French
From September 2014 it became compulsory for Primary age children to learn a modern foreign language. The skills of learning a language are very useful and transferable, which means learning any language will be by the knowledge gained through learning French at Park.
Intent
Our Modern Foreign Languages curriculum enables our children to develop their unique potential within a secure and caring environment. Our children are given every opportunity to build their cultural capital and threshold concepts in French to enable them to be successful citizens in our ever-changing world and in their future lives. Our approach to French aims to develop children’s confidence in their own abilities and independence helping them become successful linguists, eager to learn more and build a love for the subject.
Implementation
At Park, French is taught weekly in years 3 - 6 in whole-class, mixed ability settings by the class teacher. By its nature, French lessons will involve lots of interaction with visual, auditory and kinaesthetic prompts. Lessons are planned and implemented using the ‘Salut!’ Scheme of Work from where objectives and activities are designed to progressively develop children’s language skills. French is taught through the threshold concepts of reading, writing, speaking and understanding the culture of the countries where the language is spoken.
The teacher will use a variety of techniques to encourage the students to have an active engagement with French, including games, role-play and action songs. The Scheme of Work allows children to hear native speakers with accurate pronunciation, regardless of the teacher’s own fluency. Children have the opportunity to develop their speaking and listening skills through conversational work, singing activities and games. Children are encouraged to record their understanding in writing through labels, captions and progressing on to sentences.
The scheme of work is separated into coverage for years 3/4 and years 5/6. Both include individual lesson plans and interactive whiteboard resources, which include an introduction to key vocabulary for each lesson, flashcards to support learning and games and songs to reinforce the learning objective. The ‘Salut’ scheme is organised into units of work; three core units, followed by multiple units which cover the day-to-day routines of the child, as well as their interests and home life.
Impact
Opportunities to monitor the children’s progress in French are built into our scheme of work. Formative assessments take place in every lesson to enable children to work to their potential and is used to support teaching and learning and inform future planning. Assessments are based on observation of children working on different listening, speaking, reading and writing activities. Children collect examples of their written work in a French folder; therefore, will have a portfolio of work by the end of the year.
