Modern Foreign Languages
Intent
At St. Andrew’s we believe that the learning of a Modern Foreign Language provides a valuable
educational, social and cultural experience for our pupils. It helps them to develop communication
skills, including key skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. Learning another language gives children a new and broader perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.
Implementation
At St. Andrew's we want pupils to develop the confidence to communicate in French for practical
purposes, using both written and spoken French. We follow Kapow Primary’s French scheme which
is taught in KS2 from Years 3 -6.
Through Kapow Primary’s French scheme, pupils are given opportunities to communicate for
practical purposes around familiar subjects and routines. The scheme provides balanced opportunities for communication in both spoken and written French, although in Year 3 the focus is
on developing oral skills, before incorporating written French in Year 4 and beyond.
The Kapow Primary scheme is a spiral curriculum, with key skills and vocabulary revisited repeatedly with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including role-play, language games and language detective work. We focus on developing what we term ‘language detective skills’ and developing an understanding of French grammar, rather than on
committing to memory vast amounts of French vocabulary.
Impact
Our children tell us that they enjoy learning another language. They are aware that the French
language has a structure which is different from the English language. Children are observed
speaking French with increasing confidence. They are able to ask questions and take part in discussions.
Due to the coverage and nature of our French lessons we believe the children at St. Andrew's should
leave school equipped with a range of language-learning skills to enable them to study French, or
any other language, with confidence at Key Stage 3.
The expected impact of following the Kapow Primary French scheme of work is that children will:
1. Be able to engage in purposeful dialogue in practical situations (e.g., ordering in a cafe,
following directions) and express an opinion.
2. Make increasingly accurate attempts to read unfamiliar words, phrases, and short texts.
3. Speak and read aloud with confidence and accuracy in pronunciation. As well as
demonstrate understanding of spoken language by listening and responding appropriately.
4. Use a bilingual dictionary to support their language learning and where possible, be able to
identify word classes in a sentence and apply grammatical rules they have learnt.
5. Have developed an awareness of cognates and near-cognates and be able to use them to
tackle unfamiliar words in French, English, and other languages.