At Chipping Sodbury School, all students study languages. In Year 7, students begin with their first foreign language (French/German), which they continue throughout Key Stages 3 and 4. In Years 7 and 8 students are also introduced to the other language (French/German) and also to Spanish, in short taster courses. These are intended to help them decide if they would like to study a second language at Key Stage 4. Students currently have the option to continue their studies of French or German in the Sixth Form (AS/A2 level).

The Modern Languages Faculty consists of a team of enthusiastic and dedicated members of staff, teaching two or more languages:

• Mrs A Morriss - Head of Faculty - French, German

• Miss S. Lockyer - Assistant Curriculum Leader - German, French

• Mrs S. Couzins - German, French

• Mrs S. Gunter - French, German

• Miss A. Keith-Smith - French, German

• Ms D Bryan - French, German, Spanish

Exchange Visit
We are currently looking to recruit students interested in taking part in the next phase of the exchange programme to Germany - see the 'German Exchange' extra curricular page for more information.

Click here to read a report on the exchange visit to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in April 2008.

French Film Club
Students from Years 7-10 and staff have been munching popcorn whilst watching DVDs in French.

Why? -It is a commonly held view among language specialists that watching a film in a foreign language supports good language learning. In particular it helps improve listening and speaking skills and extends a learner’s vocabulary of the foreign language.  In addition it is an excellent motivational tool for any foreign language learner and when portraying another country can increase cultural awareness of that country. 

French Film Club is open to any member of the school.  DVDs are shown in French with English subtitles, free of charge, on Wednesdays after school.  Recent titles have included ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’, ‘Pretty Woman’, ‘Beetle Juice’ and ‘Happy Gilmore’.  Please note any student under the age of 15 wishing to join the club will need a permission slip (available from any French teacher) confirming parental consent for them to watch 12 and 15 category films.


Previous Events
Throughout the last year students have been very busy taking part in language-related events.

On September 29th the usual languages taught at Chipping Sodbury School were suspended for the day, as students and staff tried to learn some new and unusual languages in honour of European Languages Day. Students were treated to learning vocabulary on a wide range of topics in Portuguese, Turkish, Dutch, Swedish and Italian.

3rd October was German Unity Day, and the whole school was made aware of the occasion by the Berlin Wall that sprang up overnight. It divided the school in two and provides information and images about both the Wall and the events leading up to its collapse in 1989. On German Unity Day itself, we celebrated with a German Café-Konditorei serving Kaffee und Kuchen, a penalty shoot-out for Year 7 and a German cinema.

In October, Year 8 visited France and spent 2 days enthusiastically practising their French skills and taking part in a number of linguistic and cultural activities.

In December, Year 8 German students visited the Christmas Markets of Cologne and Aachen, and sampled lots of local specialities, including having Kaffe und Kuchen on the way home!

December was also the month of Spanish Constitution Day, and we celebrated by running a tapas bar, a Spanish cinema and salsa dancing lessons. And, in the run-up to Christmas we ran a German Christmas cafe serving non-alcoholic mulled wine, and traditional German cakes such as Lebkuchen and Stollen.

For Valentine's Day students wrote love messages in French or German which were displayed along the main corridor of the school. We also ran a "Love Cafe" serving "love potion" and various tasty treats to the accompaniment of the school string quartet.

We put on our very successful annual Languages Evening in March, where students from Years 7-11 performed songs and short sketches to a packed house of parents, students and staff.

March was also the month of our school-wide Easter Egg Hunt, which encompassed a number of language-related tasks.

In April a party of students headed off to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Southern Germany to take part in the second exchange visit there. Some students returned to stay with the exchange families they had met in 2006, while others went for the first time. They enjoyed 9 action packed days there and were all sad to leave.

In June, 2 groups of Year 9 students went off to Paris and the Rhineland in Germany for a week. The rain held off and both groups enjoyed an exciting programme of sightseeing and other activities.