Modern Foreign Languages
Why teach a modern foreign language?
Our children live in a globally oriented and highly interconnected world, a world that is technology and information rich and characterised by increasing linguistic and cultural diversity and the growing interdependence of people, communities, and nations. Learning languages develops particular capabilities in cognition, cultural understanding and communication that support students today and into the future.
Intercultural language learning develops the following benefits:
Proficiency in additional languages extends learners’ capability to communicate. Learning a language also develops their understanding of a language in addition to their own.
Learning additional languages enables learners to engage with people of diverse cultures in ways that recognise differences and create connections. Language is inseparable from ways of knowing the world. Knowing additional languages and cultures involves connecting, engaging, and interacting with others and negotiating boundaries based on diverse ways of understanding the world.
Learning additional languages develops an understanding of how languages are structured and how they work to create meaning, thereby extending language awareness.
Learning additional languages extends an individual’s capacity to think and to use knowledge and information in interaction with others, using a range of technologies. Research has reinforced the belief that language learning uses and develops intelligence and particular conceptualisation and meta cognitive skills.
Learning additional languages increases the personal, social, and economic capacities of both individuals and communities. It also assists learners in shaping, engaging with, and making meaning from these new learning environments. Learners with knowledge of additional languages and cultures will be more able to shape and navigate their own environments. Knowing additional languages and cultures increases our students’ capabilities to:
- Be open to cultures of other countries
- Interact successfully with others
- Respond creatively to change
- Be aware of the world around them
MFL at Peover Superior Primary School - FRENCH
The Modern Foreign Languages curriculum at Peover aims to foster children’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. Throughout their MFL teaching, children will be taught to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and writing. We want our pupils to be able to communicate in French for practical purposes such as buying a drink in a shop or saying hello or describing themselves, but also to learn new ways of thinking and expose children to great literature in another language. Throughout the children’s learning in French, opportunities are made to link to other European languages such as Spanish, to provide a foundation for learning future languages, equipping children to study and work in other countries in the future.
Throughout Key Stage 2, children follow a cycle of similar themes allowing for planned revisiting of knowledge and concepts each year e.g. All about me (Moi) is taught at the beginning of each year, recapping on previous learning and introducing new content in a familiar context. Through each cycle the children will develop their knowledge of key vocabulary and an understanding of grammatical concepts in French which progress year on year and also encourage them to apply their new knowledge to each theme. The design of the curriculum enables opportunity for bridging back to knowledge previously taught, spaced repetition and over learning throughout KS2.
Our curriculum is designed to:
- Support children to understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources with an appropriate balance between spoken and written French across KS2
- 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
- Enable pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing, focused on familiar and routine matters such as school, home, food and holidays using their knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary.
- provide opportunities for children to 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
EYFS and KS1
Whilst not a statutory requirement at EYFS or KS1, children are introduced to spoken language in French through songs, music, stores, rhymes and poems. Children have the opportunity to listen to spoken language in different forms and begin to show their understanding and enjoyment by joining in and responding to oral language play.
By beginning to explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes in the early years and KS1, children will have a firm foundation to begin to link their understanding of patterns and sounds of language to the spelling, sound and meaning of words they will encounter in KS2.
Key Stage 2:
Pupils are taught to:
- 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.
- Understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.
French in Year 3 and Year 4
During their time in Lower Key Stage 2 (Year 3 and 4) children study a unit called Moi (All about me). This unit enables links to prior learning to be made, focusing on the basic language of conversation, numbers, colours, greetings etc. This allows the basic of the French language to be introduced e.g. Gender, vowel sounds, adjective placement and plurals. A range of songs, rhymes and texts are also introduced. During the spring and summer term, the themes of Ma Maison, Les Animaux, Ma Ville and The World Around Us allow for bridging back to previous learning as well as familiar themes to be built on.
Upper Key Stage 2:
During their final years at Peover Superior, children build on the themes of the previous two years, allowing for consolidation of learning and extension of vocabulary in familiar contexts. More challenging language skills such as prepositions, personal pronouns, plural, nouns and speaking in a range of tenses can be introduced as vocabulary is already secure. Where possible, themes taught in French relate to real life experiences such as holidays, hobbies and personal preferences.
French is taught weekly from Year 3 to Year 6. by a French specialist teacher Madame Brown.
You can download the document at the bottom of this page for details of our French Curriculum Long Term Plan.