MFL
Modern Foreign Languages
Modern foreign languages at Gainsborough Primary and Nursery Academy aims to:
- Develop an interest and thirst for learning other languages
- Introduce the learning of French
- Help children to understand the French culture in interesting and stimulating ways
- Embed essential skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing
- Teach children to know and understand how to: ask and answer questions, use correct pronunciation and intonation, memorise words, interpret meaning, understand basic grammar, use dictionaries, work in pairs and groups and to communicate in French
- Build the children’s ‘cultural capital’ so that they are aware of similarities and differences between cultures
- Build on prior learning
- Promote progression of skills and language acquisition
- Lay foundations for future language learning
Our MFL curriculum has been designed to sequentially develop skills in French and is in line with the requirements of the National Curriculum. Children acquire a bank of vocabulary organised around specific topics. We ensure progression by building on previous knowledge from units already studied to embed it further, as well as introducing new units. Key skills have been mapped across the school to ensure progression between year groups and lessons are appropriately scaffolded to ensure that French is challenging to all. All children in Key Stage 2 are taught French in a weekly discrete lesson and this is delivered using a variety of techniques, including games and singing, to actively engage the children in their learning. Key Stage 1 children are introduced to French through songs, focusing on greetings, and through our French themed days.
Pupils leave Gainsborough Primary and Nursery Academy having acquired the skills to understand simple spoken and written French and also to express themselves through speaking and writing in basic French. Pupils are also able to appreciate the cultural differences between the UK and France and leave Key Stage 2 with a solid foundation in preparation for further foreign language teaching at Key Stage 3.
The curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress. The impact of our curriculum is also measured through:
- A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes
- Pupil discussions about their learning
- Work scrutinies
- Lesson observations
