Intent
The study of Languages prepares pupils to participate in a rapidly changing world in which work and other activities are increasingly carried out in languages other than English. Pupils use languages to communicate information responsibly, creatively and with discrimination. They learn how to employ languages to enable rapid access to ideas and experiences from a wide range of people, communities and cultures. Increased capability in the use of languages promotes initiative and independent learning and encourages diversity within a society.
At Northgate, our primary intent is to have an engaging and inspiring curriculum with high academic ambition for all pupils.
In French we aim to:
- Foster an enjoyment of languages and successful language acquisition, through quality teaching, a meaningful and engaging syllabus and cross-curricular links where possible.
- Stimulate our pupils’ creativity through taking an active part in French lessons and experimenting creatively with language.
- Raise awareness of the multilingual and multicultural world that we live in, giving them an insight into their own culture and those of others.
- Lay the foundations for future study in Key Stage 3.
The National curriculum for MFL aims to ensure that all children:
- 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.
- Are able to write at varying length, using the grammatical structures they have learned.
- Are aware that language has structure, and that the structure differs from one language to another.
- Develop their awareness of cultural differences in other countries.
- Develop their speaking and listening skills.
Implementation
A language specialist teaches French to children in KS2 for 30 minutes on a weekly basis through Language Angels, a programme of study which meets the National Curriculum requirement at KS2. Pupils develop 5 key language skills necessary for learning French:
- Speaking
- Listening
- Reading
- Writing
- Grammar
They will continuously build on their previous knowledge of these skills with unit vocabulary recycled, recalled and consolidated as they progress in their foreign language learning journey. We will extend pupils knowledge of how language works and explore the similarities and differences between the foreign language they are learning and English. We will also help strengthen their sense of identity through learning about culture in other countries and comparing it with their own.
Impact
We aim to ensure that pupils of all abilities develop solid foundations in these key language learning skills - properly preparing them for the next stage of their language learning journey. Assessment takes place at the end of every Language Angels unit, enabling us to determine the learning and progression of all pupils in as well as monitoring the progress against the 12 attainment targets stipulated in the DfE Languages Programme of Study for Key Stage 2.