Year 7
Coursebooks:
German: Echo 1 (Heinemann) 
Echo 1 workbooks may be purchased from the Department at cost price 
Spanish: Mira 1 (Heinemann) 
Mira 1 Workbooks may be purchased from the Department at cost price
Homework:
In Year 7, Homework plays an import role in establishing good habits of learning, revision and working independently. Each week, a short task will be set or a ‘learning’ homework will be expected. You can help your child by establishing a regular routine and discussing different ways to explore how to learn. Term 1 Weeks 1-3 
During the first 4 weeks of Year 7, students are introduced to the sounds and phonics of Spanish and German through song. Each tutor group is given a song in the foreign language to learn and they then compete against each other to win the coverted Eurovision trophy for their form. This year’s theme is Abba. Each student has the lyrics to their Abba song glued into their exercise books and homework for weeks 1-3 is to memorise their song.
Weeks 5-10
& Weeks 13-14
Immediately after finishing Eurovision, Year 7 students all participate in the first stage of the Routes into Language National Foreign Language Spelling Bee Competition. This competition, which won a European Language Label Award in 2011, was created by Head of Languages Jane Driver three years ago and is sponsored by the European Commission. The competition is currently held across England and Wales with over 33,000 students participating. This year it is also being piloted in Scotland.
The aims of the Spelling Bee are:
- to help students to develop memory and vocabulary learning skills.
- to develop accurate pronunciation and knowledge of phonics (the sounds of a language).
- to develop an understanding of basic grammar (noun genders and articles)
There are 4 stages to the competition and students are issued with 50 words to learn at each stage. At the end of each stage students are given 1 minute to correctly translate as many words as possible from English into the foreign language and to spell them correctly using the foreign alphabet. All Year 7 students participate in Stage One and the top four students at each stage move up to the next part of the competition.
- Class Competition – 10th – 14th December
- School Competition – 6th February
- Regional Competition – 20th March (Hinchingbrooke School)
- National Competition – 5th July (Anglia Ruskin University)
All students will be issued with a word list in Week 4, but they can also be downloaded from the competition website (which was constructed by a Y9 student.):
flspellingbee.co.uk
Alternatively, the Foreign Language Spelling Bee mobile phone app can be downloaded from the app store and / or the website above. The apps were also developed by Y9 students – so please support them by downloading the app!
Week 11-12 Assessment Revision
Y7 students will have two rounds of formal assessments during the year. The first assessments take place in Week 12 (w/c 26th November) and they will carry out a series of revision lessons in week 11. These assessments will cover the topics taught in weeks 1-10, namely:
- personal information and introductions
- Schoolbag items
- school subjects and timetable
- snacks and opinions
Students will sit 4 assessments in the following skills:
- reading
- writing
- listening
- speaking
Homework in Weeks 11-12 will be assessment revision and preparation, they should use their exercise book as well as the revision links below to help them.
Revision Links:
(Accessible out of school hours without subscribing)
(Accessible out of school hours without subscribing)
Spanish, French & German
(This is a subscription site that requires a password – Year 7 students have been told what this is)
www.languagesonline.org.uk This site does not require subscription.