French (MFL)

French (MFL) Curriculum

Intent

At Gunness and Burringham we aim for children to not only speak an additional language but to also have a natural curiosity and wisdom of the cultures of the world. We aim for children to develop a good vocabulary bank; being able to speak and write the language with confidence.

The national curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils:

understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

Implementation

From the Summer Term ,we have been following the Language Angels scheme of work, which ensures clear development and progression of knowledge, understanding and skills as children move up through Key Stage Two. We ensure that the MFL curriculum is inclusive to all children in Key Stage Two, promoting an ability to develop resilience throughout the curriculum. In doing so, over time, every child knows more, remembers more and understands more, this is evident from the work that they are confident to share.

Impact

When children leave Gunness and Burringham C of E Primary, they have a natural curiosity and confidence to explore other countries, cultures and languages, accepting that, in a multi-lingual society it is a valuable skill to be able to communicate effectively with others in another language. They are engaged and prepared to continue language learning at secondary school.

" I love French, it's really good to know that I can ask for a hamburger in a different language"

Year 5

"French is good, I love it when we play the eleven game, I can do it in French and say all my numbers, we could go up to 100 and I would still win!"
Year 6 Girl

The MFL curriculum is taught over 2 years - Cycle A in the first year and Cycle B in the second year.

Pupils are taught to:

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 clear
describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing
understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.