French

MFL at St Louis Catholic Primary School

Intent (the knowledge and skills that pupils will gain at each stage through the curriculum)

As it states in the National Curriculum, 2014, ‘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.’

It is our intent that language teaching at St Louis should develop pupils’ understanding of how language works and provide the foundation for further language learning in the future.

Our aim is for our pupils to develop their understanding of how language works and to explore similarities between French and English. Ultimately, we aim for all our children to develop the confidence to be able to actively participate in language lessons, to be brave and never be afraid of trying or of ‘getting it wrong’.

Our intent is that by learning a foreign language our pupils gain a broader perspective and begin to think of themselves as citizens of the world as well as of the United Kingdom.

KS2 Broadening Horizons

Year 3

Year 3 children will be taught to listen attentively to spoken language. Understand and respond to simple commands, short statements and questions as well as appreciate simple songs, poems and rhymes.

When speaking French, children will be learning to respond to questions with single words and phrases, use greetings and convey simple information with the aid of visual prompts if needed.

Children will be learning to read simple words and phrases with correct pronunciation as well as developing their basic written vocabulary from spoken words and phrases.

Year 4

When in year 4 children will continue to listen attentively to spoken language and will now be exposed to short stories to listen and respond to.

Children will progress to verbally giving simple responses to questions and will now begin speaking in sentences rather than single words and phrases, again using visual aids if needed.

Children will be describing places and objects and developing their vocabulary, correct pronunciation and intonation.

In year 4 children will be expected to write simple phrases and familiar words from memory.

Year 5

Pupils will continue to listen attentively and respond to spoken language which will now include stories, songs, poems and rhymes.

In year 5 children will be working towards developing accurate pronunciation and intonation as well as presenting ideas and information to a range of audiences.

When in year 5 children will be embedding and broadening their sight vocabulary through reading simple story texts and descriptions of people and places.

Year 6

In year 6 children will be listening to and understanding longer passages, stories and more complicated songs. The expectation is that children will now understand and identify basic features of grammar such as noun gender, plurals and conjugation of high frequency verbs.

Children will be speaking in sentences, expressing opinions and responding to those of others. Describing people and places, objects and actions using familiar and basic language structures and changing known phrases to say something new.

Children will have opportunities to read longer stories and descriptive passages and these will be read with increasing fluency and accuracy. Children will also be using dictionaries to understand new words.

Children will write descriptions of people, places, things and actions, writing some words and phrases from memory. They will be taught to understand and apply basic grammatical structures.

Implementation (how the curriculum is taught and assessed)

We use the Salut scheme of work to deliver our French lessons from Year 3-6 as this scheme provides non-specialist teachers with the tools they need to provide high quality MFL teaching. All classes have access to a very high-quality foreign languages curriculum using the Salut scheme of work and resources. This will progressively develop pupil’s skills in foreign languages through regularly taught and well-planned weekly lessons in KS2.

Children will progressively acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary, language skills and grammatical knowledge organised around age-appropriate topics and themes - building blocks of language into more complex, fluent and authentic language.

An overview of the knowledge and vocabulary pupils should acquire in each unit, is shared with them through knowledge organisers. These are stuck into our floor books and laminated for children to refer to at the start of each lesson in an effort to embed knowledge into the long-term memory, allowing children to apply it with confidence.

The school has a French overview in place which will serve as an overall ‘teaching map’ outlining for all teachers within the school what each year group will be taught and when it will be taught. Each class in each year group will have an overview of units to be taught during the academic year to ensure substantial progress and learning is achieved. Each teaching unit is divided into 6 fully planned lessons.

• Each unit and lesson will have clearly defined objectives and aims.
• Each lesson will incorporate interactive whiteboard materials to include ample speaking and listening tasks within a lesson.
• Lessons will incorporate Now Try These challenges and desk-based activities.
• Reading and writing activities will be offered in all units.
• Every lesson will include new vocabulary, review of new vocabulary then a chance for children to put it in a sentence.

Units are progressive within themselves as subsequent lessons within a unit build on the language and knowledge taught in previous lessons. As pupils progress though the lessons in a unit they will build their knowledge and develop the complexity of the language they use.

Impact (the outcomes pupils achieve as a result of the education they have received)

The impact of the teaching of French can be ascertained in a number of ways.

Firstly, the work in pupils’ French folders should reflect the learning that has taken place over the course of a unit, and from year group to year group, demonstrating progress and a deepening knowledge over time. Secondly, pupils’ should be able to talk with confidence about their learning, As pupils progress through the school, they should become increasingly confident at making links with prior learning using the class floor book to support this discussion.

Pupils will continuously build on their previous knowledge as they progress in their foreign language learning journey through the primary phase. Previous language will be recycled, revised, recalled and consolidated whenever possible and appropriate.

Children will feel proud of their achievements by contributing to the class ‘floor book’ and teachers will use this to help with their assessments. This will contain a topic page and knowledge organiser that the children can refer to throughout their lessons. They will then be able to build on this knowledge year on year as they progress through the school.

Finally, lesson visits should demonstrate the learning that is taking place. This would include pupils’ being able to answer questions based on their knowledge organisers and their ability to recall prior learning.