Modern Foreign Languages – French

Our school curriculum is driven and shaped by our school vision, which informs everything that we do.

St Nicholas provides a welcoming, inclusive and aspirational learning environment at the heart of its community. We nurture, encourage and support all children, adults and their families to be the best as God intended. Following God’s example of love and trust, we develop resilience and creativity in all we do.

Learning, loving and encouraging through Christ.

An uncompromising focus on pupils’ personal development has made St Nicholas Church of England Primary Academy a place where pupils always come first. Ofsted 2019

“Learning a language enriches the curriculum. It provides excitement, enjoyment and challenge for children and teachers, helping to create enthusiastic learners and to develop positive attitudes to language learning throughout life. The natural links between languages and other areas of the curriculum can enhance the overall teaching and learning experience. The skills, knowledge and understanding gained can make a major contribution to the development of children’s oracy and literacy and to their understanding of their own culture/s and those of others.” The Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages (DfES 2005)

Curriculum Intent

At St Nicholas Primary School we believe that the learning of a foreign language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our pupils. It helps them to develop communication skills including key skills of speaking and listening and extends their knowledge of how language works. Learning another language gives children a new perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.

At St Nicholas Primary School, we teach French to our key stage 2 children using the Kapow scheme of work. We have established links with Saint-Joseph, Saint-Andre-Lez-Lille in France.  The children have pen pals, who they write to throughout the year.  In recent years, the children have visited the France and the French children have visited us.  We are also very excited about participating in a music project with the school.  Every year, we celebrate Bastille Day across the school and learn about French history and culture. As well as French, KS2 pupils participate in European languages day every year, where they get to experience a language other than French.

The aims of Primary Languages teaching at St Nicholas Primary School are to

• foster an interest in language learning by introducing children to other languages in a way that is enjoyable and accessible to all pupils;
• stimulate and encourage children’s curiosity about language and creativity in experimenting with it;
• support oracy and literacy, and in particular develop speaking and listening skills;
• help children develop their awareness of cultural similarities and differences;
• lay the foundations for future language study by pupils;
• provide an added perspective on first language teaching and learning;
• give an extra dimension to teaching and learning across the curriculum.

Implementation

Speaking and listening

The children will learn to:

• listen carefully and recognise sounds and combinations of sounds which are similar to, or different from, those of English;
• understand and respond with increasing competence, accuracy and confidence in a range of situations;
• join in songs, rhymes, raps and stories which enable them to practise the sounds of the language in an enjoyable and non-threatening way;
• take part in conversations at an appropriate level, reacting to instructions and questions and expressing opinions and feelings;
• memorise and recite short texts, and prepare and give a talk on a familiar subject confidently and with regard for the audience.

Reading and writing

The children will learn to:

• remember grapheme-phoneme correspondences and vocabulary directly taught and reinforced through word games and similar activities;
• read stories and rhymes for enjoyment and to gain awareness of the structure of the written language;
• read, copy and write independently familiar words and simple phrases in context e.g. classroom items, display labels, weather chart, date;
• write sentences and short texts independently and from memory.

Intercultural understanding

The children will learn to:

• describe the life of children in the countries where the language is spoken;
• identify similarities and differences in everyday life, social conventions, traditional stories and celebrations;
• recognise how symbols, products and objects can represent the culture of a country, and how aspects of the culture of different countries become incorporated in the daily life of others;
• recognise and mistrust stereotypes, and understand and respect cultural diversity.

Inclusion

Primary Languages teaching at St Nicholas Primary School is fully inclusive. No child is excluded by reason of a learning difficulty, or because they have English as an additional language. Experience has indeed shown that such children can derive particular benefit from taking part in Primary Languages learning activities in which they may be less disadvantaged than in other areas of the curriculum.

Language learning activities are planned in such a way as to encourage the full and active participation of all pupils. Work is differentiated as appropriate to the needs of individual children. Pairs and groups for collaborative work may be made up in different ways, depending on the task.

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and British Values

In learning about another language, it is necessary to be aware of “difference” in a positive way. To know that there are other ways to live and behave which are valid, despite not being the same as the one that the child knows at home. It gives an opportunity for insight and debate into why things are not always as one has grown up to believe, but arise from sociological differences. At the same time, recognising that there are certain basic, fundamental truths that are common to our humanity, such as the need for honesty, trust and mutual respect in order for us all to live together in harmony.

Impact

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• observing children speaking and listening in another language;
• marking of written work;
• interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice);
• moderation staff meetings where work is discussed;
• learning walks;
• subject tracking.

The MFL subject leader will continually monitor the impact MFL teaching is having on the children’s learning, through work scrutinies, to ensure the progress of knowledge and skills is being taught.  They will also ensure the knowledge taught is retained by the children and continually revisited and that the learners are able to apply the skills they have been taught to a variety of different settings, showing independence with their learning. Impact will also be measured through key questioning skills built into lessons and ongoing assessments aimed at targeting next steps in learning.