Languages Intent and Implementation
Intent
We believe that learning French throughout Key Stage 2 provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for all our pupils. It helps children to develop communication skills as well as give them a new and broader perspective on the world. Our intention is to provide children with a love for learning new languages and an appreciation of the differences of foreign grammatical structures. As well as providing excellent, knowledgeable teaching that offers high quality, creative lessons, that help children to navigate through their linguistic journey with a real purpose.
Implementation
During Key Stage 2 at Admirals Academy, French is taught over two lessons a week providing opportunities to revisit previous learning. Units are selected and lessons planned, using the CUSP scheme of work to ensure that each students’ knowledge of phonics, vocabulary and grammar is introduced systematically and revisited regularly. Between years 3 and 6, threads of content will be repeated, practised and built upon to show a clear progression in understanding of how to speak, read, write and listen in French.
During one unit:
• new learning builds on prior knowledge and understanding
• phonics, vocabulary and grammar are introduced systematically and explicitly
• students are supported through my turn, our turn and your turn sequence which allows scaffolding to be gradually removed and finish with opportunities for the children to be independent learners.
• students are given the opportunity to use and manipulate their acquired French language vocabulary skills to show a clear understanding of grammatical structures that have been introduced.
• in addition to the teacher speaking French, native sound files are used, giving students the chance to hear a variety of French voices.
• At the end of each unit of work, a summative assessment is carried out and children are given the opportunity to reflect on and record their learning. At Admirals Academy, students will be frequently given the opportunity to demonstrate their learning by shared talking, group games to interactively engage the children with the French language. To show progression, each student has an exercise book that is used to record written work from Year 3 all the way to Year 6. This gives students the opportunity to refer to previously acquired vocabulary and grammar from their knowledge organisers. Seesaw is also a software used to provide opportunities for verbal and interactive aspects of the learning to be recorded and looked back on.