MFL

We learn French as our modern foreign language in Key Stage 2.

At Primrose Hill, our aim is that all pupils will develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about foreign languages, finding them enjoyable and stimulating. We want all learners to develop an enthusiastic and positive attitude to other languages and language learning. We hope to encourage a life-long learning of languages among our pupils in order to enhance their understanding of the world. Our main objective in the teaching of a modern foreign language is to promote the early development of linguistic competence and an understanding of other cultures.
The class teachers teach French for one hour every week following a scheme of work that focuses on the main skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing.

We believe that to accomplish this, we should help the children to do the following:

• familiarise themselves with the sounds (phonics) and written form of a modern foreign language
• begin to understand a new language, and communicate in it
• make comparisons between languages (shared importance in a child’s home language)
• learn about different countries and their people, increasing their awareness of other cultures
• develop a positive attitude towards the learning of foreign languages in general
• use their knowledge of the foreign language with growing confidence, both to understand what they hear and read, and to express themselves in different ways
• acquire, through all of the above, a sound basis for further study at Key Stage 3 and beyond.

The national curriculum aims:

• 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.