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Foreign Languages

Foreign Languages Intent

At Holy Trinity CE Primary Academy, we want to promote a love of learning languages and a fascination for how language works. We teach FL in Key Stage 2 taking into consideration the primary FL entitlement as set out in the National Curriculum 2014.  The main language we study is French in order to support transition to Key Stage 3. French is taught as a coherent programme from Year 3 to Year 6 using the online Language Angels. We want all our children to leave KS2 with a good understanding of how to read words in French with accurate pronunciation. We want them to know that the word order in French may be different to the word order in English.  Our children will have the opportunity to understand and respond to language from authentic sources and will be confident to write in French, integrating new language into previously learned language. We want our children to become linguists who are curious to understand the language and keen to explore French and other languages as they move to Key Stage 3.

 

Aims

The national curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils:

  • understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
  • speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
  • can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
  • discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

 

Teaching and Learning

The school follows the Languages Angels scheme. Children are introduced to French from Year 3 and receive a weekly 45-minute lesson. This enables the children to develop early language acquisition skills that facilitate their understanding of the patterns of language and how these differ from, or are similar to English. Lessons across the Key Stage support the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing.

We recognise that language learning in its broadest sense has three core strands - oracy, literacy and intercultural understanding. We also recognise that children should be encouraged to apply their knowledge and that we should equip them with strategies for language learning that they can use in the future, when studying another foreign language. As a result, opportunities to develop knowledge about language (KAL) and language learning strategies (LLS) underpin the three core strands. This follows the five strands recommended in the KS2 Framework for Languages (DCSF).

We use a variety of techniques to encourage the children to engage actively in the modern foreign language: these include games, role-play, rhymes and songs, We frequently use pictures to accompany new vocabulary in the foreign language, as this teaches the language without the need for translation. We teach the four strands of speaking, listening, reading and writing and to understand basic grammar, including: feminine, masculine and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English. We use a multi-sensory and kinaesthetic approach to teaching.

 

Curriculum Documentation

Foreign Languages Overview 

Foreign Languages Policy 

Foreign Languages Progression Document

Foreign Languages Skills Progression

Languages National Curriculum