MFL at The Winns

Intent

‘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.’ (National Curriculum 2014 – Appendix A) 

At The Winns, we aim to give the children in our care as wide a range of opportunities and experiences as possible. We acknowledge the influence that Europe has on our lives and as the UK is becoming an increasingly multicultural society, we have a duty to provide our children with an understanding of other cultures and languages.  

Learning a language enriches the curriculum, providing 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 make a major contribution to the development of children’s oracy and literacy and to their understanding of their own culture and those of others. Language also lies at the heart of ideas about individual identity and community, and learning another language can do a great deal to shape children’s ideas in this critical area as well as giving them a new perspective on their own language. 

At The Winns, we know that children really enjoy learning to speak another language and we feel that the earlier a child is exposed to a foreign language, the faster the language in question is acquired. We also believe that the early acquisition of French will facilitate the learning of other foreign languages later in life. It is intended that when children leave The Winns, they will have a natural curiosity and the 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 will be engaged and prepared to continue their language learning journey successfully in Key Stage 3 and beyond. 

Implementation

We follow a broad and balanced languages curriculum that builds on previous learning and provides both support and challenge for learners. We teach French weekly across Key Stage 2 and use the Kapow Primary scheme of work to support our teaching and learning, which provides clear progression for the development of speaking, listening and vocabulary acquisition and covers all aspects of the languages curriculum. In Key Stage 1, children are introduced to French through the use of classroom routines (register), stories, songs and games. We use a variety of the following techniques to encourage our children to have an active engagement with French: 

• Games – in order to develop vocabulary through repetition, reading, writing, speaking and listening skills 
• Role-play – relating to future situations the children may find themselves in  
• Action songs and rhymes – to develop phonetic skills, memory skills and to further vocabulary 
• Puppets and toys – used to develop communication skills 
• Mime – to associate vocabulary with kinaesthetic learning 
• Quality reading and writing materials 
• ICT programs and websites; the use of ICT to develop communication skills 
• Entertaining and enjoyable lessons to develop a positive attitude to the learning of modern foreign languages 
• Praise – building children’s confidence through constant praise for any contribution they make, however tentative                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              We want to ensure that French is embedded in our whole school curriculum and that opportunities for enhancing learning by using languages are always taken, which is why we take part in the ‘European Day of Languages’ each year on 26th September to celebrate both the cultural and linguistic diversity within Europe and to encourage and promote language learning. 

Impact

We encourage our children to enjoy and value languages and know why they are doing things, not just how. We want them to understand and appreciate the value of languages in the context of their personal wellbeing, development and future career opportunities. Our languages curriculum contributes to the children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection and is demonstrated by them being able to talk confidently about their work and share their work with others. Each class will keep a ‘floor book’ to record outcomes from each French lesson taught to show progression of skills. We will also see the impact in the following ways: 

• Children are able to communicate with each other in French and have developed the four key skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing 
• Children are aware that a language has a structure and although that structure differs from one language to another, many skills can be applied to a range of languages 
• Children have developed an understanding of the French culture to enrich their language learning 

Winns MFL French Curriculum