Cambridge Primary School

MFL

MFL Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

Intent

At Cambridge Primary School, we believe that every child has the right to experience high-quality immersion in a modern foreign language. The skills, knowledge and understanding gained through learning a language contribute to the development of children’s oracy and literacy and to their understanding of their own culture and those of others. MFL offers an exciting and unique gateway into another worldview, helping our children to foster lifelong, outward-looking attitudes and an escape from insularity. Children in Key Stage 2 are supported in making progress in French. We prepare children for the Key Stage 3 language curriculum by laying a solid linguistic foundation and developing an appreciation for the unknown.

Implementation

We teach French across Key Stage 2. The school has developed a bespoke, spiral MFL curriculum that enables children to build upon their language skills and vocabulary. Phonics and grammar are embedded within each unit of learning, and further consolidated in the yearly ‘fundamentals’ units. The curriculum is designed so that content and skills are developed logically, allowing for clear progression of phonics knowledge, vocabulary acquisition, and the fundamental language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing.  

Our MFL specialist teachers use a variety of the following techniques to encourage children actively engage in MFL learning:

• Modelling – teachers model accurate pronunciation and expression in the target language.
• Games – to develop vocabulary and oracy.
• Interactive resources –to allow children to revisit and review their learning at their own pace.
• Songs and videos in the target language – to develop phonetic skills, listening skills, memory skills and to develop vocabulary.
• Reading and writing quality materials.
• We build children’s confidence through praise for any contribution they make in the foreign language.

Class teachers will also use French for classroom routines such as countdowns or displaying the date in English and French.

Impact

Through the high-quality teaching and learning of French taking place, we will see the impact of the subject in the following ways:

• Children will look forward to French lessons.
• Children will be able to talk about what they are learning in French and what they have previously learned.
• Children will become aware that a language has a structure, and that the structure differs from one language to another.
• Children will be able to recall more French when asked questions as they move up through school.
• Children will appreciate other cultures and worldviews, appreciating that people can see and experience the world differently.

By Year 6, children will feel well-equipped and confident to continue language learning in KS3 and beyond.