Languages are vital for mutual understanding and for personal development in a global world. They have become increasingly important in work and leisure; more and more people travel abroad to work or decide to live abroad.
Even if your future place of work is in the UK, whether you work in the Sciences, Education, the Arts, the Media, or in Business, you will almost certainly need to use a foreign language in our world of faster communication technology and expanding international markets.
Finance, IT, and legal services are the three business sectors from which language providers currently have the most work. It is predicted that future demand will remain constant in these three sectors, while demand increases in the property industry, leisure and tourism, as well as in the public service sector.
With 200 + countries taking part in the Olympics, an estimated 70,000 volunteers will be needed to help run the 2012 Games at least bilingually in French and English, so languages look set to get a huge boost over the next few years and already, organisations and businesses are starting to factor the need for language skills into their planning.
In your future studies, you may decide to undertake work experience or have a gap year abroad, or you may study at an English University that offers a period at a partner University in France or Germany.
Whatever your future qualifications you will be able to make use of language GCSEs for work abroad in any country of the European Union. Anyone who wants to succeed in today’s global job market needs to be able to understand the motivation of business colleagues and to be able to communicate their own interests, so speaking their language will always be an advantage.
Our course
You will use multi-media language software as well as language sites on the Internet. You will study increasingly advanced authentic texts in the German. The topics cover the situations you are likely to encounter while on holiday, or on an exchange trip, in German speaking countries. They are also the topics needed to provide information and give opinions about everyday activities, personal and social life and the world around us, including countries where German is spoken. There will also be discussions on current issues of interest to students. Finally, it is highly recommended that you take part in our exchange programme, offered each year to Year 9 and 10 students, or other study tours. You will be expected to visit Germany at least once during the course.
Assessment
Assessment can be either staggered or taken at the end of our course. You may be entered for a Foundation or Higher paper according to your strength in each of the skills of listening and reading. Speaking and writing will be untiered.
Unit 1: Listening – External examination (Foundation 30 mins or Higher 40 minutes) – worth 20% of the GCSE
Unit 2: Reading – External examination (Foundation 30 mins or Higher 40 minutes) – worth 20% of the GCSE
Unit 3: Speaking – Controlled Assessment – worth 30% of the GCSE
Students will complete two speaking assessment tasks. Both tasks will be in the form of a dialogue. One task will be finalised during year 10 during examination week. The second task will be taken during year 11.
Unit 3: Writing – Controlled Assessment – worth 30% of the GCSE
Students will complete two written controlled assessment tasks. One task will be finalised during year 10 during our examination week. The second task will be taken during year 11.
Specification: AQA German 4668
Click here to download the current specification for this GCSE course.
To find out more about the value of studying languages, or for careers information and advice about languages, visit the website www.languageswork.org.uk
