Wimborne First School & Nursery

French Curriculum

               With languages, you are at home anywhere

  Edward De Waal

Intent

Wimborne First School uses the Language Angels scheme of work and resources to ensure that we offer a relevant, broad, vibrant and ambitious foreign language curriculum that will inspire and excite our pupils by using a wide variety of topics and themes. All pupils will be expected to achieve their full potential by encouraging high expectations and excellent standards in their foreign language learning with the ultimate aim of pupils having the ability and wanting to continue their study of languages beyond Key Stage 2.

The intent is that all content will be continuously reviewed and updated annually, creating a dynamic programme of study, clearly outlined in both long and short-term planning. This will ensure that pupils foreign language knowledge progresses within each academic year and is extended throughout the Key Stage 2 phase, therefore meeting or exceeding national DfE requirements.

The four key language learning skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing, as well as all necessary grammar components will be taught in an age-appropriate way across the lower Key stage 2 phase. This will enable pupils to use and apply their learning in a variety of contexts, securing solid foundations for future language learning whilst helping them to improve overall attainment in other subject areas. In addition, the children will be taught how to research language they are unsure of and have a bank of reference materials to help them to recall and build on previous knowledge throughout their First School language journey.

The intent is that all pupils develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about foreign languages, finding them enjoyable and stimulating. Learning a second language also offers pupils the opportunity to explore relationships between language and identity, develop a deeper understanding of other cultures in the wider world and greater awareness of self, others and cultural differences. The intention is that they will become life-long language learners.

Implementation

All classes will have access to a very high-quality foreign languages curriculum using the Language Angels scheme of work and resources. This will progressively develop pupils’ skills in French through regularly taught and well-planned weekly lessons in LKS2 which will be taught by class teachers. Children will progressively acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary, language skills and grammatical knowledge organised around age-appropriate topics and themes-building towards more complex, fluent and authentic use of language. All teachers will know where every child is at any point of their language learning journey.

Planning will incorporate different levels of challenge and the selection of units to teach at each stage of the academic year will be reviewed annually and the scheme updated accordingly. Lessons offering appropriate levels of challenge and stretch will be taught at all times to ensure that pupils learn effectively and continuously review and build on their knowledge and enthusiasm for learning French.

Early Language units are entry level units which are taught in Year 3 and are appropriate for pupils with little or no previous foreign language learning. Intermediate units increase the level of challenge (including grammar concepts) and are introduced in Year 4 so pupils can embed basic knowledge of French. Children will have ample opportunities to speak, listen to, read and write French with and without scaffolds, adaptations, frames and varying levels of support.

Teaching units, where possible will be linked to cross-curricular themes. Children will build on previous knowledge gradually, as the language lessons recycle, revise and consolidate previous learning, building on the four key language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Appropriate grammar concepts are taught throughout all units at all levels of challenge at the right time in their foreign language learning journey.

Grammar

Grammar rules and patterns are introduced by level of challenge.

Early Learning Units - introduce nouns and articles and first person singular of high frequency verbs.

Intermediate Units –move on to the use of the possessive, the concept of adjectives, use of the negative form, conjunctions/connectives and the concept of whole regular verb conjugation.

Grammar is integrated and taught discreetly throughout all units.

The school has a unit overview planner which outlines which units will be taught across Year 3 and 4 in each academic term to ensure continuity and progress in learning. Each unit is divided into 6 fully planned lessons.

• Each unit and lesson has clearly identified objectives and aims
• Each lesson incorporates interactive whiteboard materials to include speaking and listening tasks
• Lessons include challenge sections with activities at 3 levels of stretch and differentiation
• Reading and writing activities will be offered in all units (including extension activities for native speakers)
• Every unit includes a grammar concept which increase in complexity as pupils progress from Early units
• Extending writing activities provide pupils with the opportunities to recall and reuse previously learnt language and recall it with greater ease and accuracy

Units are progressive within themselves, as subsequent lessons build on the language and knowledge taught in previous lessons. As pupils progress through lessons in a unit they build their blocks of knowledge and develop greater complexity of the language they use.

Pupil learning and progression will be assessed at the end of each 6 week unit.

Teachers will aim to assess each language skill (speaking, listening, reading and writing) at regular intervals throughout the academic year to provide reference points from which to review and plan next steps in learning and the progression of key skills.

In addition to The Language Angels scheme opportunities to promote the learning and enjoyment of French in our school will include – French themed assemblies and celebration days to celebrate French culture, exploring French artists and providing a range of bilingual French/ English texts to promote interest in further reading and appreciation of cultural diversity.

At Wimborne First School and Nursery we have key threads to our Learning Pathway pedagogy which run through and across all year groups. The key threads are – Introduce Key Knowledge, Model, Do and Check, Apply and Deepen, Review and Reflect, Remember and Connect.

These are continually revisited and explored and underpinned by key vocabulary and knowledge that will be taught explicitly in MFL.