Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)

Intent

The national curriculum states that “Teaching may be of any modern or ancient foreign language and should focus on enabling pupils to make substantial progress in one language. The teaching should provide an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and should lay the foundations for further foreign language teaching at key stage 3”

At Dilton Marsh C of E Primary School we believe that high quality Modern Foreign languages education provides the foundations for a life-long love of languages.

Through our French curriculum at Dilton Marsh we aim to give our pupils the skills to embrace other languages and cultures.

We want our children to be open minded and to understand the opportunities that will be open to them if they have a good grasp of modern foreign languages. We want children to become increasingly confident when trying to pronounce different sounds or words and be resilient when trying to understand new phrases or structures. We want them to be creative as they try to express their ideas in another language and to gain enjoyment from their language learning activities.

Our school vision is Together, we strive to provide a safe, nurturing and challenging environment within our Christian ethos of kindness and respect.

We share a passion for life-long learning and strive for the best for ourselves, others and the World.

Children are encouraged to become independent, curious and resilient learners with the ability to learn from their mistakes and accept challenges.

“For Nothing is Impossible with God.” Luke 1 : 37

Implementation

In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in Modern Foreign Languages, we implement a French curriculum that is consistent throughout the whole school.

Planning for French is in line with the “Languages programmes of study” within the “Key stage 2 National Curriculum in England 2014’ and is adapted to match the needs of our pupils at Dilton Marsh primary school. We aim to stretch the most able linguists and develop the confidence for the less able learners so that all enjoy their language learning experience and are ready to engage fully in French and other language lessons at secondary school.

French is taught by a specialist throughout the school in discrete weekly sessions to ensure consistency and progression. The focus of study in French is on practical communication. We ensure progression between our year groups by revisiting what has been previously taught and building on it through a carefully planned progressive curriculum. Each term focuses on a different topic with a gradually increasing amount of vocabulary and complexity of linguistic structures.

Impact

The impact and measure of this is to ensure children not only acquire the appropriate age-related knowledge linked to the French curriculum, but also skills which can be transferred to other languages.

All children will have

• an understanding of some cultural differences between France and the UK
• tolerance for people from other linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
• a curiosity for other languages and cultures they may encounter in their future lives.
• basic speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in French such as:

• 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 Languages – key stage 2 understand basic grammar appropriate to the French, including : feminine, masculine and other linguistic patterns; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.

Essential characteristics of French:

• A willingness to have a go and join in with a wide variety of activities

• Curiosity and tolerance for differences in how we speak and live in France and at home

• The ability to listen to different sounds and to imitate them

• To look at patterns in the French language and to try to apply them

• Resilience and perseverance when French can be very different from English

Pupils in all year groups experience learning a language regularly. All classes have a weekly French session with our specialist language teacher starting with reception class. The pupils quickly get used to how different French sounds compared to English and enjoy joining in with lots of different activities, games and songs to practice everyday topics like colours, animals, numbers, hobbies, sports, food, shopping and much more. As the listening, speaking, reading skills and a little writing builds up pupils leave Year 6 ready for learning French and other Foreign languages at secondary school.