French

“Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world”

(National Curriculum 2014 programme of study for Languages) 

INTENT

The 2014 National Curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages aims to ensure that all children: 

Understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources.

 Are able to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and that they are continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation.

 Can 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.

At Dogmersfield Primary School, we strive to ensure that developing a competence in another language gives the children the skills and motivation to interpret, speak, read and write so that they can communicate meaning in another language. Learning a second language allows children to develop skills that will open further opportunities later in life and help them to understand languages including their own. We teach French in years 3 – 6 with the intention of providing an appropriate balance of spoken and written language, learning to communicate at an appropriate level while learning the building blocks of the language to help interpret vocabulary and sentences at KS3 and beyond. 

We also seek to learn about and include language opportunities drawn from the range of languages spoken by our school community. 

IMPLEMENTATION

Children are taught French from Year 3 and receive a weekly 30 minute lesson, throughout their time in school. Lessons allow children to read, speak and write in French as well as gain a cultural understanding of the country and the people. 

Children are taught to listen attentively to spoken language and respond, joining in with songs, rhymes and games.

Children develop an appreciation of a variety of stories, songs, poems and rhymes in French that are delivered through the curriculum content.

Children develop the skills to write at length for different purposes and audiences and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in French.

We follow the Primary MfL scheme for French from Lightbulb languages.

IMPACT

Through the teaching of MfL (French) our children will gain an understanding of another culture, an appreciation of how language is structured and how meaning can be communicated and experience in speaking, writing and reading in a language other than their own. 

Our French learning is regularly assessed, and attainment is reported through end of year reports according to the 2014 National curriculum statements for MfL. Our children will have gained the knowledge and skills to be able to further their French studies at Secondary school.