Modern Foreign Language

To learn a foreign language and foster our pupils' curiousity of different cultures; unlocking their potential.

Intent:

Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. The 2014 National Curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages aims to ensure that all children:


Understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources.

Are able to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and that they are 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.

A high-quality languages education should foster children’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. At Farndon Primary, we are committed to ensuring that teaching enables pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. We recognise that competence in another language enables children to interpret, create and exchange meaning within and across cultures.

At Farndon Primary we are committed to ensuring our MFL teaching provides the foundation for learning further languages, as well as the means to access international opportunities for study and work later in life. The teaching of French in Key Stage 2 provides an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and lays the foundations for further foreign language teaching at KS3.

Implementation


Children are introduced to French in the Juniors. Throughout the Key Stage, children receive a 30 minute lesson every week. This is supplemented through the use of spoken French in the classroom beyond the timetabled lesson, which includes the use of French to give basic instructions and refer to familiar objects in the classroom. This enables the children to develop early language acquisition skills that facilitate their understanding of the patterns of language and how these differ from, or are similar to, English.

Lessons across the Key Stages support the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing:

  • Teacher follow the Catherine Cheater programme when planning Mfl lessons.
  • Children are taught to listen attentively to spoken language and respond, joining in with songs, rhymes and games.
  • Children have an international link with a French school, with regular correspondence taking place. This supports the school’s commitment to providing opportunities for children to communicate for practical purposes. The school was used by staff, who took part in training through the Erasmus programme.
  • Children develop an appreciation of a variety of stories, songs, poems and rhymes in French that are delivered through the curriculum content.
  • International Day of Languages enables the whole school to be immersed in the inclusion of the culture and use the language meaningfully in context.

Knowledge and skills in French are progressive from one Milestone to the next and are mapped across the school, in line with the Catherine Cheater scheme of work. Cross curricular links have been identified and the school’s own context is considered as part of curriculum planning such as the French Community Café.

 

Impact


Our MFL curriculum ensures that children develop their knowledge of where different languages, including the range of home languages spoken by the families of the school, as well as French, are spoken in the world. Varied learning experiences, including ‘International Day of Languages’ also ensures that languages are celebrated throughout the school community whilst providing a context for language learning and develop the children’s understanding of different cultures.
Innovative approaches to MFL have enabled the achievement of the British Council’s ‘International School Award’ in the past, our school becoming a Global Lead school, participation in the Erasmus project and obtaining Rights Respecting School Level 1 award. Achievement in these awards was subject to external moderation of the school’s evidence base.

Image result for erasmus project for learning french in france logo

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