MFL - French Statement
‘With joyful hearts, we love, learn and praise as the family of God’
Intent
The national curriculum for languages 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 Sacred Heart, we believe that primary school is about providing the best possible start in life for children. Language skills and an awareness and understanding of other cultures broaden a person’s outlook and increase the opportunities available to them in adult life. An awareness of other cultures gives us an appreciation of the similarities and differences between people and therefore a deeper appreciation of our communities.
Introducing children to a foreign language at primary school, encourages an interest and helps to develop a strong foundation in learning language, which they take with them to secondary school. Children are more likely to study foreign languages later in life if they have been introduced to them at primary school. Young children are well adapted to learning languages.
The modern foreign language taught at Sacred Heart from Year 3 to Year 6 is French.
We aim to build high levels of competence in the key skills of speaking, listening, reading, writing and grammar. We encourage children’s confidence, we strive to stimulate and encourage children’s curiosity about language. Our MFL curriculum is designed to progressively develop children’s skills in languages, through regular taught lessons. Children progressively acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary organised around topics.
Implementation
Please click here to see the Long Term Plan for this year.
Classes are planned to cover all abilities. Each lesson builds on previous learning so that words already learnt are rehearsed regularly and new vocabulary is added to a child’s skill set. Short vocabulary tests are set to help children learn and remember. The scheme of work has been written to be used across Key Stage 2 to help deliver French lessons in line with the 2014 National Curriculum. It covers all key skills and offers opportunities to reinforce and use language as well as exploring French traditions and customs.
Teaching is supported by high quality resources and classroom displays and each year group has a set of French dictionaries, online resources and knowledge organisers to support learning. Children are encouraged to develop their speaking and listening skills in every lesson through conversational work, songs and rhymes and stories. Grammar and sentence structure are taught specifically as children progress through the scheme. Vocabulary is used to build sentences and conversation.
Throughout Key Stage 2 French lessons cover, numbers, greetings, emotions, commands, colours, animals, food and much more. Year 5 and 6 have a greater emphasis on developing their pronunciation skills and reading and writing in French. This is done through a series of fun activities, games and songs.
We use role play in groups and in pairs. This is designed to give the children confidence in using the language in everyday situations such as introducing themselves, buying items in shops and asking travel directions.
All children are catered for within our French lessons, for example SEN children may be given less vocabulary to learn or additional support from adults within class. Extension tasks are given to those children who require additional challenge; these may include using new vocabulary in conjunction with pre-existing knowledge or independent vocabulary investigations.
Children are assessed through a variety of oral and written tasks, including vocabulary tests. The outcomes of these assessments are used to ascertain children’s learning and ability and to inform future teaching and enhance pupil progress.
Impact
The aim at Sacred Heart is to begin to develop an ability to communicate in everyday situations through the use of French. Children will also develop an understanding of the structure of language while gaining awareness of the diverse cultures and languages that are spoken across our school, Europe and the world.
They will know the importance of language in society and develop the understanding of the significance and importance of learning another language. They will explore and know about aspects of culture, life and celebrations in France.
Book and work sampling show that pupils have had opportunities for practice and refinement of skills within the MFL curriculum from Year 3 to Year 6 which will support them on their journey through high school. Books also demonstrate that pupils, over time, develop a range of skills and language enabling them to communicate in French with another person.
Links – please click to open
Games and activities for KS2
Comptines et chansons pour enfants
Games and traditional french songs for children.
Range of French activities and games for ks2 and ks1
A useful bilingual dictionary.
Games and quizzes in French