French at St Patrick's School

Intent for MFL

We believe that learning of a foreign language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our all our pupils. It helps them to develop and improve their communication skills through a range of speaking, listening, reading and writing activities, with the aim of making substantial progress in one foreign language. Exploring how another language works builds on children’s existing knowledge  and lays the foundations for further language learning. We believe that learning French gives children a new and broader perspective of the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.

Implementation of MFL

Upon entry to Key Stage 2, children begin learning French and start to develop a love of languages.  They are taught in weekly, 30- 45 minute lessons by class teachers using resources adapted from the Language Angels Scheme of Work.  Language Angels is a live scheme which is continually updated and revised in order to meet with current curriculum standards and resource requirements. The  content of the scheme is easily adapted to meet the needs of all our children.  We acknowledge children’s different learning styles and promote learning through active participation in cross-curricular units of work, actions, rhymes, stories, songs, grammar activities, video clips, phonics and dictionary work to embed, combine and extend language skills.  Regular use of end of topic tests allows teachers and pupils to monitor their progress.

Our MFL curriculum is reinforced through participation in 'La Fiestaval', an inter-schools language celebration and additional enrichment opportunities provided by Greenbank High School Language Leaders.  Displays and signage in French also contribute to the whole school learning environment.

Impact of MFL

Our French curriculum will ensure all pupils develop key language learning skills, as set out by the national curriculum, as well as a love of languages that develops year on year. They will be able to:

• 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.
• 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.

-The National Curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 Framework Document. September 2013

What do the children think?

'I enjoy it so much because there are really fun activities to do.'

'I liked learning about animal names in French and I could draw them in my book.'

'I love French!'

Further learning 

Children also have access to the Language Angels pupil games at     https://www.languageangels.com/schools/

La Fiestaval 2022

We had an amazing time when we performed at Greenbank High School for La Fiestaval; a celebration of languages involving lots of primary schools.  We used all our skills to entertain the audience with a sketch based on Paris Fashion Week.