Languages at Comberton

We follow the National Curriculum for Languages, selecting French as our chosen language.

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.

Aims
The national curriculum for languages 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.

All pupils in Key Stage 2 are taught French for one hour every week by a specialist teacher. Teaching is based on the Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages and uses a variety of techniques to encourage pupils to have an active engagement with the language. We aim to develop skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing through a range of activities including games, songs, action poems, role play, books and cartoons.

We are also fortunate enough to be linked with a French school. They have visited us several times (we are hoping to visit them again in May 2020 following our visit in May 2018). This wonderful opportunity to hear the language spoken by members of the country enriches the children's experiences and understanding.

Language Milestones

We are developing our curriculum to ensure that our pupils gain a depth of knowledge; we promote the progression of skills; and teach through an effective sequence of learning.

We wish to develop the following 'Essential Characteristics' in our pupils as linguists:

• The confidence to speak with good intonation and pronunciation.
• Fluency in reading.
• Fluency and imagination in writing.
• A strong awareness of the culture of the countries where the language is spoken.
• A passion for languages and a commitment to the subject.
• The ability to use language creatively and spontaneously.
• An independence in their studies and the ability to draw upon a wide range of resources.