Intent 

Here at Wistaston Church Lane we have the CONFIDENCE to be linguists. 

We believe that learning a language enriches children’s learning and provides them with excitement, enjoyment and fosters a genuine curiosity for them to have a greater understanding of the world in which they live.  Here at Wistaston Church Lane Academy, our teaching of French enables the children to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond both verbally and in writing which will prepare them for communication in the real world. 

Children develop a broad and rich range of skills in reading, speaking, writing and the curriculum is based upon gaining a knowledge of key vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and phonics. 

The curriculum will give the children the opportunity to: 

  • use language skills to communicate in the real world, for practical purposes, for their immediate needs, interests and beyond and to express and justify opinions; 
  • develop their confidence and autonomy to access new and unfamiliar language through the use of decoding skills brought about by the explicit teaching of phonics and sound patterns; 
  • work towards becoming a fluent and spontaneous speaker of the foreign language. 
  • It is intended that all children leave Wistaston Church Lane Academy with a natural curiosity and confidence to explore other countries, cultures and languages.     

Implementation 

At Wistaston Church Lane Academy, we teach French in KS2 and use a scheme called Primary Languages Network to help support the teaching and learning of our children based on the 2014 National Curriculum.  This provides a consistency across all year groups and clear progression for the development across the four skills of speaking, listening, writing and reading. 

Children are taught to: 

  • listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding; 
  • explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, phonetical sounds, 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; 
  • 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 verbally and in writing; 
  • understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these and build sentences. 

Lessons are planned to ensure children retain their knowledge and build on existing skills throughout their time at school with Puzzle it Out assessments used to check knowledge and inform teaching. 

Impact 

We hope that children leave Wistaston Church Lane Academy with a natural curiosity and confidence to explore other countries, cultures and languages having had the opportunity to learn a language in a nurturing environment.  Their progression through KS2 should be evident through the acquisition of key skills they will have gained the necessary transferable skills to go on to enjoy a variety of language in both their future education and lives. 

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