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In addition to their specific content and knowledge, the subjects and short courses of junior cycle provide students with opportunities to develop a range of key skills. There are opportunities to support all key skills in this course but some are particularly significant.
The examples below identify some of the elements that are related to learning activities in modern foreign languages. Teachers can also build many of the other elements of particular key skills into their classroom planning. The eight key skills are set out in detail in Key Skills of Junior Cycle.
The junior cycle curriculum focuses on eight key skills:
• being creative
• being literate
• being numerate
• communicating
• managing information and thinking
• managing myself
• staying well
• working with others.
The language learning activities below highlight links between learning modern foreign languages in junior cycle and the development of JC
Junior Cycle
Key Skills. Although they are set out separately below, they are not intended to be taught in isolation. The examples are illustrative in nature and offer suggestions of language learning activities across the three strands of the JC
Junior Cycle
MFL
Modern Foreign Languages
specification.
Links between JC
Junior Cycle
MFL
Modern Foreign Languages
and the Key Skills of Junior Cycle
Key skill
Student learning activity
Being literate
As students explore a wide variety of target language texts for different purposes, they develop their understanding and enjoyment of the target language.
Students learn to express their ideas clearly and accurately in the target language by processing and creating a wide variety of texts in the target language.
As students engage in meaningful communicative tasks and activities, they are supported to develop their understanding of how languages work.
Managing myself
Students learn to manage themselves and their learning by taking initiatives, setting and achieving personal goals and reflecting on and evaluating their learning.
Students learn to take ownership and responsibility for their learning over time when they are involved in making choices.
As students build their own student language portfolio (SLP
Student Language Portfolio
), they plan and create texts, set goals and reflect on their achievements, using formative feedback to self-assess their learning.
Staying
well
Students learn to develop their confidence and resilience when they are engaged in challenging and rewarding tasks and activities that are attainable and relevant to their lives.
Students’ wellbeing is supported when they have opportunities to display their talents and aptitudes in a safe and supportive learning environment.
Students’ wellbeing is supported when they learn to appreciate their own and others’ heritage and cultures.
Managing
information
and thinking
Learning a new language requires the use of knowledge, skills and strategies to support understanding of a range of texts in the target language.
Students think critically and creatively when they use the target language to negotiate meaning with others.
Students’ curiosity is nurtured as they gather, record, organise, and evaluate information and data about the target language and associated cultures.
Students learn to use digital technologies honestly, ethically and responsibly as they research information and engage in communicative activities with others in the target language.
Being
numerate
As students participate in meaning-focused and form-focused tasks and activities, they are supported to problem-solve, reason, predict, and notice linguistic patterns.
As students engage with multimodal texts such as surveys, infographics and numerical data in simple texts (date, time, prices, distance, etc.), students interpret data and represent their understanding in their own words.
As students participate in language tasks and activities, they reinforce and transfer concepts and numeracy skills including number recognition, sequencing, date, time, value, measurement, and percentage.
Being
creative
As students engage in meaningful communication in the target language, they use language creatively to get their message across.
As students build their student language portfolio, they use their imagination and creativity to produce a wide variety of texts.
As students take action to complete tasks and activities, they explore different options, and make choices and therefore become increasingly autonomous learners.
Working
with
others
As students use language for real communication in pair and group work, they work with others to overcome barriers in communication and avoid misunderstandings.
As students learn about the target language countries and associated cultures, they learn to be open to and appreciate cultural and linguistic diversity.
As students use criteria for peer assessment and feedback, they learn to develop relationships and to cooperate in a supportive environment.
Communicating
As students use the target language in their learning, they learn to understand the target language and express themselves in simple everyday interactions.
As students learn to perform simple interactions in the target language and present information to their peers using simple everyday language, they become increasingly confident and competent communicators.
As students engage with authentic target language texts, they become increasingly aware of the language as it is used for the purpose of communication in everyday life.
