Language curriculum - French
Intent
At Saughall All Saints, we aim to provide our children with a high-quality education in Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) which develops their curiosity about other languages and cultures. We value the importance of understanding the wider world, and our curriculum helps raise the children’s awareness of differences between their own and other cultures.
Our children have a positive attitude towards learning languages and are developing the confidence to explore and experiment with unfamiliar foreign vocabulary and pronunciation. Our ‘Salut!’ scheme of work ensures coverage and progression of skills across the school.
It is our intention to ensure that by the end of our children’s primary education, we have embedded the skills within listening, speaking, reading and writing that are necessary to enable the children to use and apply their French learning in a variety of contexts and lay the foundations for future language learning.
Implementation
Although Modern Foreign Languages is not a statutory requirement in Key Stage 1, the infant children at Saughall All Saints, through the use of songs, rhymes and books, are introduced to basic French vocabulary. By starting their language learning in Key Stage 1, it allows the children to begin to build the foundations and also develops their curiosity about other languages.
Throughout Key Stage 2, the children have weekly lessons in French, taught by the class teacher, using the resources and units of work from 'Salut'. As our classes have mixed age groups (Year 3/4 and Year 5/6), the scheme of work follows a two year rolling programme.
In Lower KS2, children acquire a basic understanding of the French language with a strong emphasis placed on developing their Speaking and Listening skills. These skills will be embedded and further developed in Upper KS2, alongside Reading and Writing, gradually progressing onto more complex language concepts.
Knowledge and skills in French are progressive from one stage to the next and are mapped across the school, in line with the 'Salut' scheme of work. Each lesson, children build on the skills that they have already learnt and develop new ones through a range of fun, exciting and engaging activities:
• learning French vocabulary
• asking and answering questions, and following instructions in French
• reinforcing memory with mime and physical actions
• playing games and learning songs
• video clips
• using bilingual dictionaries
• teaching of basic French grammar, sentence structure and spelling patterns
• learning French phonics
• researching and learning about life in France
• writing phrases and sentences
• reading bilingual stories
• creative tasks to demonstrate learning.