MFL the Curriculum
At St Paul's School the modern foreign language that we teach is French. Throughout our MFL curriculum is a commitment to enhancing and promoting our core vision of understanding ourselves and seeking to understand others.
‘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)
INTENT
At St Paul’s, we aim to foster inquisitiveness into Modern Foreign Languages. Through deepening pupils’ understanding of language and culture of other countries they can widen their understanding of the world. Learning French provides the foundation for learning further languages.
Through Modern Foreign Language Learning we aim to:
- To give pupils a positive, enthusiastic attitude to languages within a creative and multicultural environment
- To nurture an interest in learning other languages
- To introduce language learning in a way that is fun and enjoyable
- To stimulate and encourage pupils’ curiosity about language
- For pupils to develop an awareness of language structure and that the structure differs from on language to another
- To develop pupils’ speaking and listening skills
- To lay the foundations for future study
IMPLEMENTATION
At St Paul’s, we teach French across the whole of Key Stage 2. The teaching is multi-sensory and kinaesthetic. There is an emphasis on the use of games, role play, actions, videos, rhymes and songs to support the children in their acquisition of French. Lessons are planned so that there are opportunities to recap and revisit previous learning therefore building upon previous experiences.
ICT is used to enhance teaching and learning with children being able to use on-line dictionaries and games platforms to increase their language skills. Videos and songs are posted onto the Google Classroom so that the children can revisit these at home. In school, the classrooms are set up with high frequency vocabulary such as numbers, colours, months of the year, days of the weeks in French on display so that the children can refer to these as necessary.
By the time children leave St Paul’s they will be taught to:
- listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding
- explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes
- engage in conversations; ask and answer questions & express opinions
- speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary
- develop accurate pronunciation and intonation
- present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences
- read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
- appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language
- broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words
- 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
IMPACT
Through our French Curriculum children will:
- be able to communicate with each other to some extent in French
- become aware that a language has a structure, and that the structure differs from one language to another
- develop their knowledge and understanding of the French language through the development of the four key skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing
- enrich their language learning by developing an understanding of the French culture
- learn how language skills can be applied to a range of languages
- will transfer to KS3 effectively and successfully and will be well prepared to continue and develop their language skills in their secondary schools.
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS IN OUR FRENCH CURRICULUM
St Paul's - MFL in the Curriculum
