Intent
We believe that learning a foreign language provides a fantastic opportunity for pupils to discover other cultures; fostering their curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world.
We aim for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) to provide a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for pupils; preparing them to be global citizens in the wider world. Modern Foreign Languages should raise awareness of a multi-lingual and multi-cultural world whilst also developing intra-personal and communication skills. MFL allows children to learn in engaging and active ways, often without pen or paper.
We believe MFL is a challenging discipline which leads to massive rewards. It requires and develops competence in communication and problem solving in a real-world context. Pupils learn to structure and analyse language in a way that not only enables them to communicate functionally with non-English speakers, but also to express complex opinions about themselves and the world at large.
Our French curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils:
- understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
- speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
- can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
- discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.
At Shillingstone Primary, we encourage creativity and there is an emphasis on having fun with the new language. ICT is used where appropriate to enhance teaching and learning.
Children are taught specific skills, concepts and vocabulary in a dedicated, timetabled lesson. The content of these sessions is reinforced during the week, where appropriate and possible.
Implementation
French is taught from Year 3 to Year 6 as a discrete subject for one hour every week. The overview below maps out the units of work taught in each year group.
We follow the National Curriculum and through our teaching pupils are taught to
- listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding
- explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words
- engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help
- speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
- develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases
- present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences
- read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
- appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language
- broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary
- write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly
- describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing
Differentiation and Inclusion
We allow for differentiation by using peer support; deploying teaching assistants to support children who need their learning scaffolded more; setting common tasks which are open-ended and can have a variety of responses; and developing resources of different complexities, matched to the ability of the child.
Primary Languages teaching at Shillingstone Primary is fully inclusive. Experience has indeed shown that lower ability children can derive particular benefit from taking part in Primary Languages learning activities in which they may be less disadvantaged than in other areas of the curriculum.
Language learning activities are planned in such a way as to encourage the full and active participation of all pupils. Work is differentiated as appropriate to the needs of individual children. Pairs and groups for collaborative work may be made up in different ways, depending on the task.
Impact
This is what our pupils think about French in our school:
“Our lessons are really fun and I like practising speaking a different language with my friends.”
“It is good having teachers who can speak the language so well.”
“I have learnt so much and wrote a story in French. I was really proud of myself and it went up on the display in the classroom which made me feel happy.”
Most assessment is formative and is used to support teaching and learning and to inform future planning. Assessments are based on observations of children working on different oral activities and (where appropriate) written product.
In addition to the above, the impact of our French provision is monitored in a variety of ways:
– Learning walks by the subject leader;
– Collaborative ‘book looks’ with teaching staff;
– Internal moderations; and
– Insight assessments recorded at the end of each term.
French teaching in Ocean Class
The children have learnt the vocabulary in previous lessons for numbers, animals and food items. Today they put these skills and knowledge in practise by writing longer sentences. Great French work Ocean Class!
French teaching in Desert Class
In Year 6, in previous lessons, the children have read the story of the Hungry Caterpillar and learnt vocabulary associated with it: days of the week, foods, numbers and conjunctions. Today, they put these skills and knowledge in practise by writing their own version of the story in French! Great French work Desert Class!
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