Modern Foreign Language
Mfl Intent and Rationale
Mfl Statement of Intent
At Marlborough we aim develop the children’s cofidence, skill, excitement and knowledge of another language other than their own. The children at Marlborough’s first language is generally English, with a small number (7% at time of writing) of children speaking an alternative first language. We often have a number of Swedish children as the Astra Zeneca plant is less than a mile from the school, but we currently have children who speak Finnish, Urdu, Dutch and Polish. However , high school links and teacher subject knowledge drove our decision to choose French as Marlborough’s language of focus a number of years ago
The children of Marlborough should leave our school being able to confidently communicate in French, meeting the requirements of the various aspects of the National Curriculum program of study. Our approach is to ensure children’s understanding and flair (confidence and accuracy) for French is grounded in a secure knowledge of high frequency and relevant vocabulary, verbs and sentence structures which are constantly rehearsed and revised in meaningful and authentic contexts, e.g. A day in Paris, at the café, at an airport
We also want the children to relish playing and have fun with language. We want them to be fascinated by the different sounds, contrasting grammatical structures and the myriad of similarities and differences with English. The opportunity to explore French in depth will, in turn, provide the children of Marlborough with a superior understanding and respect for English grammar and language conventions.
In addition to excellent communication skills, we endeavour to instil in the children a deeper cultural awareness through respect for other ways of life as well as language.
At Marlborough we plan and deliver a curriculum that embeds the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing necessary to enable children to use and apply their French learning in a variety of really relevant contexts and lay the foundations for future language learning.
Rationale
EYFS/Year 1/Year 2
Formal lessons begin in French in Year 3 at Marlborough however we want to introduce children to the joy of languages other than their own before this. We want the children to enjoy hearing the sounds of the language and begin to pick up on vocabulary through listening and joining in with songs, stories and rhymes and poems. We ensure that these are constantly repeated to allow the children to remember and own them as they would in their own first language. By the time they leave Year 2 they will have an awareness, enthusiasm and willingness to explore French and have ‘an ear’ for its rhythm and sounds.
Year 3
During their time in Year 3 children will begin their more formal language learning.
They will be taught an understanding of the phonic alternatives to English. Songs and rhymes learnt over their time in Key Stage one will form the basis of this understanding. They will learn the careful pronunciation of these phonemes and the corresponding graphemes, which are vital to their future pronunciation skills. These fundamental skills will be constantly reinforced in lessons over year 3, and in future year groups, to consolidate and embed the learning. Words from the songs which the children can already pronounce well, which illustrate the phonemes, will be used to introduce this understanding and will be reinforced as new vocabulary is introduced.
Through the first theme of Greetings, the children will work with the familiar to quickly develop some initial communication skills and give the children confidence. Children will learn to ask others how they are and to reply; say hello and goodbye both formally and informally; give their name; to address familiar and unfamiliar people correctly; say please and thankyou and introduce themselves.
A theme based on ‘The Classroom’ follows, with the children being given classroom commands and vocabulary for various classroom items familiar to them and to the masculine and feminine determiners used in the French language. They will also be introduced to the very useful vocabulary of colours and the verbs, ‘I have’ and ‘ I don’t have’ and ‘It is’. They will learn how to write a simple sentence using the verbs and vocabulary gained so far.
Through the theme of animals and pets children will be introduced to the relevant noun vocabulary as well as the new verbs ‘ I like’ and ‘ I don’t like’ ,revising and rehearsing colours, numbers and the verbs ‘I have’ and ‘I don’t have’. Children will also be introduced to the conjunctions: ‘and’ and ‘also’.
Further Themes of Birthdays and Myself over year 3 will allow children to talk and write about themselves further reinforcing numbers, months and colours as well as introducing new vocabulary. Children will be able to ask and respond to familiar questions such as my name is….’I was born in’… ‘I live in’… ‘My birthday is’….
In addition the children will learn the vital questions: Que’est-ce que c’est? (what is it ?) and repeater s’il vous plait(please repeat what you have just said) to help children with clarity of understanding
Over the year the children will develop their writing skills from writing single words to writing 2 or 3 simple sentences. Reading will develop from reading individual nouns and classroom instructions to reading simple texts and identifying the main ideas.
Cultural understanding and language skills will be extended through a study of Christmas in France and the New Year Epiphany Festival including La Galette.
Children will be taught the skill of using a French English bilingual dictionary in book form and will use these with support.
Children will also learn the extent of the French speaking world and identify these countries on a map. We will also reflect on why we are learning French and why it is important and relevant to learn another language.
Year 4
Throughout Year 4, children will further develop their confidence and communication skills in French ,their overall French vocabulary and grammatical and phonological awareness.
Building on from Year 3 , a theme of The Family will again use familiar and relevant concepts to introduce new vocabulary and to reinforce the colours and further extend knowledge of numbers to 100. The plural determiners will be introduced and masculine and feminine determiners reinforced. ‘He’ and ‘she’ and the possessive pronoun,’ my’ will be introduced at this point along with phrases such as ‘ I am called’ as introduced in Year 3 and these will be further extended to ‘He/She is called’ etc.
