French at Langford Village Community Primary School

Intent

The skills, knowledge and understanding gained through learning a language contribute to the development of children’s oracy and literacy and to their understanding of their own culture and those of others. At Langford Village Community Primary School, we feel that the earlier a child is exposed to a foreign language, the faster the language in question is acquired. We believe that the early acquisition of French will facilitate the learning of other foreign languages later in life and will prepare children for the Key Stage 3 language curriculum.

Implementation

Langford uses the ‘Catherine Cheater’ scheme of work to support the teaching and learning of French across Key Stage 2. The scheme provides clear progression for the development of speaking and listening and vocabulary acquisition; making explicit links to the five Framework strands for teaching and learning: oracy, literacy, intercultural understanding, knowledge about language and language learning strategies.

The Catherine Cheater scheme uses a variety of techniques to encourage children to have an active engagement with French:

• Games - in order to develop vocabulary through repetition, reading, writing, speaking and listening skills
• Role-play - these should relate to the situations the children may find themselves in the future
• Action songs and rhymes - to develop phonetic skills, memory skills and to further vocabulary
• Reading and writing using quality materials
• Building children’s confidence through praise for any contribution they make in French, however tentative

Impact

By the time our children leave Langford they will:

• Be aware that a language has a structure and that the structure differs from one language to another
• Have developed their language and communication through the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing in French
• Have enriched their learning of language by developing an understanding of the French culture
• Will be ready to continue to develop their language skills in Key Stage 3

Impact will be measured by:

• Regular knowledge-check activities and teacher assessment during lessons
• In school attainment tracking
• Subject Leader monitoring: lesson visits, auditing of books, assessment analysis, pupil interviews and questionnaires, staff interviews and questionnaires
• Governor monitoring