Mellis Church of England Primary School - 'To Be Our Best'

'To learn a language is to have one more window from which to view the world.'

Chinese Proverb

                                                                 Curriculum statement MFL French

Intent

Learning a foreign language is a necessary part of being a member of a multi-cultural society. Quality teaching of French is provided by a qualified French instructor and close links with specialist French teachers in other schools including the local high school. Through our teaching of French, as well as through links to History and geography we aim to:

• Foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the wider world.
• Enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in French in a variety of contexts and to understand and orally respond to its speakers including peers, adults and native speakers of French.
•  Provide opportunities for pupils to communicate for practical purposes and in range of role play situations.
•  Learn new ways of thinking relating to French culture and read books in French.
•  Provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries as well as providing the foundations for learning further foreign languages in key Stage 3.

Implementation

The children’s voice will be taken into account when considering themes taught and styles of learning. Children will be exposed to spoken French in EYFS and key stage one. This oral French will focus on vocabulary meaningful to the children. E.g basic greetings, classroom objects. Children will also be exposed to different languages used by their classmates at the same level, enabling them to explore the sounds of new words and identify similarities between them and English. Formal French teaching will begin in Key Stage two where children will receive one hour of French instruction every half term. The second half of the term will provide children with the opportunity to practice key vocabulary taught on an incidental basis.  Themes covered will include: “Moi” le Café/La bisto, l’ecole, le commissariat, Key vocabulary and literature taught in each theme will result in a whole class role play situation where children will be given the opportunity to plan what they would like to experience in this role play and practise key oral and French literacy skills covered in that theme. This will be led by the class teacher who will have been present through out lessons led by the instructor and will have assisted in the assessment of the children. These role play theme days/half days will be in addition to the French lessons provided by the instructor. At all stages the  Children’s knowledge of French and the skills of bilingual children and their parents will be utilised in order to provide pupils opportunity to:

• listen attentively to spoken language during lessons and show understanding by joining in and responding
• Explore the patterns and sounds of language through French songs, familiar books translated into French and French rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words, comparing them with their English translation.
• Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures that have been taught.
• Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation by listening to native speakers of French including recordings and guest speakers so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases.
• Appreciate French stories, songs, poems and rhymes.
• broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary
• write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly
• describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing
• understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English
• Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences including during class lessons and in presentation assemblies and links with other schools.
• Engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others during lessons and in a variety of role play situations. Seek clarification and help from adults, peers and other written sources.

Impact

As a result of French teaching across key stage two children will be able to:

• 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 French writing.