Modern Foreign Languages

MFL Curriculum Overview – French

Foreign Languages at Whiteley Primary School

Aims

At Whiteley, children learn French from Year 1 to year 6. We have a specialist French teacher who leads the learning throughout the school. In Key Stage 1, the children learn some basic greetings and first words such as colours, numbers and days of the week through games, stories and songs. We have sessions in Year 1 and 2 once a fortnight.

In years 3-6, French lessons take place on two afternoons over a three week period for every class and are an hour long. This allows us to cover skills in listening, reading, writing and speaking in French and work on a broad range of different topics, building on children’s knowledge as they move through the school. Learning is based on the three pillars of language learning: vocabulary, phonics and grammar.

In Key Stage 2 we follow the Languages Programme of Study from the National Curriculum, which aims to ensure that all pupils:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
• 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
• 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

We aim to foster a love of languages and an understanding of cultures different to our own. We encourage children to be global thinkers and to be curious about learning new things.

In our French lessons, the children learn how to communicate in a different language; through speaking, role play, singing songs, writing, listening and reading. Literacy is at the heart of learning any language. Did you know that it can help us to better understand our own language?

Impact

The most important skill that pupils learn during their French lessons at Whiteley is that it is possible to learn a different language, and have fun in the process! Our children leave us fully prepared to start more formal language learning in secondary school. Even if they do not start with French in year 7, they have the skills and know-how to learn any language. Think of it as a key that can open any door!