Languages

Intent

Through the teaching and studying of another language, the children gain an understanding of a different culture and develop their knowledge of the world.  It also supports the teaching and understanding of grammar in English, through reinforcing the key concepts and giving the children to apply and develop these skills.  All children in KS2 receive weekly lesson in French, which is an embedded feature of the time table.  This language has been chosen as it uses the strengths of the teaching experience in the school and it is one of the main languages studied in the key secondary school that Aldermaston CE Primary School feeds into, thus preparing the children for their education in KS3.   The aim of this teaching is to provide a foundation for learning further languages, to equip children to study and work in other countries in the future.

At Aldermaston CE Primary School, the children follow a programme that covers the areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing, as well as knowledge about language.  Reference to other languages are also included where relevant.  These lessons are delivered through songs, books, stories and other activities designed to engage and include all children to foster an interest in languages.  Understanding of grammatical and vocabulary similarities and differences to English are explored and children are encouraged to make these links independently.  Interwoven with this learning is an awareness of French culture through the celebration of key festivals and exploration of the country and its history.  The curriculum content below proposes coverage for each year group by term, however it can be adapted/revised at the teacher’s discretion dependent on cohort or cross-curricular planning.

As per the National Curriculum, this programme aims to ensure that all pupils:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources

• 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
• can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
• discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

Although studying a foreign language is not a requirement of the National Curriculum for Foundation Stage or Key Stage 1, the children are given the opportunity to explore different languages and cultures through topic studies and cross-curricular activities, for example whole school learning days which focus on specific countries, counting in different languages.