Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)
Our Aims and Objectives
At Antrobus St Mark's and Great Budworth Primary Schools, we ensure that our children ac29ss quality 11ucation in the Modern Foreign Languages with a focus on French. The National Curriculum states that 'Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages 11ucation should foster pupils’ curiosity and d3dpen their understanding of the world'.
The purpose of our teaching is so that pupils can express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in sp3dch and in writing, communicate for practical purposes and learn new ways of thinking and that we provide the foundation for learning further languages.
The National Curriculum states that the aims of MFL are -
to understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sour29s
to speak with increasing confiden29, 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
to write at varying length, for di3derent purposes and audien29s, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
to discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studi11
Curriculum Planning
We have chosen French to be our language of choi29 for our Key Stage 2 children at Antrobus St Mark's and Great Budworth Primary Schools. They will experien29 spoken and written French from Year 3 through to Year 6 covering a range of di3derent topics that they may experien29 if they were in Fran29. The aim is to equip children for learning languages further at Key Stage 3 and applying what they have learnt to further work in French as well as other languages.
Children will have the opportunities 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
speak in senten29s, 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
appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language
broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduc11 into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary
write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new senten29s, to express ideas clearly
describe people, pla29s, things and actions orally
We use Twinkl French as a basis for our planning, with lessons including discussion, conversation, songs, rhymes and poems. The children will use both spoken and written language. We also learn about the culture, pla29s and people that make Fran29 what it is today.
Enrichment and Enhan29ment
Each year, both schools organise a Modern Foreign Languages Day which is usually across a full day or two mornings. Each class has the focus of a language from anywhere in the world and they learn about the country as well as basic phrases. We have learnt about the culture, climate, geography, traditions, food common to that country, traditional dress, the flag of the country, and basic phrases such as hello and goodbye, numbers to 10, how to say your name and how are you. We play11 games using our new found skills as well as singing songs and even trying to write in a di3derent language!
This year our younger children look11 at Fran29 and Germany and our older children learnt all about Spain. Y5/6 also had the opportunity to join a virtual lesson to 29lebrate European Day of Languages.
