MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES

At Belleville, our pupils learn French with a specialist teacher from Year 3 to Year 6 for an hour each week.  Our MFL provision is based on our LEARN statement, which underpins our whole curriculum.  Through interactive, engaging and relevant topics, pupils learn to understand and communicate, orally and in writing, in French.  Using practical activities, they develop and extend their ability to express their thoughts and ideas in another language, thereby fostering their curiosity and deepening their understanding of other peoples and cultures.    

Our MFL provision is planned to support and complement our local community, which has a significant French speaking population (around 10%).  French-speaking pupils are fully involved in our learning and are challenged through extension tasks and supporting their peers. Furthermore, beyond the school day, many children participate in extra-curricular ‘French between the Commons’ sessions at the school, which follow the national French curriculum.

Our curriculum enables the children to develop the four key language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.  Our progression map is below. Most activities use a combination of one or more skill, as this is how language is used in the real world. Grammar is mostly taught implicitly through recognising patterns, rather than as separate lesson topics.

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Our MFL pedagogy focuses predominantly on target language use by teacher and students, immersing students in French by adding and developing increasing layers of complexity each time they revisit a similar theme. We teach using a wide range of interactive activities including routines, miming, music, singing, games, role-play and stories in order to meet and extend the language levels of individual pupils, developing confidence through enjoyment being key to our pupils' success.

Please see our MFL intention statement below and our curriculum coverage.

Pupils are:

Spontaneous in their use of French

Respectful of other students speaking French

Open to other cultures

Inquisitive about French language

Pupils know:

Why learning languages is important

How to actively listen

How to share their own ideas

How to support others

How to work independently

Pupils experience:

The immersive French classroom

Speaking French with confidence in front of an audience

Success at becoming a French speaker

Making mistakes and learning from them

 

Download our French Progression Document

We are proud to have a diverse French provision that extends beyond the classroom. Here are some photos of exciting French opportunities:

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Celebrating European Day of All Languages          Year 5 trip to the Institut Français                           French Bee final at the

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Year 6 Pen Pal Correspondence                  Year 6 Pen Pal Correspondence                  Year 4 Christmas Cards to school in Côte d’Ivoire