French
All Moorfield pupils, from nursery to Senior 6, learn French and in Senior 6 they also learn Spanish. Every class is taught by a specialist teacher. The learning of a foreign language at primary age provides children, and the adults they go on to become, with a number of valuable educational, social and cultural skills. It allows them to use their brains in a way that few other school subjects do, while enabling them to develop essential communication and literacy skills.
At Moorfield, we believe that learning another language not only provides our pupils with essential language skills which will enable them to communicate with the wider world, but also helps them to develop a curiosity about and a respect for other people, places and cultures. The skills they learn provide them with growing confidence in speaking another language and also their own.
French for the Foundation Stage Unit involves a half hour session once a week. For these pupils, in the nursery and reception, the focus of French lessons is on listening, speaking and responding. The teacher uses games, stories, songs and finger rhymes to ensure that pupils have an enjoyable and easily accessible start to language learning. All positive contributions to lessons, no matter how large or small, are praised. Vocabulary and resources are revisited frequently to foster a feeling of confidence in the pupils. They often request their favourite stories or songs.
For pupils in Form 1 and Form 2 there is a development of listening and speaking skills gained in the Foundation Stage. Familiar language and activities are revisited and new ones introduced. Lessons are grouped in half termly themes. There is no formal reading or writing at this stage, but the teacher takes a reactive role to individual pupils’ interest in these aspects of the language. The intercultural understanding aspect of language learning is introduced at this stage.
By the time they reach Form 3, the pupils have already amassed a strong vocabulary and developed good pronunciation. They now begin to learn reading and writing skills in French; beginning in Form 3 and continuing until Senior 6 they are taught to recognise the different phonemes they will encounter in French and become confident in reading aloud. The learning of more complex grammatical structures is formalised – so they begin to recognise and use French word order, adjectival agreement, pronouns and conjugating verbs. They still enjoy stories, songs and games in their lessons. The intercultural understanding aspect of language learning is strengthened at this stage – the pupils learn about different customs and celebrations in French speaking countries; we visit Paris via webcams and interactive Metro maps; we look at art and music created by French people; traditional French songs and dances are learned.