Role Summary
Hampton is one of the country’s foremost academically selective independent schools and this is an excellent opportunity to join a vibrant and successful department in a happy, high-achieving setting.
The Role
German is taught both as a core subject and as an option from First to Fifth Year (Years 7 – 11) and we offer the Goethe-Zertifikat in the Lower Sixth or the A-level course.
Pupils’ enthusiasm for the study of German is encouraged by imaginative, varied and challenging courses at all levels of the School, up to and including Oxbridge preparation.
Since September 2013, all pupils studying German work towards the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) IGCSE. Sixth Formers work towards the AQA AS and A2 examinations and have been following the new AQA AS/A2 syllabuses from September 2016.
Our current German textbooks are Stimmt! 1 (First to Third Years), the IGCSE German textbook (Fourth and Fifth Years) and the AQA textbook to A/AS level). These are extensively supplemented with our own material.
As a Language Assistant you will work with individuals and small groups for German conversation and the preparation of oral topics. In addition, you shall help run language clubs, prepare pupils for language competitions and assist with speaking assessment.
The Department
In the First Year, boys may choose French, German or Spanish as their main language, which they study for five years, at least to IGCSE level. In the Third Year, all boys opt for a second – and in some cases, third – language. French, German and Spanish is available to those who have studied other languages as a main language. Russian and Mandarin Chinese are also offered as an option at this stage and may be continued to IGCSE; Russian and Mandarin may also be continued to A level. Many boys choose to keep up their second and/or third language as an IGCSE option subject for the Fourth and Fifth Years and they achieve very good results.
Our results at (I)GCSE are very good, with almost 100% of candidates achieving 8 or 9 grades. A Level results are also very good with around 70% A* or A. Many of our A-Level students have gone on to study Modern Languages at universities, often in combination with other academic subjects.
Our teaching philosophy centres on the development of good oral skills, and so classes are generally in the target language where appropriate, with plenty of emphasis, particularly in junior classes, on role play and debating skills. At the same time there is also strong emphasis on grammatical accuracy from the outset.
The Modern Languages Department has 20 full-time and 6 part-time teaching staff, 3 Language Assistants and a Language Resources Co-ordinator. Those teachers within the Department who are Form Tutors have their own form room which is a language teaching room.
There are two Modern Language Offices and other members of the Department have their own personal workspace in the study area adjacent to the Common Room.
The Department has a large number of dedicated classrooms, all of which contain data projectors and equipment to allow audio-visual and listening materials to be played effectively from the school laptop. Some of the rooms are in the newest part of the School and feature interactive whiteboards or more recent interactive panels. All staff are provided with a laptop and the School’s wireless network enables internet access from any classroom. Teachers may also book any of the School’s ICT rooms for their classes.
The Language Resource Centre is an outstanding facility and contains most of the Modern Languages resources, including past examination papers, topic files, newspapers, magazines, DVDs and CDs, props and games. It also houses 100 MP3 recorders and laminating facilities. Most of our Modern Languages resources are now available online via Sharepoint, which are constantly updated. The site contains all textbook listening files, past examination papers and practice papers, articles relating to A Level topics and it provides links to useful websites as well as immediate access to films via ClickView.
All boys bring their own iPad or laptop to School and are able to carry out IT-based activities in any classroom. These are used to practise reading and listening as well as other web-based activities.