French at Armley Park Primary School

We value the importance of being able to speak a different language so we have decided to teach French as our Modern Foreign Language. Many of our pupils already speak English as a second language so they will now have the opportunity to learn an additional one. Our aim by the end of primary school is that all children can communicate with someone using French and that they will have also have a good understanding of their culture and customs. 

From Year 3, children will have French lessons. We use a scheme called 'Language Angels' to help us to structure the lessons and to provide progression across the key stage.

The substantive knowledge strands within French are:

• Grammar
• Spelling and Phonics
• Vocabulary
• Speaking and Listening

We will always try and link the teaching of these substantive knowledge strands with the teaching of English curriculum to support children to deepen their knowledge of both languages.

• The teaching of phonics- progressive from year 3 to year 6.

The relationship between sound and spelling is a key component of the KS2 Framework for Languages. Confidence in reading and speaking aloud in another language comes from having the ability to decode the sounds that are written in each word. 

Phonics in French begins in year 3, the children should complete the appropriate phonetics session as outlined on the long term plan. These are then revisited regularly, throughout the units of work, across the year. As the children move further up the key stage they should have a good understanding of the correct pronunciation, revisiting these regularly. The language angels scheme supports this with a regular revisit for each year group that is progressive. 

• Progressive curriculum for MFL (Taught from KS1-KS2)

All French lessons follow a continued approach lasting 6 weeks with clear units of work ranging from Core Vocabulary, Phonics and Grammar, Early Language, Intermediate Language, Progressive and Creative Language, allowing for progression.  At the end of each unit, all children in KS2 are assessed across the four main skills of Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. Each unit includes a core phonetics lesson which is revisited throughout the unit. Teachers should ensure that written and oral corrections are made and not ignored, these can be supported by recasting- correcting what the pupil has said/ written or promoting the pupil to correct their own learning.

The scheme we have chosen offers;

• Rhymes and Songs (Producing Language)

The scheme includes rhymes and songs as part of each unit of work. These are fundamental in supporting the development and learning of a new language.

• Stories (Comprehending Language)

Some units of work are linked to a familiar story (usually a picture book) that the children have read at a younger age. They begin by learning the new vocabulary then applying this to the story they are focusing on. 

• Links to topics

Throughout the scheme there are links made to topics taught in specific year groups, an example of this is a French WW2 topic in the year 6 unit of work.