At Tunstall, all children in KS2 learn French on a regular basis. We aim for our children to be confident and resilient global citizens who build on cultural capital.
As much as possible, the lessons are taught in the target language so that children can develop the skills to communicate confidently when in French-speaking countries. They are encouraged to talk in French every lesson. The learning of languages at KS2 has been statutory since 2014.
There are many benefits to learning a language:
- Creates new neural pathways in the brain and strengthens those which already exist. This helps to improve speed, focus and memory in all subjects.
- This is unique to language learning.
- Improves grammatical and lexical understanding in other languages, thus it even improves your English!
- Speaking and listening skills
- Ability to concentrate and focus
- Perspective on the world as a whole
- Cultural awareness and open mindedness towards others
- Builds resilience – language learning is not easy. Inevitably, many mistakes are made when language learning. Children learn to embrace the challenge and deal positively with this.
- Builds confidence
- Understanding of how to memorise and learn
These are skills which children can transfer to other subjects and their own lives.
At Tunstall we use and adapt The Language Angels scheme which is supplemented by songs from La Jolie Ronde. We also play many games to practise new vocabulary. Children are taught translation strategies, pronunciation, intonation and awareness of genders and adjectival agreement. Not only this, children learn about the culture and geography of countries around the world. By the end of Year 6, children working at the expected level will be able to write a paragraph about themselves, which is mostly accurate. They will also be able to role-play short conversations in different contexts.