Modern Foreign Languages
Modern Foreign Languages (French) at Overleigh St Mary’s C of E Primary School
Intent
Through our Foreign Language curriculum, we strive to engage, improve and inspire children’s language learning in French. Through the teaching of French, we endeavour to teach children to listen to and read new vocabulary given to them, write using the grammar learnt and begin to speak developing on the language they have been taught.
At Overleigh, we are guided by the National Curriculum for Foreign Language (2014). The National Curriculum for French aims to ensure that all pupils:
Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding.
- Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures.
- Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases.
- Appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language.
- 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
We intend for our children to have real life experiences and learn French in an active and creative way. Therefore, visitors, trips and cross-curricular links form a fundamental part of our curriculum.
Implementation
Our French curriculum provides a clear and comprehensive scheme of work that will allow progression of skills across Key Stage 2 within the strands of French. The skills and knowledge that children will develop throughout each French topic are mapped across each year group and are progressive throughout Key Stage 2. The emphasis on knowledge ensures that children understand the language that has been taught through reading, writing, speaking and listening as well as giving some opportunities for intercultural understanding. This enables the children to develop their learning from previous years as they progress up until Year 6.
Children in Key Stage 2 will record their work in a French book that is transferred to the next year group at the end of the year to demonstrate the children’s progression. The book contains evidence of the skills, knowledge and understanding that each child has learnt that year.
We implement our curriculum using planning that prioritises knowledge and understanding of the French language.
Impact
Our teachers measure the impact of our Foreign Language curriculum through the following methods:
- A knowledge check at the beginning of each unit to see what the children already know
- Beginning lessons with a recap of key knowledge and understanding from the previous session
- Provide opportunities each lesson to use the previously taught vocabulary and inform ongoing assessment of a child’s language development
- Assess children at the end of the unit on how well they have learnt the new vocabulary
The leadership team check that this impact is being secured through monitoring the subject on a regular basis. The method of monitoring supports the ongoing development of the curriculum. This includes:
- Staff subject knowledge, which is audited each year to ensure knowledge is secure, and additional support provided if necessary
- Termly staff meetings to discuss and evaluate the effectiveness of topics with the subject leaders. From this, medium term planning is amended and adapted to ensure the curriculum remains relevant for the children
- A ‘pupil voice’, which is conducted at the beginning and end of each year to allow pupils to contribute to their curriculum content
- Termly monitoring of work against the medium-term plans, so that any gaps in learning can be addressed
- Tracking of content against the long-term plan of the school, to ensure the full breadth of the curriculum is met.
The impact of this is to ensure that children at Overleigh are equipped with linguistic skills and knowledge, which will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world.