At Valence Primary School, the intention of our MFL curriculum is to develop an interest in and thirst for learning other languages.
Intent
At Valence Primary School, the intention of our MFL curriculum is to develop an interest in and thirst for learning other languages.
We aim to introduce the learning of the French language and the understanding of its culture in enjoyable and stimulating ways. We hope to embed the essential skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing. We aim to build the children’s ‘cultural capital’ so that they are aware of similarities and differences between cultures. In short, we hope to lay the foundations for future language learning.
Implementation
Our MFL curriculum has been designed to progressively develop skills in French. We base the teaching on the guidance material in the Rigolo scheme of work for French in accordance with National Curriculum. The Rigolo scheme is comprised of a series of units that help children acquire a bank of vocabulary organized around topics. These topics ensure development is progressive as they build on previous knowledge from units already studied.
All children in KS2 are taught French in a weekly discreet lesson. This is delivered either by the class teacher or other teachers with specific French skills.
Children will develop their language through the development of the four key skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing with an initial emphasis on the listening and speaking skills. There is also now more expectation in the National Curriculum to write phrases from memory and adapt these to create new sentences and to describe people, places, things in writing using basic, appropriate grammar.
A variety of teaching strategies are used to encourage the children to engage actively in the modern foreign language: these include games, role-play and songs (particularly action songs). We also use a multi-sensory and kinaesthetic approach to teaching, i.e. we try to introduce a physical element into some of the games, as we believe that this serves to reinforce memory.
Lessons are made as entertaining and enjoyable as possible, as we realise that this approach serves to develop a positive attitude in the children to the learning of modern foreign languages. We build children’s confidence through constant praise for any contribution they make in the foreign language, however tentative.
Teachers assess French throughout lessons using ‘assessment through learning’. This helps teachers plan for future lessons.
