O​ur Foreign Languages Curriculum - French

O​ur Curriculum Intent

At Grappenhall Heys Primary School, we prepare our pupils for a future within a global society where communication is key. We open their eyes and minds to the wider-world, developing their multi-cultural awareness and linguistic skills, whilst broadening their horizons and understanding of language acquisition. We achieve this by taking all our pupils, regardless of their starting points, through a carefully and deliberately-sequenced journey of linguistic development. We constantly revisit vocabulary and prior learning; celebrate diversity and difference within our school and immerse our children in cultures outside of their own.

We believe that a broad and balanced primary languages education is the entitlement of all pupils and have created a tailored curriculum, which exposes our children to the foreign language and culture from Early Years to Year 6, preparing them and exciting them for the next step of the languages journey. We also build in opportunities to celebrate the diversity of our pupils' families and allow children time to share their personal languages and culture. We have chosen to teach French across the school.

At Grappenhall Heys, we encourage our children to take risks as they learn a new language and acquire knowledge and skills. We relate the beginnings of language exploration to experiences at home and on holidays and we have developed close links with our parent community, where we celebrate the many languages that our children speak at home. Our foreign languages curriculum, supported by the Primary Languages Network, immerses the children in French language and culture in exciting and active ways and central to our curriculum drive is the desire to teach children about communication and respect of others. Songs, stories and poems are employed across the curriculum, especially in Early Years and KS1, and we promote active, game-based exploration of language. Our curriculum is built upon the pillars of phonics, grammar and vocabulary and the four key areas of learning – speaking, listening, reading and writing – are carefully planned and sequenced to ensure understanding and repetition in order to develop pupils’ automaticity in French; to support long-term memory acquisition and to develop pupils’ role play skills.

T​he Purpose Of Our Curriculum

We develop children who…

1. Understand simple words, sentences and phrases in French applying basic French phonics knowledge;

2. Communicate and speak with increasing confidence, motivation and fluency, and are beginning to hold simple conversations in French;

3. Read and understand a range of French vocabulary and writing;

4. Can write at varying lengths for different purposes and audiences, applying some understanding of French grammar; 

5. Appreciate and explore the similarities and differences in other cultures who speak different languages.

 

O​ur Curriculum Offer - What We Teach In Foreign Languages

 

E​YFS and Key Stage 1

Although there are no National Curriculum expectations for languages in KS1 and the Early Years, we believe that children should be given a gradual introduction to languages during their first years of schooling in order to build up some key vocabulary and knowledge. In EYFS, children listen to and learn songs, stories and games and, in Key Stage 1, staff introduce simple greetings and key vocabulary and begin to promote an interest in learning a language through fun, active lessons and songs.

I​n Key Stage 1, the curriculum focus is on speaking and listening, and children begin to read simple vocabulary. Children repeatedly revisit key vocabulary like numbers to 10, simple adjectives and colours so that over time knowledge becomes more accessible and more automatic.

K​ey Stage 2

Our teaching of French focuses on enabling all pupils to make substantial progress in one language, providing a balance of spoken and written language and laying the fundamental foundations for further foreign language learning at Key Stage 3. Our curriculum enables pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing, with a focus on French phonics, vocabulary, grammar and communication.

In Key Stage 2, pupils are taught to:

  • Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding
  • Explore the patterns, phonics and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words
  • Engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help
  • Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
  • Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases
  • Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences
  • Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
  • Appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language
  • Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary
  • Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly
  • Describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing
  • 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

 

C​lick here to see the foreign languages National Curriculum

C​lick here to see how our key stage 2 curriculum meets the National Curriculum Objectives

 

 

Roadmap for foreign languages

 

Foreign languages long-term plan

Foreign languages medium-term planning- Year 3 / Year 4 / Year 5 / Year 6

C​lick here for the French phonics progression map

Click here for foreign languages knowledge progression and unit endpoints

Early Years and Key Stage 1 French language mats including vocabulary progression

Key Stage 2 French knowledge organisers including vocabulary progression

 

E​xample Seesaw activity for Year 6​ Spring 1

Playing and Enjoying Sport

E​xample Assessment Activity for Year 6 - Spring 1

Playing and Enjoying Sport

 

 

C​hildren assess their own learning as they complete the unit of work.

