Modern Foreign Languages
Intent
The Modern Foreign Languages curriculum at Latymer All Saints aims to be fully inclusive for all pupils. We have a clear rationale for teaching a foreign language - we firmly believe that learning a foreign language provides valuable and essential educational, social, and cultural experiences for our children. Our goal is to inspire and encourage pupils to become active members of a multicultural society, fostering excitement, enjoyment, and a love of language learning.
Our curriculum supports the development of key communication skills, including speaking, listening, and an understanding of how language works. Pupils will engage with a variety of authentic spoken and written sources, enabling them to comprehend and respond with increasing confidence, fluency, and accuracy in pronunciation and intonation.
As pupils progress, they will also become more adept at writing within the target language, French, developing the ability to compose texts of varying length and purpose, utilising the grammatical structures they have learned. This will cultivate an appreciation for diverse forms of writing in the language studied.
The overarching aims of our MFL teaching are:
• To inspire curiosity and enthusiasm for language and other cultures
• To help pupils recognise the value of learning another language• To support the development of spoken and written proficiency in French specifically
• To provide practical, applicable skills that pupils can carry forward throughout their lives
By strengthening communication abilities, cultural awareness, and a love of language, our MFL curriculum empowers pupils to engage meaningfully with the multilingual, multicultural world around them.
Implementation
To ensure consistently high-quality teaching and delivery of Modern Foreign Languages, we have implemented a progressive, engaging, and balanced curriculum. Our Key Stage Two curriculum focuses on learning French, with knowledge and skills being systematically built upon from Year 3 to Year 6; delivered through the use of Primary Languages Network resources.
MFL (Modern Foreign Languages) French lessons for Key Stage 2 pupils are 30 minutes long and occur once per week. Additionally, Year 2 pupils participate in a French Enrichment hour once per term, where they are introduced to the language through engaging songs and games.
To support the effective implementation of our curriculum, our whole school staff takes the following measures:
- Frequent assessment and monitoring of learning to ensure knowledge is progressing and children can build upon their prior understanding.
- Adaptation of lesson planning from the school's Scheme of Work ‘Primary Languages Network’ to ensure learning sequences are appropriate for each cohort and meet National Curriculum requirements.
- Modelling French pronunciation and intonation using native speaker audio clips from the Scheme of Work.
- Integrating opportunities to explore other cultures and languages within thematic lessons linked to subjects like PSHE, RE, and Music.
To further support language learning, we encourage all of our pupils to download and use the Duolingo language learning app. Duolingo gamifies the learning process by awarding experience points (XP) for completing lessons and activities. These points can be used to unlock new vocabulary and grammar "skills", which are represented by colourful circular icons. Each skill covers a specific communicative function, such as ordering food at a restaurant.
Duolingo's gamification approach is designed to increase pupil motivation and make language learning more enjoyable. As pupils progress, they earn Lingots and Gems, which can be used to customise the app's mascot, Duo the owl, with new outfits and accessories.
Impact
Pupil Voice
Our ethos is focused on empowering children to engage in thought-provoking discussions where they can make sense of the world around them. Throughout our teaching and learning cycle, children are encouraged to openly share their thoughts, opinions, and insights with their peers and the wider school community. We believe that by becoming knowledgeable and skilled linguists, children will gain the confidence to effectively communicate their understanding. Within each MFL lesson, children spend significant time working orally, developing their pronunciation and engaging in two-way conversations with classmates.
High-Quality Outcomes
Children record their work in French books alongside engaging in oral exercises with peers. They work towards creating one or two high-quality outcomes that showcase and deepen their understanding within each unit of work. This measured approach to the final outcome allows learning to be strengthened and higher-quality work to be produced. Pupil work is presented in creative ways, providing opportunities for children to express their artistic side and take ownership of their learning. When children are actively involved in the process and given adequate time to complete their work to a high standard, they feel a sense of pride that further strengthens their interest.
Photos from our recent French competition:
Our pupils’ thoughts:
“I really like learning new words and answering the questions. It makes me happy to do French.” Year 2
“French at Latymer All Saints is challenging, but fun!” Year 3
“I love French language, it’s good because Duolingo is a good game that makes your head work.” EAL pupil Year 4
“French with Duolingo is great, if I wanted to travel to France, Switzerland or Luxemburg, French at school has helped me to talk to people in French and communicate with French citizens around the world.” Year 5 pupil
French is a difficult language as some words are hard to pronounce. But with Duolingo at school and at home, it becomes easy, because it is so exciting and fun.” Year 6 pupil
What we achieve
When our pupils leave Latymer All Saints, they are motivated to further develop their individual potential and take part in lifelong language learning. Pupils have increasing self-confidence in their abilities and use their skills to make a positive contribution as citizens in the wider world.
By the end of key stage 2, pupils should be able 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; seek clarification and help.
- Speak in sentences, 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.
- Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences.
- Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing.
- Appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language.
- Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary.
- Describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing.
- Understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.