MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES
"One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way."
Frank Smith
CURRICULUM
Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.
French lessons allow children to learn about the language, writing and culture of France and beyond.
A linguist needs:
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Good communication skills
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Cross cultural skills
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Analytical skills
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Research skills
INTENT
Bienvenue à Kingswood! Our MFL teaching focuses on French. We aim to develop the essential skills to learn a foreign language and to develop ‘intuition’ for languages by engaging children through practical role play, music, games, art and enrichment sessions. We teach French to develop communication skills and to encourage intercultural knowledge and understanding, empowering every child to claim their place as a ‘World Citizen’ with a lifelong passion and curiosity for languages and language learning.
We want children to understand how they, their family and friends live is different to how others do in other parts of the world and to develop a curiosity about that.
A high-quality French education will help pupils gain a knowledge and understanding of the language of another culture and a comparison of their own. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement.
Learners will:
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develop resilience in language learning as well as enjoyment of it through a challenging scheme of work.
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acquire language learning strategies for memorisation and retrieval as well as for listening, reading and understanding.
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develop the skill of how to use a bi-lingual dictionary to decode unfamiliar language.
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be able to manipulate language to speak or write sentences creatively using prior knowledge of grammar and key features; with and without a dictionary.
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have a sound grasp of the key sounds of the French language and their corresponding graphemes and be able to apply this knowledge when speaking, listening and reading aloud.
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recognise some of the language patterns of French and how these differ or are similar to English
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appreciate and be able to copy the sound of the language at text level through songs, stories and rhymes.
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have a deeper understanding of cultural differences and similarities.
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demonstrate substantial progress in learning French and work towards or meet the targets of the KS2 Programme of Study for Languages.
IMPLEMENTATION
French lessons are taught from Year 3 to Year 6 for a total of 30 minutes per week, with an emphasis on developing oral communication, mainly following La Jolie Ronde programme in accordance with the KS2 Framework. Initially, the emphasis is on French pronunciation, building up vocabulary, simple commands and exchanges and making links between sounds and spellings. Following on from this, children will be taught semantic structures that will allow them to give simple information, express likes/dislikes and opinions and connect ideas. Alongside this, children will learn about aspects of French culture and the extent and diversity of the Francophone world.
IMPACT
Our MFL curriculum will give children the opportunity regularly to showcase what they have learnt in their class workshare assemblies across a range of subject areas. Through regular repetition we aim to ensure consolidation of each topic area and the opportunity to identify any gaps in learning that need to be addressed. We aim to give children the skills and knowledge to be culturally sensitive and culturally aware and have a solid basis for building on their language learning as they move on to secondary school.