MFL (Modern Foreign Languages) Curriculum - Key Stage 2 only
'Petit a petit, l’oiseau fait son nid.’ (Little by little the bird builds it's nest) French proverb
Our Curriculum Intention for French
‘A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing.’
(National Curriculum 2014 – Appendix A)
Learning a language enriches the curriculum helping to create enthusiastic learners and to develop positive attitudes to language learning throughout life. The skills, knowledge and understanding gained contribute to the development of children’s oracy and literacy and their understanding of their own culture and those of others.
At South View CP School, we believe that the early acquisition of French will facilitate the learning of other foreign languages later in life. We aim to prepare children for the KS3 language curriculum to enable them to transfer confidently and successfully to secondary school.
MFL Curriculum Implementation
At South View, we teach French as part of our modern foreign languages curriculum. We aim to make our MFL lessons purposeful and meaningful for children’s experiences of the wider world and later life. We believe that each lesson should help progress children’s learning within the four key areas of MFL teaching: reading, writing, speaking and listening. At South View, we have our MFL lessons taught by our higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs) as part of our PPA cover each week.
South View uses Rising Stars French as a scheme of work, which offers a topic-based approach to support children’s learning in French. It is designed to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum Programme of Study for Key Stage 2, and to provide learning experiences that engage, enthuse and motivate all of our learners.
Learning has been carefully considered, planned out and sequenced across the Key Stage to ensure coverage of key skills and clear progression. An overview is set out below in the guidebook. The progression of skills document (also in the guidebook), helps us to ensure that children are building their skills and knowledge over time and that there is full curriculum coverage.
Rising Stars is a springboard for introducing pupils to the culture of French-speaking countries and communities. It enables children to express their ideas and thoughts in French and provides opportunities to interact and communicate with others both in speech and in writing. At the heart of our teaching and learning of French is the desire to expose children to authentic French, so we try hard to offer pupils regular opportunities to listen to native speakers and try to conduct French lessons in the target language for as much of the time as we can.
Lessons are sequenced so that prior learning is considered and opportunities for revision of language and grammar are built-in. As well as one timetabled weekly lesson of French in Key Stage 2 classes, opportunities are seized where possible to practise, consolidate, reinforce and assess skills. For example, answering the register in French.
Alongside the introduction of new skills, the lessons we teach (and resources we use) help children to build on their prior knowledge. Our lessons provide structure and context as well as offer an insight into the culture of French-speaking countries and communities. The introduction and revision of key vocabulary and grammatical structures are built into lessons.
To understand more about the Rising Stars scheme of work, please look here: https://www.risingstars-uk.com/subjects/languages/rising-stars-french?utm_source=Mailing&utm_medium=flyer&utm_campaign=Rising_Stars_French_Mailing
MFL Curriculum Impact
Our French curriculum has been carefully crafted and constructed to ensure that the foundations for language learning have been laid. Ultimately, we aspire for all of our children to enjoy language learning and relish speaking their premiers mots (first words) in French. We aim for them to have secured age-related skills and knowledge before they leave South View for them to successfully prepare them for future language-learning. In addition, we strive for our children to be outwardly-looking global citizens who are knowledgeable, tolerant and educated about the wider world.
The impact of our French curriculum can be measured and monitored in a variety of different ways, including: learning walks, work scrutiny and pupil interviews. It is the responsibility of the subject leader to triangulate this evidence to ensure consistency across school and accuracy of data.
We monitor and assess children’s learning on both a formative and a summative basis. Formative assessment is informally carried out in lessons through strategies such as questioning, quizzes, talk partners and self/peer assessment. End of unit assessments are also carried out using information from the knowledge organisers. All assessment data is used to inform curriculum planning, outlining how support/challenge can be provided to meet the needs of our pupils.