In St Hedda’s, our carefully planned and progressive MFL curriculum is designed with the target of all children having a high-quality languages education, which will allow them to explore a different culture, and foster their curiosity as well as deepen their understanding of the world around them by making sure they meet the National Curriculum expectations that all pupils will:
- 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.
At St Hedda’s, we have adopted the CUSP French curriculum from Year 3 to Year 6, which ensures the National Curriculum 2014 is fully covered and is based on current evidence-led practice for pedagogy and learning.
Our aim is to develop understanding and communication in a new language through progressing speaking and listening skills. Throughout their lessons, which address the core aims of the National Curriculum, children have the opportunity to ask and answer questions using correct pronunciation and grammar. Children are taught words and phrases through practical activities such as games and songs. They work in pairs or small groups to communicate in a modern foreign language allowing them to develop an understanding of basic grammar.
In Key Stage 2, children develop their key skills and enjoyment of languages through the four main areas of study: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Children are provided with two MFL lessons each week to reduce the time between using the vocabulary, knowledge and skills being explored. We encourage them to practise these skills both informally inside and outside of school.
Our school curriculum has a strong focus on supporting pupils to meaningfully develop their understanding of other cultures and issues that impact on the wider global community. For this reason, we selected CUSP French to base our teaching around, as it has a specific emphasis on teaching pupils about French customs, traditions and heritage, including those that are both similar or different to pupils’ own experiences of life in modern Britain.
Significant French figures are introduced throughout the curriculum, as are notable French landmarks. Pupils will learn about the geography of France and its place within the wider world, including key trade exports and significant achievements of the French civilisation through history. Staff are strongly encouraged to link this learning to pupils’ learning from the wider curriculum, for example, their study of significant artists or musicians.
