Modern Foreign Languages

Learning a foreign language helps to embed key literacy, communicative, auditory and aural skills as well as promoting tolerance and providing an opening to other cultures.  Languages education at Ryhill fosters students’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world. High quality teaching enables students to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. In addition, it provides the foundation for learning further languages in greater depth at secondary school, equipping students to study and work in other countries. MFL serves a cultural and linguistic purpose in that it exposes students to foreign language and culture, therefore promoting global citizenship.

In French our pupils will have the opportunity to learn how to:

• Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding.
• Explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words.
• Engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help.
• Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures.
• Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases.
• Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences.
• Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing.
• Appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language.
• Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary.
• Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly.
• Describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing.
• Understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.

Our pupils will be able to develop their skills as linguists by demonstrating:

• The confidence to speak with good intonation and pronunciation.
• Fluency in reading.
• Fluency and imagination in writing.
• A strong awareness of the culture of the countries where the language is spoken.
• A passion for languages and a commitment to the subject.
• The ability to use language creatively and spontaneously.
• An independence in their studies and the ability to draw upon a wide range of resources.