Modern Foreign Languages

Intent

At Green Street Green, we believe that learning a foreign language is an essential part of being a member of a multi-cultural society, developing a greater understanding of other cultures and challenging insularity. Our Modern Foreign Languages curriculum is designed to support the development of learning other languages in a way that is stimulating and meaningful. It is intended to lay the foundations for studying MFL at Key Stages 3 and 4.

Implementation

We engage the children in fun, interactive and stimulating activities which hopefully demonstrate how enjoyable and rewarding learning a foreign language can be. Our main emphasis is always on practical communication and enjoying language as a living tool which everyone can learn and use in and outside of the classroom. Children in KS2 receive weekly French lessons. Listening, speaking, reading and writing skills are embedded, allowing children to apply their French learning to a variety of contexts. Our MFL curriculum is designed in a way that progressively develops skills in language, through the regular revisiting of topics and relevant points of basic grammar. Children acquire, use and apply an ever-increasing bank of vocabulary, organised around the topics we cover, such as ‘All about me’, ‘Food and Drink’ and ‘Animals’.

Learning is structured to build confidence and curiosity, deepening the children’s understanding of the world and other cultures. We like to explore significant annual events that are observed in French culture (such as Bastille Day on 14th July), and make comparisons with how occasions such as Christmas and Easter are observed in the UK. Of course it is also important that the children gain an understanding of just how large and wide-spread the French speaking community is around the world that it is not just in France or Belgium that French is spoken!

To encourage and reward the children, ‘Baguette Points’, unique to their French learning, are awarded for effort, attainment, team work, enthusiasm, asking intelligent questions, making valuable contributions to lessons and for kindness to others. Certificates and small prizes are given to children who collect 50 Baguette Points in a year, or who voluntarily complete some extended learning in French.

The children’s French folders serve as a record of progress for each individual and we like to foster a feeling of pride in them by running a tri-annual competition for the ones that are best maintained and presented.

Children in EYFS and KS1 are given opportunities to explore other languages and cultures through different subjects, such as RE, History, and Geography, as well as celebrating the varied heritages of the students and staff in our school family.

Impact

By the end of KS2, children will leave Green Street Green with the foundations for learning further languages, providing them with the skills to interact, live, study and work in other countries. Having fun in French helps to spark and retain an interest in the academic side of MFL learning so the children learn the relevant grammar basics as they go along and grow in confidence from week to week. Their four years of learning French will demonstrate that MFL plays to everyone’s strengths and can be enjoyed and appreciated by all.