Modern Foreign Languages at Orion Scotts Park

Intent

The intent of our modern foreign languages curriculum is to inspire pupils to develop a love of language learning, cultural awareness, and the confidence to communicate in French. Through the Language Angels scheme of work, we empower pupils to become confident linguists who can express themselves, understand others, and appreciate the diversity of languages and cultures.

Our curriculum is designed to:

Develop children's linguistic competence in French across listening, speaking, reading, and writing, building a coherent framework that enables them to communicate with increasing fluency, accuracy, and confidence.

Cultivate enthusiastic language learners who can develop phonological awareness, build vocabulary progressively, understand grammatical structures, and apply their language skills for practical purposes.

Encourage pupils to think like linguists, recognising patterns in language, making connections between French and English, and developing effective strategies for learning new vocabulary and structures.

Promote cultural awareness through exploring French-speaking countries, cultures, and traditions, developing respect for diversity and understanding the interconnected nature of language and culture.

Build both substantive knowledge (vocabulary, grammar, phonics, cultural contexts) and disciplinary knowledge (how to listen, speak, read, write, and learn languages effectively), developing skills essential for communication and lifelong language learning in an increasingly globalised world.

We believe that modern foreign languages is a gateway to understanding other cultures, developing communication skills, and fostering the curiosity and open-mindedness needed to engage confidently with people from different backgrounds. Our curriculum ensures all children have access to high-quality language learning that develops their linguistic capabilities, cultural awareness, and prepares them for future learning in a multilingual world.

Implementation

French is delivered through the Language Angels scheme of work from Year 3 to Year 6, providing a carefully sequenced and progressive programme that builds language knowledge, communication skills, and cultural understanding. Weekly discrete lessons ensure systematic National Curriculum coverage and progressive development of linguistic competence across all four language skills.

In line with the National Curriculum for MFL, pupils at Orion Scotts Park are taught to:

1. listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding

2. explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words

3. engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help

4. speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures

5. develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases

6. present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences

7. read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing

8. appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language MFL- French Intent, Implementation and Impact

9. broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary

10. write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clear

11. describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing

12. understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.

Impact

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

Observing children speaking and listening in another language.
Marking of written work.
Images and videos of children completing speaking and listening activities.
Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s work is scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.
Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum to parents.
Learning walks.
Subject tracking.

The MFL subject leader will continually monitor the impact MFL teaching is having on the children’s learning, through work monitoring, to ensure the progress of knowledge and skills is being taught. They will also ensure the knowledge taught is retained by the children and continually revisited and that the learners are able to apply the skills they have been taught to a variety of different settings, showing independence with their learning. Impact will also be measured through key questioning skills built into lessons, child-led assessment such as success criteria grids, jigsaw targets and summative assessments aimed at targeting next steps in learning.