examinations. The topics are varied and we spend the entire course building structures little by little so that, by the end of Year 11, pupils are able to communicate spontaneously in Spanish and achieve exceptional academic results. This means they are equipped to do their best in their examinations. GCSE Spanish also equips them to spend time in Spanish-speaking countries and prepares them thoroughly for A Level study.

Topics include:

• Holidays
• Free time, hobbies and sports
• Family and friends
• School, jobs and future plans
• Technology
• TV and Film
• Healthy Living

Students have regular skills lessons and often use chromebooks in lessons to access listening material and authentic resources on online platforms. Pupils also benefit from dedicated individual time with our language assistants to develop their speaking skills spontaneously.

Our MFL Department is an energetic team of enthusiastic linguists. We are delighted to consistently achieve amongst the highest GCSE results in the GDST network.

Co-curricular Activities

• GCSE students enjoy residential visits to Spain, often staying with host families and attending language classes alongside their cultural excursions.
• Year 9 visit the Showroom Cinema for showings of Spanish films.
• Our foreign language assistants run clinics to support girls at all stages of their learning.
• Sheffield Girls’ hosts an annual Sheffield City Translation Bee with schools from right across the city.
• Pupil Language Ambassadors lead activities throughout the year and run the Junior Language Club for Year 5 and Year 6 girls.
• We celebrate National Languages Week every year in September with a range of activities and events.