French Curriculum Map - Trafalgar School, Portsmouth

Curriculum - French

“A language is not just words. It’s a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It’s all embodied in a language” Noam Chomsky

Article 31. Every child has the right to join in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

Curriculum Intent

In today’s constantly changing society, it is becoming increasingly important for students to develop a range of skills that are transferable and adaptable in the marketplace. The curriculum should inspire and challenge all learners and prepare them for the future.

A high-quality language education should foster children’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. One of our aims is to promote a life-long love of learning languages and to inspire them to keep it up after Trafalgar.

At Trafalgar School we are committed to ensure that competence in another language enables children to interpret, create and exchange meaning within and across cultures. It also helps children develop skills that will open further opportunities later in life. The teaching of French & Spanish at Trafalgar School, KS3 and KS4, provides an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and lays the foundation for further foreign language teaching at KS5.

The 2019 Schemes of Learning for Modern Foreign Languages aims to ensure that all children:

Understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources.
Are 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 that they are continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation.
Can write various lengths of texts, 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.

Implementation

Children are introduced to French & Spanish from our Schemes of Work, and receive 6 lessons fortnightly throughout their time in year 7 and 8. This enables the children to develop early language acquisition skills that facilitate their understanding of the patterns of language and how these differ from, or are similar to, English. In KS3, each class has a timetabled French or Spanish lesson of 100 minutes.

Lessons across the Key Stages support the skills of Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing:

Students are taught to listen attentively to spoken language and respond, joining in with song/raps, rhymes and games.
Links have been developed with primary schools and a college. Students from KS2 visit Trafalgar school for French & Spanish taster days every year.
Modern Foreign Languages at Trafalgar school have an international link with Lille (France) with regular correspondence taking place. We are currently looking into a correspondence in Seville or Madrid (Spain) which will start soon.
Students develop an appreciation of a variety of text through stories, songs, poems in French & Spanish that are delivered through the curriculum content as well as by native French and/or Spanish speakers within the wider school community.
Cross curricular links with IT are provided using Linguascope.com
The MFL department also provide a trip to Paris (France)/ Seville (Spain) each year; this helps to bring the curriculum to life and allows students to gain a deeper knowledge of their subject including a greater understanding of culture.
Long term planning is in place for all courses. Schemes of learning and Curriculum maps have been designed to contain curriculum detail on; context, expectations, key skills, learning objectives, learning outcomes, learning activities, differentiation and resources.
Schemes of learning encourage progression with a view to exceeding national standards;
There is consistency in terms of curriculum delivery across curriculum areas.
Appropriate awarding bodies and courses are selected so that they best meet the learning needs of our students.
Assessment is appropriate to the course and the students following particular courses.
There is a consistent approach towards assessment, i.e. 2 assessments each half term in KS3/KS4.
Assessment is moderated effectively to ensure accuracy and reliability of data.
The MFL department keep the appropriate members of SLT informed of proposed changes to curriculum delivery or content.
All relevant information/data is shared within the department. This includes meeting deadlines related to exam entries, data entry on reports and completing all relevant A1-9 forms.
Student performance data is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that any necessary changes in terms of curriculum delivery are planned and carried out in a timely fashion.
Modern Foreign Language Specialists share best practice with colleagues in terms of curriculum design and delivery through regular learning walks and department meetings.
The Head of languages review CPD needs of his own and of those in the departments regarding curriculum planning and delivery within their area of responsibility.

Teaching staff will:

Ensure the curriculum is implemented in accordance with this Curriculum Area policy;
Keep up to date with developments in their subjects;
Have access to, and be able to interpret data on each student to inform the design of the curriculum in order that it best meets the needs of each cohort of students;
Contribute to departmental evaluation and development of the curriculum for their subject;
Participate in high quality professional development, working with colleagues to develop their skills in understanding the learning needs of their students and how best to plan a curriculum to address those needs and engage them;
Work in partnership with other agencies to provide an appropriate range of curriculum opportunities.

Students will:

Be treated as partners in their learning, contributing to the design of the curriculum.
Have their individual needs addressed, both within the school and extending beyond the school through a curriculum which offers breadth, support and challenge.
Be given additional support with their learning if they are not making expected levels of progress through interventions and revision session.

Receive co-ordinated support to enable them to make the appropriate curriculum choices.

Impact

The Modern Foreign Languages curriculum will:

Ensure that children develop their knowledge of where different languages, including the range of home languages spoken by families of the school, as well as French & Spanish, are spoken in the world. Varied learning experiences, including ‘French Market visit’, ‘Hispanic week’ and trips abroad also ensure that languages are celebrated throughout the school community whilst providing a context for language learning and develop the student’s understanding of different cultures.

The curriculum will also:

Lead to qualifications that are of worth to employers and for entry to higher level education;
Fulfil statutory requirements;
Enable students to fulfil their potential meeting the needs of students of all abilities;
Provide equal access for all students to a full range of learning experiences beyond statutory guidelines and requirements;
Prepare students to make informed and appropriate choices during KS3, KS4 and beyond;
Help students develop lively, enquiring minds, an ability to question, to debate and argue rationally and an ability to apply themselves to challenging levels of work;
Include the following characteristics: breadth, balance, relevance, differentiation, progression, continuity and coherence;
Ensure continuity and progression within the school and between phases of education increasing students’ choices during their time at school;
Help students develop numeracy and literacy skills which can be applied across the curriculum;
Ensure that students' social, moral, spiritual and cultural understanding is at the heart of the school's work in promoting fundamental British values and addressing prejudice and extremism by building resilience, confidence and a sense of belonging.

Careers