At St Matthew’s, our focus modern foreign language is French.
Intent
Our children will:
- become interested in learning languages and see their value. Our engaging and enjoyable lessons create enthusiasm for language learning and inspire students to become lifelong language learners.
- be exposed to regular opportunities for cultural capital to increase enjoyment and to establish a meaningful context for language learning.
- develop a solid foundation of vocabulary, language and phonics, which pupils can build on at KS3, KS4, KS5 and beyond, arriving at KS3 feeling confident in what they have studied so far so that they can make good progress.
- benefit from specific KS1 and KS2 end points have been developed to ensure clarity for teaching and to ensure a ‘smooth’ transition to Secondary Education for all learners.
Implementation
High quality MFL teaching in primary school is our ultimate goal. This forms part of a larger progressive curriculum into KS3 and KS4. In their study of languages, pupils will develop their understanding and awareness of vocabulary and opinions, manipulating language and accuracy in grammar and spelling, by:
- learning languages on a ‘loop’. Our series of lessons and units enable pupils to constantly revisit and build on prior knowledge, with each year group’s knowledge building upon the previous learning. Recall is continuous so that knowledge is steadily built.
- building knowledge effectively with a consistent approach to our lessons. We aim to develop listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills simultaneously; each lesson will cover these four skills equally.
- ensuring substantive and disciplinary knowledge are explicitly taught and blended in teaching and planning as both are necessary for progress in learning. By substantive knowledge we mean the key content of each unit, for example key vocabulary to describe yourself physically. By disciplinary knowledge we mean the linguistic skills necessary to use their substantive knowledge effectively, for example adjective agreement related to physical description. Students will develop understanding of grammar and phonics as part of the disciplinary knowledge they need to become independent language learners.
- Agreeing units of work that have been specifically chosen to reflect the KS3 curriculum so that a solid foundation is created, and knowledge continues to be revisited
- regular exposure to songs, poems, games and stories to create enthusiasm for language learning. All lesson resources and planning materials are detailed and include voice overs to cater for the non-specialist and Primary.
Impact
Pupil dialogue and work in books shows a high standard of MFL teaching and learning. Pupils are able to talk with linguistic knowledge and vocabulary about the topics they have studied. They can make links and connections to what they have been taught previously and understand how their knowledge is building and progressing. Clear enthusiasm and enjoyment is visible in the lessons.
Please see our MFL curriculum documents below:
MFL Primary Curriculum Narrative
French policy st matthews 21 22
