Bonjour! Bienvenue en français à l’école primaire de St. John’s! (Hello! Welcome to French at St. John’s Primary School!)
Intent
At St. John’s C of E Primary School, we believe learning a primary language provides a valuable social and cultural experience for all our children. Our high-quality language curriculum enables our children to express their ideas and thoughts in another language, understanding and responding to speakers verbally and in writing. In addition to these, we also recognise that learning another language gives children a new perspective on the world by learning about and respecting other cultures and how they differ from our own.
Implementation
In Early Years and KS1, children are informally exposed to foreign language speaking and listening through simple songs and daily greetings, for example during registration time.
In line with staff experience and skills, in Key Stage 2, we teach a discrete weekly French lesson based the online curriculum programme Language Angels. Lessons are fun, engaging, interactive and fully inclusive, allowing all children, regardless of ability, to succeed and make progress. We use online games, interactive whiteboards, iPads, songs and games plus other resources to enhance our pupils’ learning experience.
Children with SEND are supported so that every child has access to the full curriculum entitlement.
We believe that learning a foreign language at primary school should be an exciting and vibrant experience of sharing together. We try to do just that in all our French lessons! Just like when learning to read our first language, we teach individual sounds, words and phrases first. As children become more confident, developing their written and spoken language, pupils learn how to speak and write in sentences and short paragraphs. Progression for all children is important and progression is built into the Language Angels curriculum.
Impact
Covid has undoubtedly impacted pupils’ ability to retain information causing gaps in children’s knowledge and understanding. Therefore, some language teaching has been recapped to enable all children to access the curriculum and make further progress.
Our aim is not primarily to produce fluent French linguists by the end of their primary school experience. Rather, our aim is for all our children to experience the excitement of speaking, hearing and writing a new language, as well as learning about the culture of French-speaking countries. Broadening our children’s knowledge and understanding of the wider world is vital in helping to develop respectful and tolerant citizens of the future!
Subject Plan
You can view or download the subject plan by clicking the link below.