St Anne's Catholic Primary School

At St. Anne's, the intention of our MFL curriculum is to develop an interest in and thirst for learning other languages. We aim to introduce the learning of the French language and the understanding of its culture in enjoyable and stimulating ways. We hope to embed the essential skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing. We aim to build the children’s ‘culture capital’ so that they are aware of similarities and differences between cultures. In short, we hope to lay the foundations for future language learning.

Adaptations are made to MFL lessons to ensure that all children are able to access the curriculum and are not disadvantaged by Special Educational Needs or Disability.

Catholic Ethos, Catholic Social Teaching and French

Our intent in the teaching of French is deeply rooted in Catholic Social Teaching.  

We believe 

- in the dignity of the human condition.  This means every child has their own talents, which they should be given the opportunity to explore and develop.  Many of our children love to develop their talents through learning how to communicate, read and sing in a different language.

- that the common good is built through French (MFL).  Learning  a different language, to be able to communicate with people from a different country in their own language, is so important!

- that learning a foreign language builds our solidarity; we are all the same no matter where we come from, what language we speak!

- that participation  is built in our 'Whole School French Days', where all children participate in a range of activities collectively. During these days, children learn and explore the French culture (customs, food, art, sports, authors e.t.c) through a range of fun, educational activities.

Our MFL curriculum has been designed to progressively develop skills in French, ensuring children acquire a bank of vocabulary organized around topics. We ensure development is progressive as they build on previous knowledge from units already studied.

All children in KS2 are taught French in a weekly discreet lesson. This is delivered by Mrs Liarakou.

We use a variety of teaching and learning styles in our French lessons. We believe in whole class teaching methods and we combine these with. French lessons are structured into 5 main sections; an introduction and recap of vocabulary, speaking, listening, reading and writing. The teaching provides an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and lays the foundations for further foreign language teaching at key stage 3. We plan our lessons using the Rachel Hawkes scheme of work. The scheme provides lesson plans and resources for teachers to use in their lessons. Pupils in Year 3 begin their journey by learning the phonics, beginning with the vowels first. Pupils then move on to learning verbs and key vocabulary. Each lesson begins with a recap of taught vocabulary  to allow pupils the time to achieve depth in their learning. Regular recall of such facts helps children commit them to their long-term memory, ensuring they will retain the ‘sticky knowledge’ for the end of Key Stage 2. We also use French texts, poems and songs to bring learning to life. We have a large number of French dictionaries available so that pupils can be independent in extending their French vocabulary.

KS1 children are introduced to MFL through exploring other languages informally when studying another country or different cultures.

Listen to our wonderful year 5s learning (through singing) the question words! Aren't they great?

Websites

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z39d7ty

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2french.html