St Laurence Church of England School - Modern Foreign Language Intent 

Here at St Laurence Church of England school, it is our intent that we make the teaching and learning of Modern Foreign Languages a fun and enjoyable learning experience. French lessons are taught every week and all children are encouraged to  participate in all aspects of lessons. Our use of Kapow aims to instil a love of language learning and an awareness of other cultures. We want pupils to develop the confidence to communicate in French for practical purposes, using both written and spoken French. Through our scheme of work, we aim to give pupils a foundation for language learning that encourages and enables them to apply their skills to learning further languages, developing a strong understanding of the English language, facilitating future study and opening opportunities to study and work in other countries in the future.

Aims

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

Key stage 1

Children in Key Stage 1 are not required to learn a Modern Foreign Language. Here at St Laurence, we introduce French to the children in Year 1 and Year 2. These simple words and phrases help us to prepare the children for more formal learning lessons in Year 3.

Key stage 2: Foreign language

Teaching may be of any modern or ancient foreign language and should focus on enabling pupils to make substantial progress in one language. The teaching should provide an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and should lay the foundations for further foreign language teaching at key stage 3. It should enable pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing, focused on familiar and routine matters, using their knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary.

The focus of study in modern languages will be on practical communication. If an ancient language is chosen, the focus will be to provide a linguistic foundation for reading comprehension and an appreciation of classical civilisation. Pupils studying ancient languages may take part in simple oral exchanges, while discussion of what they read will be conducted in English. A linguistic foundation in ancient languages may support the study of modern languages at key stage 3.

Pupils should be 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 clearly

• 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

The starred (*) content above will not be applicable to ancient languages

 Implementation

Here at St Laurence, we use a scheme of work called KAPOW  to ensure a high standard of teaching and learning in Modern Foreign Languages.This helps us to ensure that the curriculum is progressive throughout the whole school. The teaching of French has the same importance as other core subjects, with work being completed in the children’s Learning Challenge work books. 

Kapow is designed with three knowledge strands that run throughout our units with knowledge building cumulatively. These are:

● Phonics 

● Vocabulary 

● Grammar

This knowledge can then be applied within our skills strands, which also run throughout each unit in the scheme: 

● Language comprehension (Listening and reading)

● Language production (Speaking and writing) 

Through the French scheme, pupils are given opportunities to communicate for practical purposes around familiar subjects and routines. The scheme provides balanced opportunities for communication in both spoken and written French, although in Year 3 the focus is on developing oral skills, before incorporating written French in Year 4 and beyond. 

The scheme is a spiral curriculum, with key skills and vocabulary revisited repeatedly with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Cross-curricular links are included throughout our French units, allowing children to make connections and apply their language skills to other areas of their learning.

Modern Foreign Language Curriculum Impact

Here at St Laurence we ensure  that children are equipped  with the knowledge, skills and understanding of French to prepare them for the Key stage 3 curriculum, as well as for life outside and beyond school. It is our aim that children enjoy and remember their learning of a Modern Foreign Language which will therefore encourage them to use these skills in their everyday life in the future. By learning a second language, the children are able to communicate with those from different cultures and countries more effectively, and not be disadvantaged as  they progress through life. 

The expected impact of following the French scheme of work is that children will: 

➔ Be able to engage in purposeful dialogue in practical situations (e.g., ordering in a cafe, following directions) and express an opinion.

➔ Make increasingly accurate attempts to read unfamiliar words, phrases, and short texts. ➔ Speak and read aloud with confidence and accuracy in pronunciation.

➔ Demonstrate understanding of spoken language by listening and responding appropriately.

➔ Use a bilingual dictionary to support their language learning.

➔ Be able to identify word classes in a sentence and apply grammatical rules they have learnt.

➔ Have developed an awareness of cognates and near-cognates and be able to use them to tackle unfamiliar words in French, English, and other languages.

➔ Be able to construct short texts on familiar topics.

➔ Meet the end of Key Stage 2 stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Languages.

If you would like to view the National Curriculum Programmes of Study for Modern Foreign Languages, please click here: National Curriculum - Languages key stages 1 to 2 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Different elements of assessment are undertaken each half term and this will be either as a listening, speaking, reading or writing assessment using our model for Modern Foreign Languages.