Modern Foreign Languages

Intent

At Towcester C of E Primary School, to deliver our Foreign Language curriculum, we use a specially designed scheme called ‘Kapow’ which supports the school with the delivery of high-quality French lessons from Year 3 through to Year 6.

The French scheme of work aims to instil a love of language learning and an awareness of other cultures. We want pupils to develop the confidence to communicate in French for practical purposes, using both written and spoken French. Through this scheme of work, we aim to give pupils a foundation for language learning that encourages and enables them to apply their skills to learning further languages, developing a strong understanding of the English language, facilitating future study and opening opportunities to study and work in other countries in the future. The French scheme of work supports pupils to meet the National curriculum end of Key stage 2 attainment targets (there are no Key stage 1 attainment targets for Languages).

Implementation

The ‘Kapow’ French scheme of work is designed with three knowledge strands that run throughout the units with knowledge building cumulatively.

These are:

• Phonics
• Vocabulary
• Grammar

This knowledge can then be applied within the skills strands, which also run throughout each unit in the scheme:

• Language comprehension (Listening and reading)
• Language production (Speaking and writing)

The schemes National curriculum coverage document shows which of the units cover each of the National curriculum attainment targets as well as each of the strands. The Progression of skills and knowledge document shows the skills and knowledge that are taught within each year group and how these skills develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of Key Stage 2.

Please see documents attached below.

Through our French scheme, pupils are given opportunities to communicate for practical purposes around familiar subjects and routines. The scheme provides balanced opportunities for communication in both spoken and written French, although in Year 3 the focus is on developing oral skills, before incorporating written French in Year 4 and beyond. The scheme is a spiral curriculum, with key skills and vocabulary revisited repeatedly with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Cross-curricular links are included throughout the French units, allowing children to make connections and apply their language skills to other areas of their learning.

Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including role-play, language games and language detective work. The scheme of work focuses on developing ‘language detective skills’ and developing an understanding of French grammar, and key vocabulary rather than on committing to memory vast amounts of French vocabulary. Pronunciation is emphasised early on using Mouth mechanics videos to support pupils with phoneme pronunciation in French. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all. In order to help pupils, retain their French learning, we incorporate French into the classroom environment every day.

Impact

The impact of the scheme will be monitored continuously through both formative and summative assessment.

Pupils should leave Towcester C of E Primary School equipped with a range of language-learning skills to enable them to study French, or any other language, with confidence at Key Stage 3.

Children will:

• Be able to engage in purposeful dialogue in practical situations (e.g., ordering in a cafe, following directions) and express an opinion.
• Make increasingly accurate attempts to read unfamiliar words, phrases, and short texts.
• Speak and read aloud with confidence and accuracy in pronunciation.
• Demonstrate understanding of spoken language by listening and responding appropriately.
• Use a bilingual dictionary to support their language learning.
• Be able to identify word classes in a sentence and apply grammatical rules they have learnt.
• Have developed an awareness of cognates and near-cognates and be able to use them to tackle unfamiliar words in French, English, and other languages.
• Be able to construct short texts on familiar topics.
• Meet the end of Key Stage 2 stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Languages.

Documents

• French Long Term Map 2023-24 download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineFrench Long Term Map 2023-24
• French National Curriculum Mapping download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineFrench National Curriculum Mapping
• Progression of Skills and Knowledge download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineProgression of Skills and Knowledge