“The aim of our foreign language lessons is to inspire a curiosity of other cultures and an understanding of the world through the development of speech and communication skills.”
Mr Burton (MFL Lead)
Intent
Our aim is to develop the confidence and competence of each child in our chosen modern foreign language of French. Pupils will be curious and passionate about their learning, and value using a foreign language by learning about French-speaking countries and their cultures. We will challenge children by drawing comparisons with our own language and history, whilst building cross-curricular connections with other subjects.
We provide a relevant, broad, and ambitious language curriculum using a wide variety of topics and themes from Year 1 through to Year 6. This provides a strong foundation for further language learning as the children progress through their school journey.
Implementation
At St Botolph’s, French is taught throughout the school. From an early stage, children develop communication skills in listening and speaking, reading and writing including learning about gendered, singular and plural nouns. Spelling patterns, sound recognition and pronunciation are continually developed alongside the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.
Pupils in Year R and 1 will be exposed to the French language through short activities, whilst all pupils in Year 2 to Year 4 will have access to a high-quality formal foreign language curriculum. This will progressively develop their skills in foreign languages through well-planned, weekly lessons taught by the class teacher. In Years 5 and 6, pupils are taught by a language specialist to further develop the solid foundation gained previously.
Impact
Pupils enjoy French lessons and show great enthusiasm in learning the language and learning about French culture. Our children show pride in their additional language and are confident language users. Learning another language gives the children a new perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and languages along with the culture and languages of others.
By the time they leave St Botolph’s, pupils have developed the necessary transferable skills for language learning at KS3. They have a curiosity and desire to experience other countries and communities, realising that in a multi-lingual society, it is an extremely valuable and much sought-after skill to be able to speak a different language.