Skills you learn from a Modern Foreign Language (Year 9)

A modern foreign language builds a surprising range of skills - speaking across cultures, reading meaning in context, communicating around what you don't know, and writing clearly to a deadline. This lesson plan will help you to show Year 9 students the skills they're building from learning a language.

This lesson is designed to be delivered in 30 minutes as a teacher-led classroom activity.

This activity supports the following frameworks:

  • Gatsby Benchmark 4

This activity is suitable for Year 9 and features careers linked to the following subjects:

  • Modern Foreign Languages

This is one of three lesson plans designed for Year 9 Modern Foreign Languages teachers:

These lesson plans will help you show students how learning a language connects to their future careers.

We recommend using this lesson plan at the end of the autumn term. By this point students will have a term of language lessons behind them, giving them real material to reflect on when thinking about the skills they've been building. Recognising those skills helps students see the language they're learning as more than a subject to study, and sets them up for GCSE choices in the spring.

Learning objectives

  • Students will understand that a modern foreign language builds a broad range of transferable skills.
  • Students will be able to name 2-3 skills they've developed this term and give examples.

Before the lesson

  • You will need a computer connected to the internet and a classroom screen.
  • Open the What can you do with a Modern Foreign Language? page and have it ready on the screen.
  • Review the Skills that a Modern Foreign Language builds section and think of teaching examples for each one.

During the lesson

1. What have we studied this term? (5 mins)

  • Ask students to call out topics, vocabulary themes, or activities they've done in language lessons this term.
  • Write the suggestions on the board and highlight any patterns.

2. Skills that a language builds (15 mins)

  • Bring up the What can you do with a Modern Foreign Language? page on the classroom screen.
  • Review the contents of the page with students so that they understand what it covers.
  • Scroll to the Skills that a Modern Foreign Language builds section and work through each skill in turn.
    • Ask students which topic, activity, or piece of speaking practice from the board involved that skill.
    • Share your own teaching examples if students are stuck.

3. Making it personal (10 mins)

  • Ask students to pick 2-3 skills from the list they feel they've developed this term.
  • Go round the class, asking each student to name one skill and give an example of when they used it.
  • Close by reminding students that these are valuable skills for work and life, not just for exams.

After the lesson