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Modern Languages

Our excellent resources and facilities ensure that we engage linguists at King's at all levels. All our classrooms are equipped with digital projectors, and we have a dedicated ICT suite for languages. Our staff are highly skilled and motivated and are constantly exploring new teaching tools and resources. Language learning at King's is lively, active and exciting.

Throughout the 5th and 6th forms our excellent native-speaker language assistants provide weekly conversation lessons for pupils. Their teaching supports the learning taking place in language lessons and is a vital component in our pupils' experience of the language and its country.

We challenge our pupils to broaden their horizons and take charge of their learning. Whether this is through a language exchange or through the opportunities our ICT facilities offer for independent study, we are proud of our confident and dynamic modern linguists. School exchanges are regularly arranged to Germany, and pupils are also able to arrange one-to-one exchanges with young people of their age.

In addition to the French, German and Spanish staff, teaching can usually be arranged in Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and Italian for pupils joining King's who already have experience of these languages. Mandarin is also offered as an activity at beginners' level.

We firmly believe that successfully learning another language enriches your life forever. Knowledge of languages opens doors to another world. Nothing can replace reading a novel or seeing a play in the original language, and visits to foreign countries are so much more interesting if you can eavesdrop on conversations in buses and restaurants, read what is written all around you, and speak to anyone you meet.

French

French is widely spoken on five continents, in 43 countries, by approximately 200 million people. It is one of the principal languages of diplomacy and of important international organisations. Furthermore the prestige of French art, music, dance, fashion, cuisine and cinema makes French a culturally important foreign language. France is also our nearest continental neighbour with an immense variety of landscapes, and is therefore an ideal holiday destination.

Miss J Casely (Head of French)
Mrs J Chadwick
Mrs L Wrobel

German

It might surprise you to find out that German is the most widely spoken language in Europe. More people speak German as their native language than any other language in Europe, since Germany's 83 million inhabitants make it the most populous European nation. It is also an official language of Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. While learning German can connect you to 120 million native speakers around the globe, it is the third most popular foreign language taught worldwide and the second most popular in Europe and Japan, after English.

Mrs L Wrobel (Head of German)
Mrs K McSwiggan

Spanish

Spanish is one of the third most widely-used languages in the world, after Mandarin Chinese and English. The cultures of Spain and Latin America offer the richest possible mix of interests in language, literature, film, food, dance, music, politics, fashion, architecture, art, history, for travel, for work, in their geography and landscapes and in their peoples.

Miss G Fagan (Head of Spanish)
Miss J Casely
Mrs J Chadwick

Staff profiles

Jo Casely took over as Head of Languages and Head of French in September 2009. She read French and Spanish at Edinburgh University and has worked in Oxford and Cheltenham, as well as Paris and Salamanca. She enjoys reading fiction, foreign cinema and travelling.

Jo Chadwick read French and Spanish at Bristol University, and has taught at King's since 1996. She spent time as an army officer where she taught languages and also learnt and taught German. She is a qualified Yoga teacher.

Lisa Wrobel, Head of German, joined King's in September 1998. She also teaches French and studied both languages at Exeter University. She lived in Germany for a year working as a foreign language assistant, and travels to Germany frequently with her family. She also enjoys regular visits to France, Belgium and Switzerland.

Gerri Fagan is a teacher and Head of Spanish who spends much of her personal time in Andalucía; Gerri has an MA from Glasgow University in Spanish and Portuguese and has travelled extensively to Spanish speaking countries.

Karen McSwiggan studied German and Russian at Reading, Göttingen and Kiev. She came to King's to teach German in 1991, became housemistress of Meynell in 1995 and deputy head in 2003. She is married with four children.

Click here for details of the 3rd form curriculum

Click here for details of the GCSE course

Click here for details of the A Level course