Bonjour! Nous aimons apprendre le français à l’école Stannington First School!
Hello! We love learning French at Stannington First School!
Intent
The intention of the Modern Foreign Languages curriculum at Stannington First School is that children are taught to develop an interest in learning other languages in a way that is enjoyable and stimulating. We intend to inspire our pupils to develop a love of languages and to expand their horizons to other countries, cultures and people. We aim to help children grow into curious, confident and reflective language learners and to provide them with a foundation that will equip them for further language studies.
From Key Stage Two we teach a carefully planned sequence of French lessons, ensuring progressive coverage of the skills required by the national curriculum. However, songs, rhymes and phrases are introduced from Early Years and throughout KS1. Our curriculum provides an introduction to the culture of French-speaking countries and communities and the resources that we use expose our pupils to authentic French, offering regular opportunities to listen to native speakers.
We encourage children’s confidence and strive to stimulate and encourage children’s curiosity about language. We actively plan links to develop their awareness of cultural differences in other countries linking this to British values and curriculum enrichment opportunities. In Lower KS2, children acquire basic skills and understanding of French with a strong emphasis placed on developing their speaking and listening skills. Lessons enable children to use and apply their French learning in a variety of contexts and lay the foundations for future language learning as the pupils move to Middle School, in Year 5.
Our lessons are sequenced so that prior learning is considered and opportunities for revision of language and grammar are built in.
Our lessons and resources help children to build on prior knowledge alongside the introduction of new skills as well as offering an insight into the culture of French-speaking countries and communities. The introduction and revision of key vocabulary and grammatical structures is built into each lesson. Pupils are encouraged and supported to develop their speaking and listening skills through conversational work, singing activities and games. As confidence and skill grows, children record their work through pictures, captions and sentences
- Displays or word mats are used to remind children of key vocabulary
- Practical activities, songs and games are used to help improve memory and recal
- Instructions or greetings may be given in French to expose children to the language as much as possible in their daily context
Impact
The impact of our MFL curriculum is that pupils are encouraged to understand the relevance of what they are learning in languages and how it relates to everyday life, for example, how it could help them in another country to talk to a French speaker. Our MFL curriculum ensures that pupils 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.
At Stannington First School, we assess children’s work by observing pupils in lessons and during individual or paired work. In KS2, we also use written evidence in folders as well as some recorded verbal evidence to inform our judgements of each child’s current stage of learning and language development; this is uploaded to Seesaw. This is subsequently used to plan support and challenge accordingly to ensure all children are encouraged to reach their full potential through the provision of varied opportunities