Upton Primary School

MFL

“Learning a language enriches the curriculum. It provides excitement, enjoyment and challenge for children and teachers, helping to create enthusiastic learners and to develop positive attitudes to language learning throughout life. The natural links between languages and other areas of the curriculum can enhance the overall teaching and learning experience. The skills, knowledge and understanding gained can make a major contribution to the development of children’s oracy and literacy and to their understanding of their own culture/s and those of others.”

The Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages (DfES 2005).

At Upton Primary School we believe that the learning of a foreign language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our pupils. It helps them to develop communication skills, including the key skills of speaking and listening, and extends their knowledge of how language works. Learning another language gives children a new perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.

At Upton we have provided learning opportunities for all children in Years 3 – 6 since 2005. The focus language taught in our school is French.

Aims and objectives:

The aims and objectives of learning a modern foreign language in primary school are to ensure that pupils:

listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding.
explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words.
engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help.
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.
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 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.
describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing.

The children will be given opportunities to:

listen carefully and recognise sounds and combinations of sounds which are similar to, or different from, those of English;
understand and respond with increasing competence, accuracy and confidence in a range of situations;
join in songs, rhymes, raps and stories which enable them to practise the sounds of the language in an enjoyable and non-threatening way;
take part in conversations at an appropriate level, reacting to instructions and questions and expressing opinions and feelings;
memorise and recite short texts.

Reading and writing

The children will be given opportunities to:

read stories and rhymes for enjoyment and to gain awareness of the structure of the written language and to practise vocabulary;

remember grapheme-phoneme correspondences and vocabulary directly taught and reinforced through word games and similar activities;
read, copy and write independently familiar words and simple phrases in context e.g. classroom items, display labels, weather chart, date;
write sentences and short texts independently and from memory.

Intercultural understanding

The children will be given opportunities to:

become aware of the life of children in the France,
identify similarities and differences in everyday life, social conventions, traditional stories and celebrations;
understand and respect cultural diversity.

Planning and resources

The teaching of French is planned following the guidelines set out in the Wakefield Scheme of work written by Rachel Redfearn and published by La Jolie Ronde. This ensures that there is continuity and progression in both skills and content across all classes.

A variety of resources are available in school and are allocated to particular year groups. Published resources include: fiction and non-fiction texts, posters, CDs, DVDs, computer software and websites are available for use throughout the school.

Time allocation

Each class receives 30 minutes of French a week in a dedicated lesson. Further short reinforcement activities may be carried out during the school day to ensure the 60 minute statutory allocation.

A link to Upton Primary French policy can be found here.

A link to our curriculum overview per year group can be found here.

Online French resources and games:

French with Mr Innes

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HrlPcSRq6FcIjVzSvxq7w