Aims and Objectives

In Gascoigne Primary school, we acknowledge and appreciate that all Key Stage 2 pupils are entitled to learn another language at school. Gascoigne Primary School recognises the value of this initiative and will provide age-appropriate primary language learning opportunities for all children in Years 3 – 6. We are committed to the principle that learning another language helps foster a curiosity and deeper understanding of other cultures and the world in general. The target language taught in our school is French. Gascoigne Primary school is extremely privileged to be in the position where our pupils are already exposed to a wide range of world languages through their own upbringings.

Our main objectives in the teaching of French are to promote the development of linguistic competence and confidence in listening, speaking and writing, as well as an understanding and awareness of the world and other cultures.

To accomplish this, we will help children do the following:

• Foster an interest in language learning by introducing children to another language in a way that is enjoyable and accessible to all pupils;
• Focus on enabling pupils to make progress in one language, which is French;
• Develop pupils’ language acquisition through the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, with the aim of achieving an appropriate balance of spoken and written language in lessons;
• Help pupils to communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing, with an emphasis on familiar and routine events, for practical communication purposes;
• Develop pupils’ knowledge of phonology to achieve accurate pronunciation, grammatical structures and vocabulary;
• Stimulate and encourage children’s curiosity about language and creativity in experimenting with it;
• Help children develop their awareness of cultural similarities and differences;lay the foundations for future language learning by pupils at key stage 3;
• Develop a positive attitude towards the learning of foreign languages in general;
• Learning about and comparing different cultures (intercultural understanding). We will encourage pupils to apply knowledge already learnt about their own language to their learning of the new language.

Teaching and learning

We recognise that we need to teach skills in all four strands of language – listening, speaking, reading and writing. We also use a multisensory and kinaesthetic approach to teaching to reinforce memory. We aim to make lessons entertaining and enjoyable in order to develop a positive attitude to the learning of modern foreign languages. We build children’s confidence through constant praise for any contribution that they make to a foreign language, however tentative.

Organisation

French is taught to Key Stage 2 children throughout school. Children have 30-minute lessons weekly.  In addition, all class teachers are expected to take opportunities throughout the teaching day to embed the language by using it at incidental times, such as taking the register, greetings, praise as well as playing simple games.

Inclusion

Primary Languages teaching at Gascoigne Primary School is fully inclusive. No child is excluded for reason of a learning difficulty, or because they have English as an additional language. We provide learning opportunities that enable all pupils to make progress. We do this by setting up suitable learning challenges and responding to each child’s different needs. We strive to meet the needs of those pupils with special educational needs, those with disabilities, those with special gifts and talents and those learning English as an additional language. We allow for inclusion by:

• Using peer support;
• Setting common tasks which are open-ended and can have a variety of responses;
• Providing resources of different complexities, matched to the ability of the child.

Recorded Learning

Each child in Key Stage 2 has been provided with a French book in which to record their learning. This will follow them through school as they enter into each new year group.

Assessment

Opportunities to monitor children’s progress in Primary Languages are built into our termly programmes of study. Assessment for Learning is a continual aspect of lessons. This assessment is formative and is used to support teaching and learning and inform future planning. Assessments are based on observation of children working on different oral activities as well as written product.