“To have another language is to possess a second soul.” ― Charlemagne

At Loscoe, we endeavour to teach our children a rich and progressive curriculum, which is inclusive of every child. Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for Languages, fostering pupils’ curiosity, deepening their understanding of the world, enabling them to express themselves in another language and providing opportunities for them to communicate with others. We want our children to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation. We will encourage children to write at varying length, for different audiences and purposes, using a variety of grammatical structures and to discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

Intent

At Loscoe, we aim to instil our pupils with a love of language learning and provide them with an awareness of other cultures, ensuring that they gain enjoyment, pride and a sense of achievement at learning another language and to explore their own cultural identities and those of others. We want pupils to develop the confidence to communicate in French for practical purposes, using both written and spoken French. 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 and opening opportunities to study and work in other countries in the future.

Children will:

• Listen to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding.
• Explore and appreciate the patterns and sounds of the language through stories, songs, poems and rhymes.
• Speak in sentences, engage in conversations, present ideas and information orally and develop accurate pronunciation and intonation.
• Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing.
• Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words.
• Write phrases from memory and adapt these to create new sentences.
• Describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing.

Implementation

At Loscoe, we try to ensure that we provide a rich French curriculum, with memorable lessons and experiences. To inspire our children to write and speak a foreign language, we are now using the Kapow French scheme of work. Our French lessons are planned to systematically follow a progressions of knowledge and skills, focussing on the key curriculum elements of speaking and listening, reading and writing. Through the Kapow scheme of work, grammar and phonics learning will also be embedded within the lessons. Pupils are given opportunities to communicate for practical purposes around familiar subjects and routines. Using Kapow, lessons will provide engaging hooks and outcomes for the children and support the correct punctuation and intonation when speaking and listening.

French is taught weekly to provide progression and repetitive reinforcement. Teacher will try to incorporate French into everyday activities such as general greetings, taking the register, simple classroom commands. Lessons are interactive, engaging and fun, and French is spoken as much as possible.

We implement our intent through:

• Ensuring that staff have the key knowledge and vocabulary to enable pupils to receive the appropriate coverage within each unit of work.
• Teaching should provide an appropriate balance of spoken and written language to lay the foundation for further language teaching.
• The focus of study is on practical communication.
• Quizzes and recall activities are planned into the timetable to ensure children’s learning is retained.
• Staff will adopt an adaptive curriculum to take account different learning needs; meaning all pupils access an ambitious languages curriculum.
• French to be planned into enrichment activities to provide further opportunities to develop their skills.

Impact

 Through careful planning and delivery, children will develop a love for languages and a willingness to experiment and learn new languages, developing confidence to speak, ask questions and communicate with others in our target language of French. They will be able to write and recognise simple sentences in French. Most importantly, they will acquire knowledge about France in order to develop global citizenship and encourage them to become active, responsible and caring members of the wider community. With this knowledge, they should have the resilience and a greater desire to continue to develop a love of learning of foreign languages in the next phase of their education.

We will know our impact has been effective through:

• Pupil discussions about their learning.
• Class teachers and subject leaders monitor children’s understanding, knowledge and skills. This is then used to inform differentiation, challenge and support.
• By analysing children’s written work and matching this to the key knowledge that they need to remember at each stage of their learning, based on planning overviews.
• An understanding in pupils of how each unit of work links to another.
• Regular quizzes and recall sessions.
• Assessed reflection of standards achieved against the planned outcomes.

Wider Curriculum

At Loscoe, we strive to ensure that pupils are provided with a range of enrichment opportunities, which in turn promotes and instils a love for languages. Throughout their school life, children will have the opportunity to experience a French theatre performance and a French themed day to celebrate the European Day of Languages. They will also have the opportunity to talk to and write letters to the children within our French link school.

Careers

Careers in languages continue to grow. The pupils at Loscoe Primary could enter employment which requires various language skills for communication and interaction. The teaching and learning of languages supports careers, such as:

• Teacher
• Interpreter
• Detective
• Broadcast journalist
• Travel agent
• International aid/development worker
• Pilot
• Air cabin crew
• Living/working abroad

SMSC

At Loscoe, we aim to develop SMCS through languages by:

Spiritual

French supports spiritual development by exploring new language and vocabulary. Children are encouraged to express themselves in the target language.

Moral

French supports moral development by encouraging children to look, discuss and evaluate a range of social and moral issues found in other cultures.

Cultural

French supports the cultural development of a child by exposing them to a foreign language and culture. It helps to promote internationalism and their role within the world.

Social

French supports social development by encouraging a collaborative approach to learning. Children regularly converse in the target language. 

British Values

At Loscoe, we aim to promote British values through language learning. British values, including those of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs are embedded in the language curriculum.

Collaborative work in language lessons develops mutual respect for the differing opinions, beliefs and abilities of others. In addition, children learn to appreciate the value of similarities and differences and learn to show tolerance. A variety of experiences teaches them to appreciate that all people, and their views, are equally important.

 Our languages curriculum provides a basis for teaching and learning about other cultures, and this is incorporated into many areas of the curriculum including personal and social education and citizenship, geography, religious education, design and technology, music, art and dance. We ensure that learning across the curriculum includes a ‘flavour’ of the countries where the focus language is spoken.

 The five fundamental British values are interwoven into the languages curriculum, in particular how they relate to culture of the countries in which French are spoken and the similarities and differences to life in Britain.

Useful links and websites

• BBC Bitesize - French 
• BBC Teach - French
• BBC Teach - Virtually There - France
• Top Marks - French games
• Crickweb - French games
• Language Angels 
• Top tips for learning French
• Online French games for adults and children
• Comptines pour enfants - nursery rhyme songs in French
• Duolingo
• Hello-World
• Children's library - online French books
• Monde des titounis - classic children's songs and stories