French | St Leonard's Church of England, VA Lower School

Intent

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.

We believe that the learning of a foreign language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural
experience for our pupils. It helps them to develop communication skills including key skills of speaking
and listening and extends their knowledge of how language works.

Learning another language gives children a new perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.

We aim to:

foster an interest in language learning by introducing children to other languages in a way that is

enjoyable and accessible to all pupils;

stimulate and encourage children’s curiosity about language and creativity in experimenting with it;
support oracy and literacy, and in particular develop speaking and listening skills;
help children develop their awareness of cultural similarities and differences;
lay the foundations for future language study by pupils;
provide an added perspective on first language teaching and learning;
give an extra dimension to teaching and learning across the curriculum.

Implementation

All KS2 pupils have a weekly French lesson. We want our pupils at KS2 to;

understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
speak with increasing confidence, 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

Key Stage 2
Year 3	Year 4
Greetings and Introductions	Revision of year 3 content +
Numbers from 1-20	Pets
Days of the week	Parts of the Body
Classroom objects	Clothing
Christmas	My family
Weather words	Likes and Dislikes
Fruits and vegetables	Hobbies and Activities
Hobbies and Sports
Animals

Our teaching focus is on the spoken word rather than the written word.

Impact

The intended outcomes are 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.