The following examples show how units from the QCA/DfES schemes of work for modern foreign languages at key stage 3 can be modified to meet the needs of gifted pupils.

The study of a town or region

An authentic town study can provide a wealth of opportunities to extend the language experience of talented linguists as well as their cultural knowledge and experience. This activity can take the form of supported self-study and could be undertaken independently or as a group activity.

Pupils can choose a town where they or the school already have connections (for example, through a twinning or exchange arrangement) or select a town through research and their own interest. This activity can provide cross-curricular links, for example, studying geographical features and climate. It also provides opportunities to use the internet for research and possibly to set up an e-mail link with a school or other organisation in the town.

Pupils can explore a number of themes, including tourism, ecology, the lives of young people, history and culture. They can read extensively, carry out surveys, review and summarise information, and make presentations in a variety of formats, both in speech and in writing. Through this activity, pupils will have the opportunity to express and justify ideas, opinions and points of view, to seek the views of others, and to develop what they have seen and heard.

French

Unit 11: A la mode

In this unit of work, pupils learn to give detailed descriptions of fashion and clothes, building on earlier work on adjectives and agreement. By the end of the unit, most pupils will be able to read and understand descriptions of clothes from a range of sources, and describe people and clothes in some detail in speech and in writing, using comparisons, demonstrative adjectives and reasons for preferences.

A unit like this provides opportunities to meet the needs of gifted linguists in a number of areas while enabling them to continue working with their peers in the classroom. Pupils can use resources such as fashion magazines and catalogues, TV shows on fashion and TV advertisements. Higher-attaining pupils should be expected to deal with authentic materials, such as magazines aimed at young French people, and to focus on extended text (rather than just the picture captions), with the aim of producing extended writing and speaking. Activities will be differentiated through outcome, for example, in the case of a fashion show commentary expressing preferences, gifted pupils could give more detailed descriptions, reasons and justification.

Higher-attaining pupils could also take part in a piece of independent work over the course of the unit, for example, describing features of fashion over three or four decades and presenting their work orally or in writing. This provides opportunities for independent research and use of reference material (including text from ICT-based sources), editing and redrafting to improve accuracy and variety of expression.

French

Unit 14: Déjà

In this unit, pupils consolidate and extend their knowledge of the perfect tense, learning to talk and write about a variety of past events -- past birthdays, special occasions and recent events in the wider world (as reported in the news). At the end of the unit, most pupils will understand the difference between present and perfect tenses and apply this knowledge in different situations.

Higher-attaining pupils will handle most aspects of the perfect tense accurately and with confidence, understanding texts that use the perfect tense and summarising them or reading for pleasure. Resources might include newspapers, access to the internet and off-air radio recordings. Higher-attaining pupils could:

access a range of information from French news websites, listening to commentaries at normal speed and then using their knowledge and deduction skills to try to understand the main points of the story, and summarising it orally or in writing

pursue their own interests, for example, sports stories

create their own news programmes, which encourage them to use the third as well as the first person and to write or speak at greater length

embark on creative writing projects, such as diaries of historical or news personalities.

Schemes of work