Languages

Languages

At Slingsby CP School, we have adopted the Kapow Primary French Scheme for Learning

Intent

Our use of the Kapow French scheme of work aims to instil a love of language learning and an awareness of other cultures. We want pupils to develop the confidence to communicate in French for practical purposes, using both written and spoken French. We aim to give pupils a foundation for language learning that encourages and enables them to apply their skills to learning further languages, developing a strong understanding of the English language, facilitating future study and opening opportunities to study and work in other countries in the future. The Kapow French scheme of work supports pupils to meet the National curriculum end of Key stage 2 attainment targets (there are no Key stage 1 attainment targets for Languages).

Implementation

The Kapow French scheme of work is designed with three knowledge strands that run throughout the units with knowledge building cumulatively. These are:

  • Phonics
  • Vocabulary
  • Grammar

 

This knowledge is then applied within the skills strands, which also run throughout each unit in the scheme:

  • Language comprehension (Listening and reading)
  • Language production (Speaking and writing)

 

The National curriculum coverage shows which of the Kapow French units cover each of the National curriculum attainment targets, as well as each of the strands. The Kapow Progression of skills and knowledge shows the skills and knowledge that are taught within each year group and how these skills develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of Key Stage 2.

Through our use of the Kapow French scheme, pupils are given opportunities to communicate for practical purposes around familiar subjects and routines. The scheme provides balanced opportunities for communication in both spoken and written French, although in Year 3 the focus is on developing oral skills, before incorporating written French in Year 4 and beyond. The scheme is a spiral curriculum, with key skills and vocabulary revisited repeatedly with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Cross-curricular links are included throughout our French units, allowing children to make connections and apply their language skills to other areas of their learning.

Our lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including role-play, language games and language detective work.

The Kapow scheme of work focuses on developing ‘language detective skills’ and developing an understanding of French grammar, and key vocabulary rather than on committing to memory vast amounts of French vocabulary. Pronunciation is emphasised early on using our Mouth mechanics videos to support pupils with phoneme pronunciation in French.

Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all. In order to help pupils. 

Each Kapow French unit of lessons includes multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support ongoing CPD, with the understanding that many teachers do not feel confident delivering the full languages curriculum and every effort has been made to ensure that they feel supported to deliver lessons of a high standard that ensure pupil progression. Lessons resources include a section entitled, ‘Teacher knowledge – language points’ to explain key grammar and other details to the teacher before the lesson, together with a Key vocabulary and pronunciation presentation with sound files to demonstrate the correct pronunciation. Many of the other presentations included in the lessons also include sound files, supporting teachers who are less confident with their own pronunciation to deliver the lesson and support the children’s learning.

French is timetabled weekly in our school.

Impact

The impact of our use of the French Kapow scheme is monitored continuously through both formative and summative assessment. An assessment spreadsheet is used to record children’s progress in each lesson to enable teachers to build a picture of their learning through each unit.

After the implementation of the Kapow French scheme, pupils should leave school equipped with a range of language-learning skills to enable them to study French, or any other language, with confidence at Key Stage 3.

The expected impact of following the French scheme of work is that children will:

  • Be able to engage in purposeful dialogue in practical situations (e.g., ordering in a cafe, following directions) and express an opinion.
  • Make increasingly accurate attempts to read unfamiliar words, phrases, and short texts.
  • Speak and read aloud with confidence and accuracy in pronunciation.
  • Demonstrate understanding of spoken language by listening and responding appropriately.
  • Use a bilingual dictionary to support their language learning.
  • Be able to identify word classes in a sentence and apply grammatical rules they have learnt.
  • Have developed an awareness of cognates and near-cognates and be able to use them to tackle unfamiliar words in French, English, and other languages.
  • Be able to construct short texts on familiar topics.
  • Meet the end of Key Stage 2 stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Languages.