HOW WE GET OUR CHILDREN TO HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF A MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND DEVELOP THEIR FRENCH VOCABULARY.

French is taught to all of our junior pupils and we are extremely lucky to have a language expert from a local secondary school to support our teachers and pupils.   The teaching of French at The Curzon is very visual and  interactive, using lots of games, songs and pictures  - we mainly focus on speaking, listening and understanding.

INTENT

 At The Curzon we want our pupils to develop a love of learning a new language and to feel confident when in a foreign country to ‘try out’ their knowledge of the French language.  Through our carefully thought-out programme of study our pupils will expand their knowledge of the world and  the culture and traditions of another  country. The curriculum is planned so that children are provided with the opportunity to experiment with expressing their ideas and thoughts in another language  We use the teaching of French  to add cultural capital to our pupils, especially our disadvantaged pupils who might not have the opportunity to travel abroad.  Our belief is that the acquisition of a different language deepens pupil’s understanding of the world around them and makes a contribution to the development of their oracy and literacy. 

The sequence and structure of teaching reflects the national curriculum but is also set within a context that reflects the needs of the school community with an emphasis on listening and responding to spoken French as well as an early development of oracy.
It is the aim of our MFL curriculum to ensure all of our pupils:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
• speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity with a focus on the accuracy  of their pronunciation and intonation
• can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
• absorb the culture of a different country.

IMPLEMENTATION

• Our pupils are taught French by a language expert.
• We follow this scheme of work: which promotes a  challenging and thorough curriculum.
• We use songs and books to teach our pupils French.
• Worksheets are used in our lower junior classes to consolidate learning and in the upper juniors our pupils have exercise books and are taught to write French in full sentences.
• We use a spiral curriculum to ensure that no vocabulary is lost along the way.
• French grammar as well as vocabulary is taught throughout the curriculum to ensure that our pupils are ready to write full sentences by the time they leave The Curzon C of E Primary School.
• All of our junior teachers are committed to ensuring that French is used throughout the week, not just during the weekly lesson. Vocabulary is displayed and used regularly to ensure that our pupils transfer new vocabulary to their long-term memory. 
• Our teachers understand the importance of teaching in a manner that is conducive to pupils learning and retaining the vocabulary and grammar taught. Pupils are given regular mini quizzes to ensure that they are constantly retrieving important information.
• All pupils have a French cultural experience at least once a year.
• There is a robust assessment system in place to ensure that all pupils are making progress and that any gaps in learning are highlighted and addressed.

IMPACT

Our pupils will have a good working knowledge of French vocabulary and feel proud of their ability to converse and write in a second language.  Their positive experience of learning a second language at Curzon will encourage them to build upon their French vocabulary and grammar to become fluent in French or any other language of their choosing.  Their curiosity about another country and its language will have been ignited and they will be ready to further develop their learning of a foreign language at secondary school.

Our challenging scheme of work ensures that our pupils can speak and write in French by the time they leave Curzon.  Our intention is for our children to be on a trajectory that would enable them to study and work in other countries when they are older if they should choose to do so.

How to Support your Child at Home

Below are some interactive websites the children can visit to have fun with French whilst learning.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z39d7ty

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2french.html