Welcome to MFL (French)

Subject Leader: Mrs Hayes

Subject Governor: Philip Jackson

French Long Term Plan

At St Mary’s, we recognise the importance of teaching a foreign language to foster pupils’ curiosity, appreciate other cultures and deepen their understanding of the world.

Our teaching aims to enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to be able to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. We will provide opportunities for pupils to communicate for practical purposes and acquire new ways of thinking, supporting pupils to make substantial progress in one language to provide a foundation for learning further languages.

Teaching will focus on enabling pupils to make substantial progress in one language, with an emphasis on practical communication. St Mary’s chosen language is French. This is because it is one of the Modern Foreign Languages taught at our feeder high school, St Joseph’s RC. Teaching will provide an appropriate balance of spoken and written language, laying the foundations for further foreign language teaching at KS3.

At St Mary’s, we have invested in our MFL teaching and learning by employing a specialist French teacher who teaches all children from EYFS to Year 6. Madame Carr is a wonderful teacher who inspires the children with stories from her own culture and upbringing in France.

Pupils in EYFS are taken in small groups of 5 and taught for 20 minutes every other week. Pupils in KS1 and KS2 will be taught for 25 minutes per week in smaller class groups of 15. Smaller class groups are preferred to enable discussion and roleplay in French and supports children with SEND to access the lessons.

Lessons will use a variety of sources to model the language and encourage engagement from pupils, including the use of videos, games and songs as appropriate to maximise interest and make connections to real life situations.

We have offered residentials to France in the past but since COVID parents have been reluctant to risk longer periods away from home. This year, we have our French Language Day in March.