MFL

"To learn a language is to have one more window to look at the world,"

Modern Foreign Language at Swimbridge

As the world around us becomes smaller and more accessible, it provides a wonderful opportunity for children to increase their ability to communicate as well as to explore and deepen their understanding of different cultures.  With France as our closest neighbour, we have chosen to teach French throughout Key Stage 2.

We want to foster excitement and confidence in our children as they use and adapt a language to suit different purposes.

Aims of the MFL Curriculum:

• To build enjoyment of learning a language.

• To grow confidence and fluency in communication.

• To broaden and deepen the four core skills of language learning: listening, speaking, reading and writing, including the use of grammatical structures.

• To seek to build links across the curriculum, where these skills can support other areas of pupils’ learning.

All languages are learned initially through listening and talk before reading and writing begins.  At Swimbridge we aim to reflect this in our teaching of French.  Pupils will build confidence with speaking and listening skills and progress into reading and writing using key questions to build familiarity and confidence with the language.

It is not only important to learn to build the ability to communicate in another language but to build an appreciation of that country’s culture.  There are plenty of opportunities to explore the culture of France.

We use the National Curriculum and Language Angels program to create our French lessons, providing opportunities for pupils to make links across year groups and to share their learning with each other. 

"Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures"

                                                                   -National Curriculum, 2014