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Intent
At JHNA, we believe that it is vital to create enthusiasm and excitement around language learning for children to make ‘substantial progress’ in the subject. In order for this to happen, in Key Stage Two our children will be given the opportunity to learn Spanish. It is the intention that all children will access first quality teaching of Spanish in order to adequately prepare them for Key Stage Three. Our Key Stage One children will access French through engaging activities later in the year. By using this approach to teaching MFL, children are exposed to a variety of different languages and cultures which enables our children to access the wider curriculum. This also prepares them to be a global citizen now, and in their future roles within a community. We believe children should be immersed in the language by listening and engaging with each other using subject specific vocabulary. We will provide an MFL Curriculum which develops learning and results in the acquisition of knowledge and skills which enables children to access the wider curriculum and to prepare children to be a global citizen now and in their future roles within a global community.
MFL teaching and learning is good at JHN when:
- It is interactive
- we are learning vocabulary we can use in everyday life.
- we are learning about other cultures.
- we can talk in other languages with our peers.
- we are sharing our learning with others.
Implementation
By the time children leave John Henry Newman Academy, they should have a rich, broad and balanced MFL curriculum. In order to offer this to the children, they will have the opportunity to experience first quality teaching of a variety of languages through weekly timetabled sessions as well as timetables opportunities to embed language. In addition, the children in Key Stage 2 at JHNA will engage in conversational language that can be drip-fed to the children day-to-day. French and Spanish have been chosen to be taught across the school due to the fact that these two languages are taught in secondary schools in the surrounding area, thus supporting their understanding and progress as they continue their learning journey beyond JHNA.
All MFL sessions are carefully planned and reflected upon in order to create a curriculum that is relevant, meaningful and engaging for the children. Sessions are made interactive with lots of opportunity for talk, where pronunciation of new vocabulary is introduced and clearly modelled to the children. At JHNA, we also ensure that the children learn about other cultures and traditions so that they can make links with their own culture and those of others, working towards embracing and celebrating diversity by sharing their learning with others.
In order to provide a curriculum which develops learning and results in the acquisition of knowledge and skills, we have decided to use ‘Language Angels’ as it offers a coherently planned sequence of lessons which ensures we have progressively covered the skills and concepts required in the National Curriculum. ‘Language Angels’ aims to develop children’s key language learning skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing and cultural understanding. We have also decided to use and expand upon Chris Quigley’s ‘The Essentials Curriculum’ to help identify key skills and concepts related to MFL, which are revisited throughout the different units. These key skills and concepts are: ‘Read Fluently’, ‘Write Imaginatively’, ‘Speak Confidently’ and ‘Understand the Culture in which the Language is Spoken’.
Key Documents