Modern Foreign Languages
Vision Statement
At St Edmund’s we want our children and their families to develop positive attitudes to, and respect for, languages and cultures other than their own. We believe that learning a Modern Foreign Language will provide children with a life-long practical skill, and that their language learning at Primary School will provide them with the building blocks for learning many languages at High School.
Through our teaching and learning in French, we aim to foster children’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of how the English language works as they compare it to French. The focus on speaking, listening and practical games and activities which lead into writing encourages a deeper level of engagement and enjoyment for all pupils.
Games, interactive activities, songs and stories all engage pupils in language learning at St Edmund's.
What our pupils say about learning languages at St Edmund's.
Dawid: ‘We enjoy learning a new language and learning new words.’ Isabelle: ‘ We enjoy all the different things we do to learn French – we played a game with dice which was good fun.’ Ava: ;The songs and games are fun. I like it when we play games on the board.’ Emelia: ‘I like learning about life in France. We’ve learnt about school and Christmas.’ Millie: ‘ I liked learning about the nativity play and performing it.’ Ava: ‘We can translate things, we read around the words we don’t know.’
Languages around school
LKS2
During the first half term, year 3 and 4 completed their first unit 'Ourselves'. This focused on simple nouns for family members. Children completed the unit by writing a short paragraph to describe their family.
Christmas Celebrations
Across KS2, we learnt about Christmas in France. Pupils began to describe and compare traditions in their family to traditions in France. They then learnt to describe Christmas decorations using adjectives for size and colour, building up to a creative project where they used their language skills for a practical purpose.
Each week, children listened to a French Christmas song. Click the links below to hear the some of the songs.
L'as tu vu? Have you seen him?
Petit Papa Noel Little Father Christmas
Vive le vent Jingle Bells
UKS2
Pupils in Year 5 and 6 researched and produced their own presentations about French Christmas traditions. They then presented these to the class.
