Languages

Intent

French teaching at Brampton Primary aims to provide all pupils with an insight into another culture, furthering their curiosity and understanding of other countries. It aims to give pupils the skills they need to speak, read and write in another language, opening up opportunities to communicate for practical purposes in the wider world. We are committed to fulfil the aims, and deliver the learning outcomes of, the National Curriculum Languages KS2 programme of study allowing children to make substantial progress in one language, French. This also gives our pupils a solid foundation for further language study as they move on to KS3 and beyond.

Implementation

Our KS2 children have a weekly French lesson of at least 30 minutes. At our school, we use the ‘Rachel Hawkes’ scheme of work which provides pupils access to exciting and engaging lessons that prioritise the teaching of the three key essential knowledge strands; phonics, grammar and vocabulary. It aims to give children the tools they need to be successful in French speaking, reading and writing by applying their learnt skills. Due to mixed aged classes, French is taught on a two-year rolling programme which covers and revisits a variety of topics. This gives our pupils repetition of taught concepts and allows them to practice their skills on a regular basis, ensuring retention and embedding of knowledge. Each unit aims to:

• Promote a love of language learning throughout the school
• Provide pupils with the opportunities to hear native speakers of the language to ensure correct pronunciation. We encourage pupils to use the correct French vocabulary as much as possible in lessons.
• Develop pupil’s key skills in learning the language, in particular their knowledge of phonics, grammar and vocabulary.

Phonics – the key components of the sound-writing relationship

Vocabulary – a set of the most frequently used words

Grammar – the essential building blocks required to create simple sentences independently (including gender of nouns, singular and plural forms, adjectives (place and agreement), and the conjugation of key verbs)

• Provide opportunities for pupils to learn not only the French language, but also about everyday French culture, including celebrations, festivals, overseas French territories and social norms and values.
• Ensure teachers check pupil’s understanding through assessment for learning and use this information to plan for the next steps. They address misconceptions and tailor their lessons to pupils needs.
• Develop linguistic and communicative competence and give pupils opportunities to speak, listen, read and write in French.
• Explore similarities and differences between French, any heritage languages our children have, and English

Impact

• Children to enjoy, and show enthusiasm for, learning languages.
• Children to have a basic foundation in learning a language and reach the standard needed in French to prepare them for further learning at KS3 and beyond.
• Children are equipped with the basic skills they need to speak, read and write in French and they retain, and build upon, their knowledge over time. Children can apply their learnt skills to unknown vocabulary to read and speak with fluency, and also write for purpose.
• Children make clear progress as they move through KS2 and demonstrate what they have learnt using the assessment tools provided in the Rachel Hawkes scheme.