Modern Foreign Languages – Curriculum Intent and Implementation

The intent of our Modern Foreign Languages curriculum at Swinton Academy is to develop language learners who:

• are passionate linguists;
• are resilient, self-regulated learners, having acquired a range of metacognitive strategies to enable them to ‘know more and remember more’;
• are confident speakers and readers of French or Spanish;
• have a sound understanding of French or Spanish phonics and can apply this when speaking and listening;
• have a strong awareness of the culture of French or Spanish-speaking countries and have benefited from opportunities to experience aspects of the culture through educational visits and the regular use of authentic materials;
• have a sound understanding of French or Spanish grammar, which includes the ability to apply it in new contexts and the ability to use and understand a minimum of three tenses confidently;
• are inquisitive linguists, having developed an understanding of etymology and how languages are interlinked;
• are confident users of disciplinary literacy;
• can transfer their language and literacy development skills to other subjects;
• can make links between their classroom learning and real life contexts;
• are able to progress readily to the next stage of their language learning;
• are proud of their linguistic achievements.

The intent of our curriculum is implemented through:

• an awareness of students’ KS2 MFL experience;
• detailed schemes of work which include scaffolding for B band at KS3 and Foundation at GCSE;
• explicit teaching and regular revisiting of the phonics system of the target language;
• the ambition that students will use the target language for routine conversations in lessons;
• the inclusion of Group Talk strategies in each module of all schemes of work, allowing students the opportunity to discuss and debate topics which include those beyond the confines of their usual experiences;
• building on prior grammatical knowledge whilst regularly revisiting tenses and other key grammatical points in new contexts to ensure knowledge is secure;
• the routine expectation that students will show resilience in each and every lesson (the Resilience Zone) and are supported in this through the explicit teaching of cognitive and metacognitive strategies;
• the central focus of a range of engaging material, including target language songs, films and literature;
• the selection of contexts which are engaging and relevant to young people, whilst also setting language learning in real life situations;
• the ambition that each year group has at least one opportunity to participate in an on off-site learning experience which enhances their language learning experience;
• a reflective approach to the continuing professional development of MFL teachers (an ‘open classroom’ policy, collaborative planning, membership of the Association for Language Learning, a teaching and learning focus to all faculty CPD)