MFL

“One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.”

Frank Smith

What is the vision for MFL in our school?

Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable 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 should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.

What does our MFL curriculum offer to our pupils?

At St. Werburgh’s and St. Columba’s Catholic Primary School, we want our children to develop their linguistic competence; explore the different sounds that the language has to offer and notice the similarities and differences between their own language and whatever second (or third) language they choose.

Learning a new language should be seen as a life-long skill; it can open up new avenues of communication and exploration as well as promoting, encouraging and instilling a broader cultural understanding of the world around them.

Our curriculum is designed to develop learning through a range of spoken, written and listening activities which the children can fully embrace. We want them to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills which enables them to access the wider curriculum and to prepare them to be a global citizen now and in their future roles as adults within the global community. The students will know more, remember more and understand more. As a result, our children will develop the knowledge to be able to communicate in a language other than English. 

What effect does our MFL curriculum have on our children?

Learning a language opens the door to the wider world. We hope to instil a love of learning and languages which we hope will set our children up for life in high school and beyond. We hope that, no matter what language children go on to learn in secondary school, children will be able to apply language learning skills. We are very proud of how many of our former pupils continue with their language studies.

In school we study French as our main MFL. The children throughout the school have the opportunity to learn other languages and about other cultures through special events such as Language Focus Days and after school clubs.

Curriculum Overviews

Below is an outline to the units of work that the children will be exploring during each academic year. The information outlines the key objectives and vocabulary that the children will encounter during their learning.

Year 3 and 4

Listening

Show that he/she recognises words and phrases heard by responding appropriately.
Follow simple instructions and link pictures or actions to language
When listening to stories, rhymes or songs, join in with repeated sections and identify particular phonemes and rhyming words.
Show understanding of a range of familiar spoken phrases, for example through acting out part of a familiar story heard.
Listen to and accurately repeat particular phonemes and songs and rhymes and begin to make links to spellings.
Notice that the target language may contain different phonemes and that some similar sounds may be spelt differently to English.

Speaking

Ask and answer simple questions, for example about personal information.
Repeat sentences heard and make simple adaptations to them.
Use mostly accurate pronunciation and speak clearly when addressing an audience.
Use simple adjectives such as colour and sizes to describe things orally.
Ask and answer a range of questions on different topic areas.
Using familiar sentences as models make varied adaptations to create new sentences.
Read aloud using accurate pronunciation and present a short learned piece for performance.

Reading

Recognise some familiar words and phrases in written form
Read some familiar words aloud using mostly accurate pronunciation.
Learn and remember new words encountered in reading.
Read a range of familiar written phrases and sentences, recognising their meaning and reading them aloud accurately.
Follow the written version of a text he/she is listening to.
Begin to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words within a familiar text using contextual and other clues.

Writing

Write some single words and short phrases from memory.
Use a range of adjectives to describe things in more detail such as colours, sizes and describing someone’s appearance.
Write descriptive sentences using a word bank but supplying some words form memory.

Grammar

Recognise a wider range of word classes eg. nouns, adjectives, verbs and pronouns and use them appropriately.
Understand that nouns have different genders and can recognise clues to identify this.
Understand that adjectives may change form according to the noun they relate to an d select the appropriate form.
Have basic understanding of the usual order of words in sentences in French.
Recognise questions and negative sentences.

Knowledge

To know simple commands.
To know simple songs and rhymes.
To know vocabulary to meet and greet someone.
To know how meet and greet someone in French.
To know how to ask questions to someone in French.
To know vocabulary about the personal body in French.
To know vocabulary about food in French.
To know vocabulary about family and friends in French.
To know vocabulary about our school in French.
To know how to describe an object in French.

Year 5 and 6