Modern Foreign LanguageÂ
Intent: Introduction, Vision and Philosophy
Learning a foreign language provides an opening in to other cultures. 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. It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes and learn new ways of thinking. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.
Implementation:
At Harris Primary HalingPark our chosen language is French, which is taught weekly. We follow the units from the Harris Federation French Curriculum, where in Key Stage 2 we focus on developing children’s French speaking, reading and writing skills. Children progress through the year groups focusing on different topics and skills such as: greeting, daily routines, number and personal attributes. Children can ask and answer topic related questions and eventually move onto conversational French. They are eventually able to express opinions with fluency and perform short narratives.
When beginning a new topic, the lessons will typically start with a couple of oral based lessons where the children can listen, understand and repeat phrases with correct pronunciation. This helps children to be able to use words and phrases in correct contexts. The lessons will then follow on with activities where children can use and practise the new vocabulary in certain contexts, for example role playing a café setting where children can use the vocabulary they have recently learnt about food. Towards the end of the topic the focus of the lessons will be more written based where the children will have the opportunity to put spellings with certain sounds. Every child has a different way of learning so by using auditory, visual and kinaesthetic techniques with each topic this enables each child to learn the language.
Impact
Evidence is dependent on the type of lesson being provided. An oral and kinaesthetic (role play) lesson will typically have a photo taken of a group activity with a clear teacher or pupil voiced explanation as to what the children have been learning. Before each new topic, there will be a vocabulary sheet, so teachers know what they are assessing the children on. Written lessons will include worksheets for children to complete or written work on whiteboard. Each week, the children’s work will be evidenced through samples of work, pictures, people voice and teacher comments in celebration books. This will help us to inform us of what we need to reteach and improve for future lessons. Teachers will assess children for MFL using the attainment targets taken from Rigolo ks2 mapping grid, where children will be graded on their competence on their yearly objectives.
Children will be assessed at the end of each subject by completing a short quiz which will test the children’s knowledge of what they have understood. This helps to inform the teachers of the areas which need further work and other areas which can be improved so the children can make the maximum progress and gain a more rounded understanding.