The learning objectives for the units also ensure that children know what is expected for them throughout the the topic and they can track their own progression and understanding.

At the end of each unit, teachers assess the children using a Puzzle It Out speaking, listening, reading and writing task. Children must use listening skills to answer the questions. Teachers also assess through listening to children speak in the target language through role-play, singing and poems.

Work that is completed on our online learning journal Seesaw can also be assessed and feedback given to the children either whole-class or individually through voice messages or typed feedback.

 

E​xample completed Seesaw activity for Year 4 - Spring 2 (Face and Body Parts)

E​xample completed Seesaw activity for Year 6 - Spring 2 (At the Fun Fair)

O​ur French reading spine ensures that adult-led reading in a language is an important part of our curriculum.

 

O​ur Curriculum Offer - How We Teach Foreign Languages

T​he building blocks of our French curriculum are sounds and words (phonics), vocabulary and grammar. All these elements overlap and our curriculum ensures that over time links are made between these areas and that learning and practice allows pupils to improve their accuracy and the length of what they can read, produce and understand. Our children become more automatic with their responses the more they practice, and they are able to access more complex content.

The teaching of phonics underpins the teaching of foreign languages. Using phonics to crack the code of a new language empowers children, and increases their enjoyment and motivation. Teachers ensure that children have access to listening to a native French speaker regularly within lessons to model the correct pronunciation. Our pupils are taught to understand the links between how vocabulary is spelt and how it sounds and our phonics progression map highlights key sounds taught in Key Stage 2. Children explore cognates and semi-cognates and play with tongue twisters to learn about silent letters.

Vocabulary and language retention is at the centre of all that we do. Pupils revisit and rehearse vocabulary regularly and, throughout our curriculum, meet previously learnt language in different contexts and with increasingly complexity. Our languages curriculum at Grappenhall Heys is designed, structured and sequenced so that children practise and develop knowledge and language across listening, speaking, reading and writing. Grammar is also a focus of our curriculum and links are made to grammatical terms learned in English. This allows the learning in each term to be covered in depth and the children to have frequent opportunities to revise previous learning before moving on. Pupils revisit prior learning in a variety of contexts, laying down solid foundations for future language learning. In addition, children are taught how to look up and research unfamiliar language, both in bilingual dictionaries and online. New vocabulary is included in their Seesaw posts in knowledge organisers. These digital learning posts track their learning journeys and progression through a unit of work and across the year. All units of work provide opportunities for prior learning to be revisited and vocabulary to be built upon and children have the chance to speak in French.

E​rror correction is a useful tool to support learning in French. However, it is important at a primary school level that we avoid demotivating children who are having fun, taking risks and exploring language. Adults in school work hard to predict and manage misconceptions and to correct errors through modelled examples, prompting and explicit instruction. Staff provide instant verbal feedback to children in class and show the children how we are also learning too!

O​ur curriculum ensures that children make progress, experience success and gain a secure grasp of the basic building blocks of French, ready for their transition to Key Stage 3.

Units taught are progressive and increase in their level of challenge, stretch and linguistic and grammatical complexity as pupils move through Key Stage 2. Tasks in each subsequent level require more knowledge and application of skills than the previous teaching type. Activities contain progressively more text and more complex vocabulary and lessons have more content as the children become more confident and ambitious with the foreign language they are recalling and learning. Pupils continuously build on their previous knowledge as they progress; previous language is revisited, revised and consolidated throughout the curriculum. Therefore, our children are able to do more and remember more as the are already familiar with key vocabulary (such as adjectives, numbers and colours as well as simple verbs like 'J'aime...'). Teachers use informal and formal assessment opportunities to check pupil's learning and to inform future lessons and planning.

A​longside a child's ability to speak, understand, read and write in French is our desire to ensure that they have a cultural understanding of all places where French is spoken. This cultural awareness ensures that learning is relevant and builds cultural capital and increases economic prospects for our children.

