MFL
MFL Curriculum Intent
Link to National Curriculum MFL Programme of Study.
Please click here for All Saints French Curriculum Coverage
Please click here for All Saints French Skills and Knowledge Progression
“Une nouvelle langue est une nouvelle vie. (A new language is a new life)” French pod 101.
At All Saints School, our Modern Foreign Language education engages, inspires and challenges pupils while equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to explore other countries, cultures and languages. In our multilingual society, it is a valuable skill to be able to communicate effectively with others in another language. Our language education fosters pupils’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world. The teaching enables pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It also provides opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes and learn new ways of thinking. Children’s interest is encouraged by being given regular stimulating and enjoyable lessons which build confidence and promote the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. As a result of our MFL teaching, our children will acquire an understanding of both spoken and written French, have the confidence to speak and hold conversations in French, develop positive attitudes towards other languages and cultures and know how important other languages can be in their future.
At All Saints School, French is taught as our main language to all pupils in Key Stage Two. This is because, historically, staff at the secondary schools that we feed to, have been able to provide outreach support for French teaching, and the secondary schools have a strong tradition of teaching in French at Key Stage Three. Our French teaching is organised by a clear scheme of work which is in line with the National Curriculum using the Rising Stars scheme of work and is supplemented by other resources. As part of each French unit, children are taught core vocabulary, listen to audio clips, watch animations and practise speaking and writing in French. To provide support and additional challenge, differentiated work and additional challenges are used too. Opportunities are also taken to supplement these lessons by using French at other times during the school day, for example when greeting children, taking the register, giving instructions and playing games/singing songs. Our MFL curriculum is carefully designed to ensure that children’s prior knowledge is revisited and built upon. In Year 3, skills focus on simple vocabulary including greetings, numbers, colours, progressing into extended sentences in Year 6.
*2022 Introductory year: all year groups following Y3 SoW to ensure year-on-year progression. In due course children will be able to listen to and read stories in French and carry out basic comprehension tasks.
How can I support my child with Languages?
The foreign language learning your child experiences at school should be more than enough to set them on their way. However, you might like to support their learning at home by trying some of the following:
- Take an interest, and learn with your child
Learn alongside them: find out the language they are learning and get them to teach you some key words and phrases. They might like to make a simple poster illustrating key words and phrases or use Post-It notes to label everyday objects in the language. Another good idea is to create a ‘new words’ dictionary for them to record all the new things that they have been learning. You may want to invest in a bilingual dictionary for them to look up further words — there are a great many ‘child-friendly’ versions of these available.
2. Make it Multimedia
Why not find books, films or songs in the language they’re learning? These can be a wonderful way to learn a language without even realising it. Early-readers or lift-the-flap books are brilliant for learning a new language. The Internet is perfect for bringing some cultural learning into your home, allowing, as it does, access to videos, radio/audio and images from all around the globe. It has never been easier to expand your child’s horizons. There are also many games accessible on-line (many of which are free) to help engage your child at home as well as websites (listed below) that include games, eBooks and links to other foreign language sites too.
3. Take a Trip
If you are lucky enough, perhaps you might like to plan a family holiday to a country where the language is spoken. This is not always possible, but any way for your child to meet native speakers can be a wonderful experience. Alternatively, there’s always the good old-fashioned pen-friend option!
4. Make it Fun
Above all, make any additional language learning you do at home fun, practical and supportive. Learning a new language can be a little daunting at first but with the help of parents and schools, it needn’t be the case. Even playing simple games (such as 'Snap', 'Guess Who', 'Snakes and Ladders') and adding an element of a foreign language (such as counting, colours or even just answering yes and no) could be a wonderful aid.
5. Useful Weblinks
A good way to help your child is to use some of the online resources that are available.
- Languages pages from the BBC
- Little Red Languages(free languages resources and activities)
- Duolingo— a fun and effective way to learn languages
