Languages

Vision

At Moss Hall, we believe that learning a foreign language is a necessary part of being a member of a multi-cultural society and that high-quality language education offers pupils the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the world. We want our children to develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about foreign languages, finding them enjoyable and stimulating. It is our intention to ensure that, by the end of our pupils’ primary education, they have acquired an understanding of both spoken and written French, have the confidence to speak in French with others and know how important other languages can be in their future. We believe that the early acquisition of French will facilitate the learning of other foreign languages later in life. We aim to prepare children for the KS3  language curriculum to enable them to transfer confidently and successfully. The intention is that they will be working towards becoming life-long language learners.

Language learning journey

At Moss Hall we…

• deliver fortnightly lessons in French taught by a native French speaker
• provide blocks of language knowledge over the course of a unit. As pupils progress through the lessons in a unit they build their knowledge and develop the complexity of the language they use
• build on the language and knowledge taught in previous units, allowing pupils to build more complex and sophisticated language structures throughout the year and across KS2
• use the Language Angels program to support our lessons, offering creative, fun and engaging interactive resources that inspire and excite our pupils
• provide a bank of reference materials to help children with their spoken and written tasks during lessons. This is kept in a folder, together with their written work, thus developing into a reference library to help them recall and build on previous knowledge throughout their primary school language learning journey  
• encourage children to consolidate and extend their language learning by using the Languagenut program at home

Vocabulary, phonics and grammar

At Moss Hall we…

• begin each lesson with five to ten minutes retrieval of key vocabulary and questioning to ensure that children retain the most important and frequently used French words and phrases
• introduce new vocabulary verbally and with visual support, but without spellings at first, to develop listening skills and promote the use of correct pronunciation and intonation
• use choral repetition of words and phrases to engage all learners, develop fluency and promote long-term language retention
• teach the most common French phonemes to develop accurate pronunciation
• improve decoding skills and establish links between phonemes and graphemes
• teach children how to look up and research vocabulary using bilingual dictionaries
• teach grammar concepts and introduce verbs discreetly or specifically throughout our units to allow children to progress to a more complex, fluent and authentic language

Language skills

At Moss Hall we...

• teach the four key language learning skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing through age-appropriate, high-interest topics and themes. This enables pupils to use and apply their learning in a variety of contexts, laying down solid foundations for future language learning and also helping the children improve overall attainment in other subject areas
• provide opportunities for all children to use and apply their speaking and listening skills in every lesson and complete regular reading and writing activities 
• check understanding by asking questions and giving immediate feedback
• assess with a variety of tasks to be able to provide reference points against which learning and progression in each skill can be demonstrated

 Language in context

 At Moss Hall we…

• want our pupils to experience the joy of languages and the richness of other cultures by creating opportunities for them to:

- read French or dual language books

- use the language in short presentations around a topic

- sing action songs and rhymes

- learn about francophone countries around the world, including festivals

- take part in a French Day in Year 4

• value multilingualism  and encourage children who speak another language to make connections and contribute to our lessons

Assessment

At Moss Hall we…

• ask questions to check for understanding
• assess at the end of a unit each language skill (speaking, listening, reading and writing) to be able to provide reference points against which learning and progression in each skill can be demonstrated

Long Term Overview

Progression Map

Year 3 French Knowledge Organisers and Vocabulary

Year 4 French Knowledge Organisers and Vocabulary

Year 5 French Knowledge Organisers and Vocabulary

Year 6 French Knowledge Organisers and Vocabulary