French

Intent
What does the Modern Foreign Languages curriculum intend to do?
 
At Palmarsh Primary School, we value the importance of Modern Foreign languages. Our MFL curriculum aims to inspire pupils to want to know more about the world in which they live in. It provides them with the skills needed to be able to engage with the wider world, equipping them for life beyond the classroom and in their onward journey of language to KS3. The intent is that all pupils will develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about foreign languages, finding them enjoyable and stimulating. Learning a second language will also offer pupils the opportunity to explore and develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and the world around them with a better awareness of self, others and cultural differences.

Implementation
How is the curriculum implemented?

Given our location on the South East coast, our chosen language is French. Whilst not a statutory requirement, pupils in KS1 take part in fun activities, games and songs to help them develop awareness of basic French words and phrases. In Key Stage 2, MFL is taught through the comprehensive and progressive ‘Language Nut’ scheme.

Our MFL curriculum is designed to progressively enhance children’s skills in French through weekly sessions. Pupils acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary organised around topics. Pupils are encouraged and supported to develop their speaking and listening skills through conversational work, singing activities and games. As confidence and skill grows, pupils record their work through pictures, captions and sentences. Where possible, we endeavour to expose pupils to use the language on a day to day basis whether it be for greetings, numbers or instructions.

The four key language learning skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing are taught and all necessary phonics, grammar and vocabulary is covered in a logical and progressive way across the primary phase. This enables our pupils to use and apply their learning in a variety of contexts, laying down solid foundations for future language learning and also helping them to improve overall attainment in other subject areas.

Teachers plan for pupils with SEND in their class, according to their need and our graduated response. For some this will only require small adjustments, through to those who may need to work on a different objective within the subject. Pupils with SEND are considered throughout planning Assessment of progress may also look different for pupils with SEND, allowing them every opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.

We aim to celebrate MFL through MFL topic days, we also intend to set up French penpals where children can practise their French in a real life context. We would also like children to be able to visit and explore France.
 
Impact
What progress will children make?
 
As children move through the scheme of work, they will move from being able to use nouns and articles to form short phrases to using and applying the full range of substantive and disciplinary knowledge our curriculum provides them with. They will then be able to formulate their own more personalised responses based on a much wider bank of vocabulary, linguistic structures and grammatical knowledge. They will be able to enrich their language by developing an understanding of French culture.

The impact of the curriculum will be measured by:

• Observing children speaking and listening
• Marking of written work
• Discussing pupil’s learning with them
• Analysing pupil’s composite outcomes to sequences of learning
• Analysing data drawn from pupil’s progress on the Languagenut application.
• Moderation of these forms of evidence in staff meetings 

Monitoring will be carried out termly by the Languages subject leader.

Knowledge gained by the children throughout their time at Palmarsh, and their efficiency in their application of it, will ensure they are ready to continue to be successful in learning a language at KS3.

Please see class pages for more detail of curriculum coverage.