“With languages, you are at home anywhere.”
- Edmund de Waal
Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) open doors to new worlds, helping learners connect across cultures, broaden their horizons, and see the world through different perspectives. Learning another language fosters curiosity, empathy, and confidence, empowering pupils to communicate meaningfully and to appreciate the richness and diversity of global communities. It provides the foundation for developing intercultural understanding and critical thinking, preparing young people to thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.
Through subject-specific training sessions, trainees will develop secure knowledge of key linguistic concepts such as vocabulary, grammar, phonics, and cultural context, while refining the pedagogical skills essential to high-quality language teaching. You will also explore how to inspire curiosity and confidence in language learning, enabling pupils to communicate meaningfully, express ideas creatively, and deepen their understanding of other cultures and communities.
You will train within a dedicated MFL cohort throughout the year. This focused approach ensures that you develop the knowledge and skills necessary to teach across the full MFL curriculum.
All secondary MFL trainees receive specialist subject training within their placement schools, supported by a dedicated and highly experienced subject mentor. Explicit links are made across teaching phases from KS2 to KS5, ensuring the content goes beyond the KS3 and KS4 National Curriculum to promote a deep understanding of linguistic development, cultural awareness, and learner progression across all key stages.
My name is Stéphanie Sismondi, and I am delighted to be working with you as your Subject Lead for Modern Foreign Languages. I have over twenty years’ experience in the MFL classroom, and I have taught English, French and Spanish in various settings in Yorkshire & Humber. In my role as an educator I have been a Curriculum Leader, a Head of Pastoral, a Key stage 3 Lead and a professional mentor for teacher training programmes. My passion has always been to teach and get the best out of my students. I continue to learn from them and feel privileged to do so in my career.
As the Subject Lead for MFL, I am passionate about fostering a nurturing, yet challenging MFL Curriculum that will ignite your love for languages as you embark on your new teacher training journey. With this curriculum, designed to emphasise cultural immersion and apply interactive activities into real world of the MFL classroom, you will greatly deepen your subject knowledge and unleash your confidence in the classroom. Together, we will shape the next generations of multilingual learners.