‘Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.’

-The National Curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 Framework Document. September 2013

At Thurnham Glasson C of E Primary School we want to develop children who are excited to explore the wider world within and outside the classroom and we realise the value of studying multiple languages and cultures as a means of increasing children’s cultural capital. Our Curriculum is designed to cover all aspects of the National Curriculum, which has then been broken down into the skills, knowledge and vocabulary needed. This forms the MFL Curriculum planning, which ensures a structured progression building upon children’s prior learning. Planned sequences of learning will take account of prior knowledge and skills development, building upon these to prepare for the next stage in their learning journey.

With an approach which takes into account the children’s ongoing language-learning journey, the school is also always looking to further develop internationalism within and beyond the curriculum by developing local and international links and projects.

Our MFL curriculum is well thought out and planned to give children the skills, knowledge and opportunity to be challenged in their thinking and learning and prepare for their next stage of learning and into their future lives. 

By the time our children leave Thurnham Glasson C of E Primary we want them to:

• 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
• 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
• have an appreciation and understanding of a range of languages and cultures

Whilst MFL isn’t a requirement for KS1 children they are introduced to French from EYFS, predominantly through songs and receive exposure to the language throughout their time in EYFS and KS1 based around basic vocabulary areas every half term. 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.

Here are some skills that can be practiced orally with the children. Click on the links below:

Numbers 0 – 20

Colours (Idea! - Using colouring pencils, shout out a colour, ask children to hold the colour).

Days of the week

Body parts - Head shoulders, knees and toes song