Skills for Life: International Language: Communicating Personal Information (Written)
International language (written): communicating personal information is a 10 hour Skills for Life unit, from Entry 1 to Level 2, offered in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish. Learners read short texts about people and write about themselves, from single words at Entry 1 to written facts, opinions, answers and requests at Level 2. It is one unit that learners combine with others into a Skills for Life, or Skills for Life and Work, Award, Certificate or Diploma. Digital demand is low. No assessment criterion asks for digital work; digital skills sit in suggested emails, CVs, online quizzes and dictionaries, and photographed evidence.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 10
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Low
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Two learning outcomes (understand material relating to communicating personal information, write about personal information), with separate assessment criteria at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 10 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: Two learning outcomes (understand key facts and information in texts relating to personal information, produce texts about personal information), with separate assessment criteria at Level 1 and Level 2. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 10 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Evaluating and improving digital content
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Producing a CV, profile or ID card
A completed profile, ID card and CV are listed sources of evidence, and suggested activities have learners at Levels 1 and 2 complete a very basic CV or fill in a mock CV. These documents can evidence the written facts in learning outcome 2, but making them digitally is optional and not required by the assessment criteria.
DCF: Creating digital content, Evaluating and improving digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils complete a digital ID card template in the language with their name, age, birthday and town, and add a photo or avatar.
- Year 8
- Pupils make a one page profile in Word with headings for family, school and hobbies and two full sentences under each.
- Year 9
- Pupils lay out a basic CV in the language using a table for personal details, school and skills, and check it fits on one page and is easy to read.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Sources of evidence, page 14; Suggested activities, pages 12 and 13; Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 2, assessment criteria 2.1, page 6
“complete a very basic CV or write an email”
Progression step 3
I can use a range of software to select, produce and edit a range of multimedia components for a purpose, such as:
- text and images, e.g. format text (bold, underline, italics, highlight); insert and edit text boxes; columns; use refine tools (spellchecker, find and replace); word wrap; crop; alter size and shape; alter images; add effects; trim and split sound and video clips; transitions; onion skin
- presentation, e.g. page orientation; animations; transitions; remove and alter images; use background; use action buttons to create hyperlink; embed objects.
I can ensure my output is appropriate for specific purposes.
Progression step 4
I can explore and develop a range of formal text document structures for different audiences and purposes.
Good to know
- There is one unit for each language. The title is "available in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish", and for unit codes the pack says "Please refer to the Skills for Life and Work qualifications specification." (Unit overview, page 3), where every code is still listed as TBC (section 3.1, page 13).
- Specialist staff are expected: "assessors should have subject-specific expertise in language teaching and assessment" (Resources required for assessment, page 16). Devices help but are optional: "it would be beneficial to have access to computers, tablets, or mobile devices for digital activities and research" (page 14).
- Evidence can be paper or digital. Sources include "annotated photographic evidence of matching or sorting activity", a "completed profile", a "CV" and a "letter or email" (Sources of evidence, page 14), and a portfolio "is not limited to paper-based materials" (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.1, page 18).
- Sampling is remote: "all evidence submitted for sampling must be provided digitally by the centre" (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 5.2, page 23).
- Suggested assessment tasks are optional: "These tasks are not mandatory." (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.1, page 18). Every digital tool named in the pack, such as Blooket, Quizlet and Kahoot, appears only in suggested activities.
- AI use must be acknowledged. Properly referenced AI use "can be acceptable", but "Failing to acknowledge use of AI tools when they have been used as a source of information" is malpractice (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.6, page 21).
- The pack carries a note that "The UK Government has announced plans to restrict social media use by children under 16" (page 2), which matters for any online contact with a partner school.
- The unit starts from scratch: the units "assume that learners have no previous experience of the language being learnt" (Planning courses, page 7), with Entry Level pitched at CEFR pre-A1 to A1 and Levels 1 and 2 at A2 to B1 (page 8).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names VCSE Travel and Tourism and GCSE Business as qualifications the international language units can complement, and writing about nationality, where people live and work, and future plans fits both. Learners already taking GCSE French, GCSE German or GCSE Spanish are pointed towards a new language rather than the same one. Within the Skills Suite the unit pairs with International language (spoken): communicating personal information, the Social activities units and the Skills for Work Education and employment units, which share vocabulary for school, work and hobbies. Translating sentences into English or Cymraeg draws on GCSE English Language and Literature, GCSE Cymraeg Language and Literature and GCSE Core Cymraeg, and writing a basic CV or covering letter echoes the job applications in the Applying for jobs unit.
Source: WJEC International language (written) - communicating personal information unit delivery and assessment pack, read with the WJEC Entry 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life and Skills for Work specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).