A​mbition for All

W​e deliver a curriculum that is accessible to all children. Click here for further information on how we support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Learning a new language allows all children to begin from the same starting point and to experience success and develop confidence. However, overloading the working memory of children can have a negative impact on their learning so we focus on learning and rehearsal in small, regular chunks through explicit and targeted teaching.

W​here appropriate, our curriculum is adapted to provide children with additional needs supported access to the work. Teachers scaffold and structure learning, provide word banks, model sentences and knowledge organisers to ensure that all children have access to the learning and that barriers to learning are removed. Children have the opportunity to work independently, in pairs or in groups so that they can all achieve. For all children, we use photo and picture prompts and songs and rhymes to introduce new vocabulary and explicitly teach all new content.
High attainers have the opportunity to combine units of work and to produce some simple pieces of extended writing.

 

W​hat Makes Foreign Languages Special at Grappenhall Heys?

  • Staff and children love learning French at school and we utilise language specialisms that some of our staff have to celebrate and promote a love of French across school
  • Each day, across our school we answer the register in a different language. We have made sure that within the school year, every language of every family in our school is represented, spoken and celebrated..
  • Assemblies celebrate and promote the importance of learning a language and we welcome parents and language speakers into school to celebrate the languages of our school community. See Celebrating Language Diversity below.

 

  • W​e encourage a love of reading in French through the promotion of French books in school
  • W​e have links with Bridgewater High School where many of our children transition to for Year 7. Bridgewater High School teach French to all Year 7 pupils which is one of the reasons why we have chosen to teach French across our school.

C​elebrating Language Diversity

As part of European Languages Day in September 2024, we celebrated the languages that make up our diverse school community. We invited into our school parents, carers and staff who are fluent in another language. We were incredibly lucky to have adults join us to read and sing with the children in Spanish, Cantonese, Gaelic and Italian. A huge thank you to Mr Barry, Mrs Lee, Mr Fombona-Fernandez , Mrs French and Miss Anna. The children loved the opportunity to learn another language and it was wonderful to celebrate some of the many languages that make up our school. 

 

 

 

W​e also celebrate the different languages that our children speak at home and with their families. Here are some of our children counting to ten...

C​​ounting to ten in Polish

C​ounting to ten in Cantonese

 

C​ounting to ten in Gujarati

C​ounting to ten in Mandarin

 

Our Pupil Voice

"​I enjoy being able to speak to someone who speaks the same language as me. It's nice not to be the only one." Year 6 child who has been spending time with a Nursery child who speaks the same language.
"I like the games we play in French games," Year 3 child
"I love leaning about the French language!" Year 3 child
"I like that it’s a new language to learn and that you can speak a little bit of French," Year 6 child
"​I like the food tasting days!" Year 4 child

Click here to learn about our Foreign Languages Pupil Voice

H​ow Can You Find Out More?

You might like to support your child's learning at home by trying some of the following:

1. Take an interest, and learn with your child

Learn alongside your child and ask them to teach you some key words and phrases. Your child might like to make a simple poster illustrating key words and phrases, or use sticky notes to label everyday objects in a foreign language. Another good idea is to create a ‘new words’ dictionary for them to record all the new things that they have been learning. You may want to invest in a bilingual dictionary for them to look up further words — there are a great many ‘child-friendly’ versions of these available.

We learn French at Grappenhall Heys.

2. Make it multimedia

Why not find books, films or songs in the language they’re learning? These can be a wonderful way to learn a language without even realising it. There are also many games accessible on line (many of which are free) to help engage your child at home as well as websites (listed below) that include games, eBooks and links to other foreign language sites too.

3. Make it fun

Make any additional language learning you do at home fun, practical and supportive. Learning a new language can be a little daunting at first but with the help of parents and schools, it needn’t be the case. Even playing simple games (such as 'Snap', 'Guess Who', 'Snakes and Ladders') and adding an element of a foreign language (such as counting, colours or even just answering yes and no) could be a wonderful aid.

Further support and useful weblinks

A good way to help your child is to use some of the online resources that are available. Free places to look include:


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