Across the BLP, schools electing to teach French follow the curriculum written by leaders and specialists across the trust. Staff in our schools hope that children become enthused language learners by the time they leave us at the end of Year 6, understanding that a little language can go a long way. We want pupils to appreciate the range of doors that learning a language can open, to understand that letter-sound correspondences vary between languages and to realise that speaking another language is not merely learning and swapping a huge list of words. We hope that children begin to see connections between English and other languages.
Motivation: Learning a language, even just a few words, helps us to appreciate the cultures of others. In lessons, children have opportunities to present and perform. These are all skills that will benefit language learning later in life, even if children don't study French at secondary school.
At Methley Primary School, children in Key Stage Two learn French. Each class has a dedicated slot per week.
Our planning in French works on a ‘pass-to-progress model’. Year groups follow the plan for French prescribed by the BLP curriculum at the rate that is suitable for them, only moving on when they have mastered the content in that unit. Across the scheme of work, there are proportionate opportunities to read, write, speak and listen for each objective.
We devote as much time revisiting and revising previously learnt content as teaching new content. Our teaching involves using phonic strategies to ensure children pronounce words accurately and beautifully. Children have opportunities to practise the spelling and writing of key phrases as well as discussion. Often, we will introduce phrases with their literal translations (Did you know that the French say ‘I have ten years’ instead of ‘I am ten years old’?) so that children can understand how the language is constructed, which will help them manipulate and construct new sentences.
Please find our long-term plan for French below. Note that it will develop over time to include more units as children become more familiar with the language.
Assessment in French most regularly takes place when revisiting content at distance. This happens each lesson. At the end of a unit children recap their learning for that block of learning and sit a mini summative assessment to inform future reteaching. Language learnt in one unit directly feeds into subsequent learning.
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