Languages

Our Vision: Inspiring linguists of the future, invoking a curiosity of other cultures and broadening their perspective of the world.

Intent

We aim to provide our children with an exciting MFL curriculum that develops a love of languages and a curiosity about other cultures and the wider world. We believe that learning additional languages helps children to develop excellent communication skills, listening, reading and writing and offers a valuable educational, social and cultural experience. 

Research shows that there are many benefits to learning other languages at an early age and at Sandcross we start introducing our children to languages in year 1. We believe that it is important to capture their inquisitive minds at this young age and we see the benefits as they pick it up quickly and do so with great enthusiasm. This also provides a good foundation for them to learn and explore other languages. At Sandcross, we teach French, Spanish and German with year1 and 2 learning French, 3 and 4 learning Spanish and 5 and 6 learning German. We want to expose our children to a range of different languages so that they are well prepared for secondary school. We aim to install a confidence and interest in languages, which our learners can then go on to develop in key stage 3.

Our Modern Foreign Languages curriculum is designed to challenge, develop and nurture the “Whole Child‟ with a mission of “Inspiring Lifelong Success‟. 

Implementation - So, how are we going to deliver this? 

At Sandcross we follow the online Earlystart scheme of works, which offers a fun and varied learning experience. It uses video clips, songs and games to introduce vocabulary and basic concepts of how the language works in an enjoyable way. 

We aim to progressively develop the children’s language skills with lessons taught regularly across the school. Each lesson builds on what has previously been learnt and we continue to weave the vocabulary and skills they have already acquired into the new topics.

We put an emphasis on speaking and listening at this age, but we also want the children to develop some basic writing and reading skills within the target languages. We aim for them to progress in the different areas as follows:

Speaking – to ask and answer questions, express opinions and respond to those of others. We give lots of opportunities for the children to practise speaking in the target language using group interaction and inter pupil communication with turn taking and role play activities.

Listening – to be able to listen to spoken language and show understanding. We ensure that the children get as much exposure to the target language as possible. In the classroom, where possible the register is taken and instructions are given in French, Spanish and German. 

Writing – to have an understanding of some basic language patterns and sentence structures and be able to write some phrases and short sentences. 

Reading – to be able to read familiar words and short phrases, recognising different sounds in the target languages.

Our children record their work through pictures, captions and basic sentences. We make the lessons as entertaining and stimulating as possible by using a range of materials. Alongside the scheme of works, we provide additional resources and worksheets to enhance and consolidate their learning. We also add in different lessons throughout the year, which focus on various holidays and traditions that the different countries celebrate. These lessons provide opportunities for children from other cultures to share some of their experiences. At Sandcross, we have many children who already speak other languages and we encourage them to share some of their language and cultural knowledge with the other children. The children enjoy learning new words and love finding out about other traditions especially from their classmates.

Impact - What difference is this curriculum making to our children? 

Children at Sandcross are benefiting from an enriching MFL experience and are gaining an interest in languages which they will develop through the school. They will acquire a knowledge and understanding of three different languages and become confident language learners. Our children will enrich their language learning by developing an understanding of culture, giving them a broader perspective of the world.