Modern Foreign Languages (MfL)

At Henley CofE Primary School we believe learning a modern foreign language is a vital part to ensuring that pupils are prepared for the world around them. We provide our pupils with an international dimension to their learning which enables them to learn about different countries and cultures and empowers them to see the world as responsible global citizens. We have chosen to teach French as our Modern Foreign Language (MFL) across Henley as this ensures pupils have a good foundation in the subject before moving into the next phase of their education. As some pupils in our school have not had the chance to travel abroad or meet people from a variety of cultures, through studying French, they will develop an understanding of different cultures around the world as well as respect and acceptance of these cultures. It also allows pupils to develop their written, auditory and verbal skills.

Languages are an integral part of our curriculum. Learning a language provides an opening to other cultures. It helps to equip our children with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. It encourages pupils to appreciate and celebrate difference. 

The national curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) aims to ensure that all pupils:

Key Stage 2

• Understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic source

• 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.

Which values underpin the curriculum content?

Respect-  Pupils learn to be respectful when communicating with different people without showing ignorance and arrogance towards other languages and cultures.

Perseverance -  Through the curriculum pupils will demonstrate perseverance as they learn, explore and develop a new language.

Community - Pupils learn about wider world studying other cultures, customs and countries Wisdom Pupils develop wider knowledge gaining skills to speak in another language.

How are British Values taught from French?

The MFL curriculum actively promotes British Values, by promoting the tolerance of cultural values and traditions of other countries. Through the curriculum pupils are appreciating other countries, especially France as the pupils are learning to speak French, they are also encouraged to reflect on other cultures and ways of life and embrace socio-cultural and economic differences and contexts. This ensures pupils make better connections between countries and societies. This in turn, emphasises the need for tolerance and justice, and through their studies, our pupils come to value the rule of law and democratic systems that European countries and countries further afield enjoy despite the varied customs, festivals and national characteristics that makes every society so unique.