MFL (Modern Foreign Languages)
At Pegasus we have chosen to teach either French or Spanish as our Modern Foreign Language
Learning a foreign language fosters pupils’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world. At Pegasus we hope to lay the foundations for further foreign language teaching at secondary level, recognising that our pupils are global citizens.
Intent
Our MFL curriculums enable pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing. Our pupils focus on familiar and routine matters using their knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary.
Pegasus use the interactive language programme ‘Rigolo’ to teach French and the Primary Language Network scheme of work to teach Spanish. These enable children to:
- listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding;
- explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words;
- engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others;
- speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures;
- appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language;
- broaden their vocabulary and write phrases from memory, expressing their ideas clearly;
- describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing;
- understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.
At Pegasus we hope to lay the foundations for further foreign language teaching at secondary level, recognising that our pupils are global citizens.
Implementation
AT the Pegasus Academy Trust we teach French or Spanish as our Modern Foreign Language offer. These are taught in a whole-class setting, using the Oxford University Press ‘Rigolo’ program and the Primary Language Network scheme of work. The lessons are designed to motivate children from the first moment and have clear, achievable objectives and incorporate creative activities for different learning styles. Language lessons provide a variety of sources to model the language, use games and songs to maximise enjoyment and make as many connections to real life situations as possible. In each lesson, children build on the skills that they have already learnt and develop new ones through a range of fun, exciting and engaging activities such as:
- learning vocabulary;
- asking and answering questions, and following instructions;
- reinforcing memory with mime and physical actions;
- playing games and learning songs;
- video clips;
- teaching of basic grammar, sentence structure and spelling patterns;
- researching and learning about life in other countries;
- writing phrases and sentences;
- creative tasks to demonstrate learning.
This approach is supported by knowledge, skills and vocabulary documentation that ensures connectivity and progression from year group to year group.
Impact
Our MFL curriculum ensures that children develop their knowledge of where different languages, including the range of home languages spoken by the families of the school, as well as French and Spanish, are spoken in the world.
Varied learning experiences, also ensure that languages are celebrated throughout the school community whilst providing a context for language learning and develop the children’s understanding of different cultures. This ties in with other curriculum areas including PHSE, RE, History and Geography.
The children are assessed throughout the year as they progress through the schemes of work. This process is supported by the end of KS2 statements in the National Curriculum 2014 and knowledge and progression documentation produced by the Trust.
Bt the time that children leave any of the schools in the Trust they will have had a good grounding in practical communication using their school’s chosen scheme of work. They will be able to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of
communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking
questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation. This will give them a good grounding in MFL ready for further studies they may undertake at their secondary school.
