Building vocabulary in UK schools: Laying the foundations from KS3 to GCSE.
TiS has expanded its KS3 vocabulary support across French, German and Spanish, helping students build the strong foundations that make GCSE far less daunting.
Vocabulary learning isn't always the most glamorous part of learning a language.
But it's difficult to do much without it.
The stronger a student's vocabulary becomes, the more they can understand when listening and reading — and the more freedom they have when speaking and writing.
That's why the work done at KS3 matters so much.
The goal shouldn't simply be learning a list for Friday's test and forgetting it by Monday. Students need to encounter vocabulary repeatedly, retrieve it from memory and eventually recognise and use it in different contexts.
And those foundations matter when GCSE arrives. A student who has spent several years steadily building their vocabulary is in a very different position from one suddenly faced with a mountain of words to learn in Year 10.
We've been doing some building of our own.
We've expanded TiS's KS3 vocabulary support across French, German and Spanish, including more vocabulary aligned with commonly used coursebooks and schemes of work. The idea is simple: teachers should be able to use TiS alongside what they're already teaching, rather than having to choose between the two.
Small steps, lots of retrieval, plenty of repetition.
It might not sound revolutionary — but when it comes to vocabulary, little and often really does add up.
Build stronger foundations from KS3: start your free 14-day trial with This is School!
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