Modern Foreign Languages at Maple Court Academy

Subject: MFL- French

Subject leader: Mr Ward

Intent

At Maple Court, we enable children to celebrate and welcome differences in the World, so it is vital that they have an understanding of different languages and countries. By introducing children to this, they will have a deepened ability to show respect and play a valuable role in our global society. Through our French curriculum we aim to inspire a love of language. The teaching should enable children to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing.

The subject leader

Subject leader role is to over-see the planning and teaching of the MFL curriculum from year 3 up to Year 6. I do this by having a rigorous process of monitoring from learning walks, pupil voices and book scrutinies. These take place each term to ensure that French teaching is to a good standard and that the children are developing their skills in the 4 main areas of language learning: speaking, listening, reading and writing. I have always had a keen interest in languages, ever since my high school turned an after school Spanish club into an option for an additional GCSE. I studied both French and Spanish at GCSE level, pursuing Spanish further at degree level. My passion doesn’t stop there, however. I always try to incorporate the native languages of children under my stewardship. I hope that the children see that teachers are interested in their language, to promote fairness and equality. I have led MFL at a previous school, and I hope to continue the positive work put in place by my predecessor.

The curriculum

French is taught in KS2 (years 3- 6) for a minimum of 30 minutes each week. At Maple Court, we use the Primary Languages Network scheme of work. Each lesson consists of currently taught in KS2 for a minimum of 30 minutes per week or the equivalent. Each lesson is split into a retrieval/warm up, a learn section with the new vocabulary, a game to practise the vocabulary and an independent task.

All lessons give the children the opportunity to practise all 4 areas of learning:

Speak- practise vocab as a class, practise vocab with a partner, repetition is key- children need multiple opportunities and teachers to hear as many children as possible (one to one)

Listen- ensure that the children understand what they are hearing and have the opportunity to translate into English

Read and Write: Main task will incorporate skills in reading and writing so ensure appropriate time to complete task into books.

In French, as with all subjects, the curriculum is adapted as appropriate to ensure that all children have the same opportunities to achieve the learning objectives.

The Primary Languages Network scheme of work is divided into topics. Each topic is planned to last for 6 weeks and conclude with an assessment, where the children can practise and apply their learnt vocabulary and skills from that topic.

Assessment for learning

At Maple Court Academy, assessment is ongoing throughout every lesson with teachers identifying strengths, misconceptions and next steps. Teachers use this information to feed into subsequent learning sessions. Retrieval practice is a key element of every session, revisiting prior learning. Whiteboard work, partner discussion and questioning are just some of the strategies that we use to identify children’s progress towards the learning outcome, identifying children’s understanding and progress.

Pupil voice

‘I like how my teacher picks people at random. It can be scary but she can pick anybody to answer her question and practise their French’ – Year 5

‘I like playing the games in French and I like that when I am older, if anyone speaks French or I go to a country where they speak French, I will be able to reply easily’ – Year 4

‘I enjoy learning new things and learning new words to say’ – Year 3

‘I like the rainbow sentences. They help me to write full sentences in French.’ – Year 5