Greystones Community College provides a choice of two Modern Foreign Languages for students to study for their Junior Cycle. Students can select Spanish, French or can study both languages.
The Specification for Junior Cycle Modern Foreign Languages aims to develop communicative language skills broadly aligned with the A band (A1 to A2, basic user) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and its descriptors. It also aims to enable students to explore the interdependence between language and culture, to develop their appreciation of the relevance of languages to their lives for personal, social, educational, vocational and leisure purposes, and to derive enjoyment from language learning.
More specifically it encourages all students to:
- actively engage in language activities and tasks, developing the capacity to understand written and spoken language
- communicate effectively and confidently in the target language in familiar contexts through a range of media
- develop their capacity to use appropriate structures and vocabulary for the purposes of communication, both written and oral
- enjoy a language-learning experience that will facilitate and encourage them to continue learning languages in future
- be reflective and autonomous in their language learning, and become actively involved in monitoring and assessing their progress
- appreciate their own and other cultures
- develop skills that they can apply to other areas of study and to their lives.
The Specification for Junior Cycle Modern Foreign Languages is designed for a minimum of 200 hours of timetabled student engagement, and is organised around three integrated strands: Communicative competence, Language awareness and Socio-cultural knowledge and
intercultural awareness. These strands are each further broken down into elements and the learning outcomes associated with each element are also specified. Students’ language learning is actively supported when their Communicative competence, Language awareness and Socio-cultural knowledge and intercultural awareness are developed in an integrated way.
The strand Communicative competence is concerned with developing students’ ability to communicate meaningfully in the target language. This strand incorporates five elements, representing the five language skills of listening, reading, spoken production, spoken interaction and writing. The strand Language awareness enhances the students’ general awareness about languages, and incorporates the three elements of reflecting on how the target language works, comparing the target language with other languages students know, and reflecting on their own language-learning strategies. The third strand, Socio-cultural knowledge and intercultural awareness, gives students access to new cultural dimensions and encourages them to reflect on their own culture. The three elements of this strand develop students’ knowledge of the countries and cultures related to the target languages, and enable them to make comparisons with their own country and culture.
Our Modern Foregin Languages teachers have compiled this list of useful links to help with learning languages;
French
Spanish
For more information on the Modern Foreign Languagaes Curriculum, please click here.
Click here to return to Junior Cycle Subjects.