As well as introducing extremely useful noun vocabulary, the theme of Food will reinforce verb forms ‘I like’, ‘ I do not like’ . At this stage the verbs-to prefer, to drink and to eat will be introduced to the children. Just as with the theme of The Family, we will use she/he/Mum /Dad/Fred likes/eats/drinks etc.
The Spring Term starts with a study of the French version of The Hungry Caterpillar. This will help to revise colours, days of the week and foods. It will also give the children the opportunity to retell a story in French verbally and in the written form.
Further Themes of Weather and Seasons will introduce useful noun vocabulary and the verb, il fait and il ne fait. Conjunctions will be introduced too – for example when (quand) and if (si) : Quand il fait chaud (when it is hot) je ( I … activity) .
The final theme for Year 4 is Time, Transport and Holidays. This theme will introduce telling the time in French and provide an opportunity to learn the adverbials of time. We endeavour to give the children questioning skills to cope with a French airport-ask for what they would like in a café, tell someone where they are going and ask for directions to the toilet for example. The children will begin to use phases such as , Je voudrais (I would like) Je vais ( I go) (en)Je peux (I can) + verbs (when I’m on holiday) Children will be introduced to French question forms, Why?, Where? and What? and also the conjunctions because, but, sometimes.
Building on from Year 3, children will begin to write their own simple sentences using models and structures and will be expected to include some words from memory. They will develop the awareness of the position of the adjective in a French sentence. The skill of using a French /English bilingual dictionary in book form will be revised. In addition, the children will also learn how to use online translation tools and the possible pitfalls of their use.
Cultural understanding and language skills will be extended through a study of foods and Easter in France. During this theme of food, children will be introduced to French dining/meal traditions.
Year 5
Throughout Years 5 and 6 the children will be given the opportuntiy to consolidate, use and become confident using the vocabulary and grammatical structures which they have gained so far. We recognise the vital importance of repetition whilst learning a new language at Marlborough and have designed our learning opportunities with this in mind. Pronunciation of all phonemes should now be secure leading to confidence when reading familiar and unfamiliar French words.
The terms in year 5 & 6 follow 3 themes which we feel will provide the children with useful, exciting and relevant vocabulary for future communication and which will develop their confidence whilst further extending their reading, writing and grammatical skills and knowledge in French.
Throughout this year conjugation of verbs will be introduced. Building on Year 3 and 4 skills with a dictionary and online translation tools, children will also learn the skill of using a dictionary to find verbs and how they are conjugated.
Learning about Clothes and Fashion in the Autumn term will provide opportunities for the children to revise much of their previous learning including colours, numbers, preferences/opinions, months, days of the week, conjunctions, time adverbials and pronouns. Children will build on this through learning all the pronouns (je, tu, il,elle,nous,vous,ils,elles and possessive pronouns) and learning to conjugate a regular verb -to wear (porter). Further adjectives will be introduced-focussing on adjectival agreement. Children will be asked to write an online shopping page describing clothing and Christmas gifts. This will extend their writing skills from year 4 through the children writing their own sentences using nouns,verbs adjectives and introducing the conjunction. We will also look at clothing in history and around the World giving further opportunities to strengthen intercultural understanding and cross –curricular links.
A Day In Paris is our Spring Term theme. Children will learn about Paris, how to order food and drink in restaurants and cafés and how to ask for directions. We will read and understand ‘trip advisor type’ reports, posters, instructional and road signs. Grammatical awareness will be further extended through recognising and writing and speaking in complex sentences. Children will also be expected to write a series of linked sentences to form a cohesive text for a useful purpose linked with the theme.
Year 5s final theme of Marlborough Mindset Me…!! will build on children’s knowledge of … from year 3 and 4. The children will think about their hobbies and weekend activities giving the opportunity for introducing new verbs and for the children to further extend their writing including adjectival agreement and further progress in the use of conjunctions and complex sentences, through the completion of a Mindfulness Journal. Children will build on the questioning skills from year 4, asking each other about their lives, interests, opinions and goals.
Year 6
During year 6 confidence and communication, knowledge and skills will be extended even further through the study of 3 new themes. Children will now be very confident with their pronunciation of familiar and unfamiliar French words, will have a range of useful questioning and clarification skills and a large bank of French vocabulary including verbs.
In Autumn, through the theme of School, children will consolidate their use of grammar, sentence structures and vocabulary from Years 3, 4 and 5 . The theme also provides an opportunity to contrast life for French and English children. Children will now start using relative clauses in their writing and speaking.
In Spring, the theme of Healthy Lifestyles will give the children opportunity to read and write about what it means to be healthy for our school newsletter. Children will consolidate all the grammatical structures learned in Years 3,4 and 5. The theme will reinforce previous vocabulary covered in year 3,4 & 5 of foods, drinks and hobbies/sports and will revisit verbs already covered and also learn new verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs.
In Summer the theme is Superstars (music, You-tube, etc) with the aim of giving useful and relevant vocabulary which will allow the children to communicate with French peers. The children will again revise and consolidate grammar and further extend questioning skills and will be able to give their opinions both verbally and in writing.