French
Vision:
The
Vision:
The MFL Department at Fakenham Academy’s vision is based upon the belief that learning a language opens a world of new possibilities and opportunities to our students; inspiring them to become global citizens. Through languages we foster student curiosity and deepen their understanding, not only of their own identity and culture, but also of other countries. We encourage students to become curious and inquisitive in their world and to respect other cultures and people, as well as building their communication and literacy skills. We strive to ensure that our students develop the capacity to use, manipulate and adapt language and grammar to express their own views on a wide range of topics, as well as being able to transact in everyday situations abroad.
Yearly Intent Statements
What are the aims of specific stages of the curriculum?
Students come to us at Fakenham Academy with a mixed experience of language learning in KS2. The depth of learning varies from one feeder-school to another as does the language that has been studied. As a result, the curriculum in KS3 has been carefully considered to ensure that it provides all students with a foundation for further learning. Students develop an understanding of key vocabulary, while focussing on building fluency and communication skills with regular guided practice and scaffolded tasks, throughout which, basic structure and grammar is embedded.
It is a spiral curriculum, in which themes are revisited throughout KS3 & 4 in order to deepen understanding, building on previous learning with each successive encounter. Each year consists of one unit which will be of transactional value to students visiting France.
Year 7: Moi!
By the end of the year students have learned how to introduce themselves and give key factual information about their age, birthday, family, nationality where they live. They will also learn how to order food and shop in France, and as the year progresses they will be able to talk about their school life. They understand and can use adjectives to describe themselves and their family. They can also understand and use a range of verbs to give varied opinions and justifications around areas such as food and school subjects. Students are introduced to French phonics to help pronunciation.
Grammar
Indefinitive/definite/partitive articles
Regular er verbs
Avoir/être
Conditional (use not formation)
Year 8 – On se déplace:
By the end of the year students can describe in more detail where they live and use a wider range of adjectives and subject pronouns to describe where they would like to live and where others live. They can also ask for and understand basic directions. They can make future plans and discuss whether they prefer the town or countryside and justify their opinions. Language around opinions will be recycled from Y7. They will discuss different holidays destinations and describe the countries.
Grammar
Future tense
Conditional tense (sight not formation: il y aurait/ce serait)
Adjectival agreements
Recap verbs for describing where others live
Year 9 – On discute….:
By the end of the year students can discuss and describe celebrities, and can talk about film and television and express their preferences, they will also recap verbs and verb endings. They can also discuss holidays and holidays plans using the passé compose and will recap the future tense. They can manipulate the past tense to discuss what others did on holiday as well.
Grammar
Passé compose
Adjectival agreements
Imperfect (use not formation)
KS4
Year 10: By the end of the year students have developed their skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing within the topics of my family and friends, free-time and technology and customs and festivals in France and French speaking countries. They can give personal information about themselves and others and start to discuss different opinions – for example about the use of technology. They understand and respond to a wider variety of authentic texts. Three tenses that were encountered in KS3 are consolidated and students become more confident using 3 key tenses together with a wider range of vocabulary.
Year 11: By the end of the year students progress from studying topics about themselves to their immediate environment where they live and then to the wider world around them and their future aspirations. They encounter an increasingly complex range of vocabulary and grammatical structures to discuss holidays, their studies, career choices and social and global issues such as the environment and homelessness. Skills are honed so that students are prepared for tasks in their exams in listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Rationale behind sequencing:
The French curriculum has been carefully sequenced to ensure that it builds upon prior knowledge. Topics are revisited and become increasingly complex during the 5 years of study.
Year 7
It is a crucial starting point for our students who have mixed prior knowledge of French from KS2. The curriculum provides an important consolidation (or introduction for some) on how to introduce themselves and give key personal information about themselves and others. The focus in year 7 is on developing listening and speaking skills and the use of phonics to help with pronunciation. Students are introduced to the concept of gender and how this affects articles and adjectives. They learn to use verbs to describe what they enjoy eating and to express justified opinions which is a key concept in the learning of MFL.
Year 8
Students build on skills and content from year 7. They learn to say where they live in year 7, but in year 8 can add more detail about their town and local area and use a wider variety of subject pronouns to understand and describe where others live and would like to live. Work on using adjectives in year 7 is extended to include adjectives and agreements as well as prepositions to understand directions. Comprehension and productive skills are developed and texts/frames include more complexity with connectives, modifiers and sequencers.
Year 9
Topics in year 9 build on skills and content from years 7 and 8. Students use a wider variety of regular and irregular verbs with a range of subject pronouns to express their views on celebrities, television and film. These topics are designed with students in mind and are in line with their interests thus giving them more motivation to speak. More depth and complexity is added to the work done in years 7 and 8 on verbs and variety of subject pronouns on the topic of holidays and the use of the past tense.
Year 10
The curriculum is designed so that topics that are taught in KS4 build on previous learning in KS3. Year 10 topics from Theme 1 “Identity and Culture” include: me, my family and friends, free-time and technology in everyday life and customs and festivals and build on foundations laid in years 7, 8 and 9, but are studied in much more detail with more extensive and more complex vocabulary. Students can give personal and factual information about themselves and others, but also use more complex structures to discuss the benefits of sport and the advantages and disadvantages of technology. They understand and respond to a wider variety of authentic texts. Three tenses that were introduced in years 7, 8 & 9 are consolidated and students become more confident using 3 key tenses together with a wider range of vocabulary. These tenses are recapped early in Y10, as well as high frequency irregulars.
Year 11
The topics that are taught in year 11 build on previous learning in years 7, 8, 9 and 10. This comprises: Theme 2 “local, national, international and global areas of study” and Theme 3 “ current and future study and employment”. Students progress from studying topics about their immediate environment to the wider world around them and then to discussing their future plans and aspirations. They continue to develop their skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing, applying vocabulary and structures learned in a wider range of different contexts. Key grammatical structures are revisited, extended and then consolidated in preparation for exams.
