There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning. If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me.

1 Corinthians 14:10-11

Statement of Intent

There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning. If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me.

1 Corinthians 14:10-11

At St Mary’s our Key stage 2 classes are taught weekly French lessons. Given our proximity to France, we want our children to learn how to speak, read and write in French. We believe that learning an additional language gives children an opportunity to broaden their horizons and provide them with an exciting social and cultural experience.

We use Kapow Primary’s French scheme of work, it aims to instil a love of language learning and an awareness of other cultures. We want pupils to develop the confidence to communicate in French for practical purposes, using both written and spoken French. Through our scheme of work, we aim to give pupils a foundation for language learning that encourages and enables them to apply their skills to learning further languages, developing a strong understanding of the English language, facilitating future study and opening opportunities to study and work in other countries in the future. Kapow Primary’s French scheme of work supports pupils to meet the national curriculum end of Key stage 2 attainment targets (there are no Key stage 1 attainment targets for Languages).

Our aims:

• Provide an exciting, rich, relevant and challenging French curriculum for all pupils.
• To progressively develop our children’s acquisition of French
• Foster curiosity and interest about different languages and cultures
• Enable children to make links with learning in other subject areas
• Prepare children for transition to secondary school by introducing them to a modern foreign language
• Compare and contrast French words and grammar

Implementation

The Kapow French scheme of work is designed with six strands that run throughout. These are:

Our National curriculum mapping shows which of our units cover each of the National curriculum attainment targets as well as each of the strands.

Our Progression of skills and knowledge shows the skills and knowledge that are taught within each year group and how these skills develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of Key Stage 2.

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. Cross-curricular links are included throughout our French units, allowing children to make connections and apply their language skills to other areas of their learning. Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including role-play, language games and language detective work.

Our scheme of work focuses 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

The impact of St Mary’s French curriculum is monitored continuously through both formative and summative assessment. Pupils 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:

• Be able to engage in purposeful dialogue in practical situations (e.g., ordering in a cafe, following directions) and express an opinion.
• Make increasingly accurate attempts to read unfamiliar words, phrases, and short texts.
• Speak and read aloud with confidence and accuracy in pronunciation.
• Demonstrate understanding of spoken language by listening and responding appropriately.
• Use a bilingual dictionary to support their language learning.
• Be able to identify word classes in a sentence and apply grammatical rules they have learnt.
• 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.
• Be able to construct short texts on familiar topics.
• Meet the end of Key Stage 2 stage expectations outlined in the national curriculum for Languages.