Skills for Life: International Language: Social Activities (Written)
International language (written): social activities 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 and write about leisure activities, places, transport, food and drink, from single words at Entry 1 to opinions, bookings and requests at Level 2. It is one unit that learners combine with other 10 or 20 hour units 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 emails, a partner school and suggested activities.
- 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 information relating to everyday social activities, be able to write about everyday social activities), with separate assessment criteria at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3, including correct spelling. 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 everyday social activities, produce texts about social activities), with one reading criterion and four writing criteria at each of 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 Storing and sharing
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Practising vocabulary with online quiz and flashcard tools
Learners practise new words and sentence structures for social activities with online tools such as Blooket, Quizlet or Kahoot, and Quizlet sets can be made by learners as well as teachers. This is a suggested activity at all levels and is not required by the assessment criteria.
DCF: Creating digital content, Storing and sharing
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils play a Kahoot in the target language that matches ten hobby words, such as football, swimming and cinema, to pictures.
- Year 8
- Pupils make a Quizlet set of twelve leisure activities, practise the spelling mode until they type each word correctly, and share the link with a partner.
- Year 9
- Pupils build a Quizlet or Blooket set of written café questions and answers, such as "What would you like?" and "How much is it?", and use the results screen to pick out the five they got wrong most.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Delivery guidance, suggested activities, speaking and listening, page 11; resources available to support delivery, page 16
“Online tools such as Blooket, Quizlet or Kahoot could also be used, where appropriate.”
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 create and share hyperlinks to local, network and online files.
Progression step 4
I can select and use a variety of appropriate software, tools and techniques to create, modify and combine multimedia components for a range of audiences and purposes, such as:
- text and images, e.g. explore and use effectively image manipulation techniques; explore and use appropriately the many aspects of document layout; use animation, video and audio effects such as echo, tempo, envelope, layering, frame rate, key frames
- presentation, e.g. use design tools; adapt themes and colours to suit the purpose; create master templates.
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Photographing written work as portfolio evidence
Possible sources of evidence include annotated photographs of matching or sorting activities and photographs or photocopies of mini whiteboard work, alongside worksheets, menus, letters and emails. Taking and labelling photographs is one way to keep short-lived written work in the portfolio, but it is not itself assessed.
DCF: Storing and sharing, Creating digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils photograph their mini whiteboard with five food words on an iPad and save it in a class folder with their name.
- Year 8
- Pupils photograph a finished card sort of hobbies and places and add labels on the image saying which activity goes where.
- Year 9
- Pupils upload photographs of a card sort, a mini whiteboard sentence and a written order form to an online folder, name each file and add a caption saying what it shows.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Possible sources of evidence, page 15; Skills for Life and Work specification, Section 4.1, pages 18 and 19
“annotated photographic evidence of matching or sorting activity”
Progression step 3
I can manage files and folders locally or online, e.g. move files to a folder.
I can upload files from a local drive to online storage.
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.
Progression step 4
I can select and use a variety of appropriate software, tools and techniques to create, modify and combine multimedia components for a range of audiences and purposes, such as:
- text and images, e.g. explore and use effectively image manipulation techniques; explore and use appropriately the many aspects of document layout; use animation, video and audio effects such as echo, tempo, envelope, layering, frame rate, key frames
- presentation, e.g. use design tools; adapt themes and colours to suit the purpose; create master templates.
Good to know
- The unit page gives no code: "Please refer to the Skills for Life and Work qualifications specification." (Unit overview, page 3), and the specification lists each language version of the unit with the code "TBC" (Section 3.1, page 13).
- The unit is offered in six languages: "This unit is available in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish." and "The unit title awarded to the learner will indicate the language that has been achieved." (Unit overview, page 3).
- No digital equipment is required. The unit is "designed to be delivered using standard classroom environments", though "it would be beneficial to have access to computers, tablets, or mobile devices for digital activities and research" (Resources for delivery, page 15).
- Written evidence can be photographed: possible sources include "photographic evidence/photocopy of mini white board" and "letter or email" (Possible sources of evidence, page 15), and the portfolio "is not limited to paper-based materials" (Specification, Section 4.1, page 18).
- Suggested activities and tasks are optional: "These tasks are not mandatory." Teachers "may choose to use these suggestions, adapt them, or develop their own alternatives" (Specification, Section 4.1, page 18).
- AI tools: misuse includes "Using AI to complete parts of the assessment so that the work does not reflect the learner's own work" and "Failing to acknowledge use of AI tools when they have been used as a source of information" (Specification, Section 4.6, page 21).
- The pack opens with a warning that "The UK Government has announced plans to restrict social media use by children under 16, which may impact some of our qualifications." (page 2), which matters for any online contact with a partner school.
- Staffing: "it is preferential that teachers have subject-specific expertise in language teaching" (page 15) and assessors "should have subject-specific expertise in language teaching and assessment" (page 17).
- Learners can take the unit at several levels, but "only the highest level of the unit achieved will count towards the GLH required for a qualification" (Specification, Section 2.2, page 10).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names VCSE Travel and Tourism and GCSE Business as qualifications this unit could complement, and the menus, restaurant bookings and dietary requests such as a nut allergy also fit VCSE Hospitality and Catering. It sits alongside GCSE French, GCSE German and GCSE Spanish, but the pack says learners already taking one of those GCSEs "may not benefit" from this unit in the same language and may prefer a new one, such as Italian, Japanese or Mandarin. Within the Skills Suite it pairs with International language (spoken): social activities and with the communicating personal information and education and employment units, spoken and written. The digital work, such as emails, online quizzes and a Canva menu, is light and links only loosely with GCSE Digital Technology.
Source: WJEC International language (written) - social activities 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).