Modern Foreign Languages

A language qualification increases a person's chance of getting a job or college place.  In a country where so few people speak a foreign language having one in your profile is a highly respected skill and could offer many advantages in life.  Higher employability and higher wages - it’s got to be worth it.

A language is an essential part of a broad education and balanced GCSE programme.

The Department can offer GCSE French, Spanish and German, subject to the number of students opting for Languages

  • French is spoken by 113 million people as a first language, and a further 190 million a second language second language.
  • German is spoken by one hundred million people
  • 100-110 million people are learning French NOW in order to communicate with foreigners
  • German is the most widely understood language in the whole of Eastern Europe
  • French is the only language apart from English spoken as a native language on 5 continents
  • German is the fourth most widely spoken language in the world
  • French is the second most commonly used language on the internet
  • German is useful to anyone hoping to study engineering, medicine or business
  • French is officially ranked as the second most influential language in the world
  • German speakers are welcomed by firms who have an interest in overseas sales
  • French is the third most commonly spoken non-English language in US homes, and the second most commonly taught language in US schools
  • German firms are our fiercest competitors
  • French is an official working language in dozens of international organizations
  • 20% of North-East businesses believe they could double their trade with better language skills in the workforce
  • Take a language with business or science and you at least TREBLE your employment opportunities
  • Spanish is the world's No. 2 language in terms of how many people speak it as their first language (329 million native speakers).
  • It is slightly ahead of English (328 million) but far behind chinese (1.2billion).
  • There are 500 million people around the world that speak Spanish as either their first or second language.
  • In addition to Spain, Spanish is also widely spoken in the United States, particularly in the Southern and Western states such as California, Texas and New Mexico, where more than a quarter of household speakers speak Spanish.
  • Latin American countries are experiencing constant economic growth and because of that, are becoming more important as trading partners; Spanish is the native language for the majority of these countries.
  • Mexico is the country with the most Spanish speakers in the world (even more than Spain!)
  • Spain is a very popular destination, both for holidays and for British people buying property abroad.