French

Intent

At North Duffield Primary School, our aim is to inspire a life-long love of learning modern foreign languages, especially French. Learning a foreign language provides an opening to additional cultures and allows one to understand others better. We believe that our scheme of work fosters pupils’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of themselves and the world around them. It develops engaged and independent language learners who are able to develop their skills and transfer these to learn further languages in the future.

The scheme of work we use at North Duffield, fulfills the statutory requirements for languages as outlined in the National Curriculum (2014). It ensures children are taught a progressive and coherent sequence of knowledge and skills in Key Stage 2. The units taught, support children to reach the National Curriculum attainment targets and set them in good stead to continue learning languages in KS3. We follow the knowledge strands of phonics, vocabulary and grammar. Children also have the opportunity to develop their cultural awareness of France and the French-speaking world, through language comprehension (listening and reading) and language production (speaking and writing). Our curriculum is accessible to all learners, including our SEND pupils.

 Implementation

The French scheme of teaching used at North Duffield aims to provide pupils with a firm foundation of language learning. By teaching using phonics, vocabulary and grammar – the three pillars of progression (according to Ofsted); we ensure gradual progression and an understanding of the interplay of these elements.

Phonics:

• A comprehensive French phonics programme is embedded into teaching, ensuring explicit teaching of critical phonemes focused on both pronunciation and the sound-spell link - using ‘mouth mechanics’ pupil videos which native speakers present. This learning is further supported by including an in-depth look at the shape of the mouth when creating each phoneme. 

Vocabulary:

• As recommended by Ofsted research, our French scheme systematically introduces the most commonly used words, especially simple and common verbs. It then provides opportunities for students to revisit previously-learned vocabulary in different contexts.
• This approach allows the children to commit these key words to their long-term memory. Many topic words are also introduced in order to provide a variety  of meaningful contexts; however, less attention is given to memorising these. Our lessons are designed to ensure that each time new vocabulary is introduced, the pupils have an opportunity to use it in language comprehension and production activities.

Grammar:

• Developing grammatical understanding through a carefully planned progression of key structures is the bedrock of our teaching.
• Grammar is explicitly taught and systematically revisited to ensure that basic structures are committed to memory before more complex ones are introduced. Lessons are organized to allow opportunities to practise grammar structures across modalities (speaking, writing, reading and listening) and carefully scaffolded activities enable children to manipulate the words and grammar themselves and begin to use new language creatively
•  Our scheme develops skills in a progressive way so that by Year 6 pupils are able to use these strategies to confidently grapple with unknown spoken and written language and search for meaning. The development of these skills, also helps pupils develop their understanding of the English language and its grammar conventions.

This involves:

·         Recognising learnt vocabulary when listening or reading.

·         Spotting cognates (words which have the same origin or are in some way similar) and near-cognates.

·         Using context and their own knowledge of the world to predict the meaning of unknown words.

·         Considering word order to anticipate the meaning of words.

Through our French curriculum, pupils have opportunities to develop their oracy skills by: 

• Developing the physical skills required for speech by utilising their voice, body language, and facial expressions to better communicate in French. 
• Explicitly considering the role of syntax in communication in French and reflecting on the differences with English to deepen understanding. 
• Role-playing as French speakers to practice conversational skills. 
• Questioning and responding to each other in French to build communication skills.  
• Interpreting the speech of native French speakers, learning to gist and summarise meaning. 
• Listening to native French speakers and peers to enhance listening skills. 
• Collaborating in groups and turn-taking during conversations.

Our French scheme of work has been designed as a spiral curriculum with the following key principles in mind:

✓ Cyclical: Pupils revisit key vocabulary and grammar concepts again and again.

✓ Increasing depth: Each time vocabulary or grammar learning is revisited, it is covered with greater depth.

✓ Prior knowledge: Upon returning to each area, prior knowledge is utilised so pupils can build on previous foundations, rather than starting again.

 Our French scheme of work is organised into units. Within each unit, lessons must be taught in order as they build upon one another. Units must be taught in the suggested order as our scheme is progressive and, although the vocabulary focus of each unit is different, grammar concepts and skills are gradually developed throughout the course of a year. Most of the units are five lessons long. This gives you some ‘breathing space’ to revisit elements of the unit that children may have struggled with or to revise some vocabulary from a previous unit. You could also use the spare time to introduce some vocabulary related to your topic or science work.

 Impact

The impact can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities:

Every lesson begins with the ‘Recap and recall’ section which is intended to allow pupils retrieval practice of key knowledge relevant to the upcoming lesson. This section also provides teachers with an opportunity to make informal judgements about whether pupils have retained prior learning and are ready to move on. Each lesson contains the ‘Assessing progress and understanding’ section which helps teachers to identify those pupils who are secure in their learning or working at a greater depth in each lesson.

Each unit of work assesses children’s understanding and retention of key knowledge using an assessment quiz with multiple choice and open-ended questions. In addition, each unit uses a knowledge catcher. This can be used at the beginning and/or end of a unit and gives children the opportunity to further demonstrate their understanding of the key concepts covered. Assessment quizzes, and knowledge catchers provide teachers with a record of summative assessment as evidence of progression throughout the year and as pupils move between key stages.

 This document outlines the development of French knowledge across KS2, ensuring a clear pathway for pupil learning. Progression is broken down into the following areas:

• Phonics – becoming familiar with key French phonemes, spelling and pronunciation.
• Vocabulary – introducing commonly-used words; memorising high-frequency keywords.
• Grammar – systematically learning French grammar and applying it in a variety of contexts; practising grammar structures in speaking, writing, reading and listening activities.
• Language comprehension (listening and reading) – applying knowledge of phonics, vocabulary and grammar; decoding what the children hear and read more accurately and efficiently using a range of strategies.
• Language production (speaking and writing) – applying what the children have learnt across other knowledge strands to speak and write in French.
• Cultural awareness – learning about French food, celebrations, festivals, art and French-speaking countries around the world.