Languages
On this page, you will find out about all the wonderful Language learning that goes on at Mudeford Junior School and how it is taught.
'Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures...The teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing'. (National Curriculum 2014)
Intent Statement
The Languages Curriculum at Mudeford Junior School broadens the children’s understanding of the world and sparks their curiosity, equipping them with the skills to become global citizens within a rapidly-changing world. The knowledge acquired enables the children to express their ideas and thoughts in and about another language, providing a foundation for the learning of further languages.
The children have the opportunity to study French and Spanish in discrete lessons whilst at Mudeford Junior School, facilitating the children to make informed choices about their future language studies.
They will expand their reading skills from the very first lesson, enabling them to quickly recognise and understand words, phrases and simple texts presented as songs, rhymes and stories. These skills will then enable the children to explore different languages, making links between the patterns and sounds, and thinking laterally about the similarities and differences between languages known. Through listening attentively, the children will develop their phonic understanding, which they will demonstrate through their paired and whole class spoken work.
As the children progress through the curriculum, their confidence to speak in sentences in a foreign language shall lead them to tackle the more developed skills of engaging in conversations, expressing opinions and responding to others.
Children leave our school with an enhanced understanding of the world, confident and ready to appreciate other cultures; prepared to be challenged and inspired to explore.
What Languages Looks Like at Mudeford Junior School in 2023-24
In 2014, the new National Curriculum was launched which entailed the Language delivery at Mudeford Junior School being changed and updated. As a result a new curriculum map was devised and can be viewed below.
The new curriculum and Mudeford Junior's aims are that the children can:
- understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
- 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
Our children all have a weekly Languages lesson in their classrooms this year. We are fortunate to have a Music/Languages Room where the lessons are normally taught. The curriculum is taught through a variety of methods, including games, songs, stories and ICT. The children learn to speak, listen, read and write in their new language, enabling them to communicate with each other, the teacher and other language speakers.
To ensure that the children have the chance to really develop their language skills, all children learn French for three years. In Year 6 the children then switch to Spanish, giving them a flavour of a different language, broadening their skills, enabling them to see the links between European languages and traditions, and allowing them the chance to make a more informed decision when moving on to Secondary school.
Year 5 Hide And Seek Stories
Year 5 have been working very hard on learning about prepositions, through the story 'Anniversaire a la ferme'. They then planned their own versions, changing the setting, party guests and hiding places making excellent use of their bilingual dictionary skills.
Here are some of the finished stories.