MFL Curriculum 

Intent

At Mab Lane, we want our children to be language masters. We hold a curriculum that empowers children to discover a wider world through language and culture. Learning a MFL is naturally multifaceted, engaging the learning of vocabulary and grammar through songs, games, puzzles and stories. Through these, we aim to embed the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing. We want to equip our pupils with not only the statutory requirements of the Modern Foreign Languages National Curriculum but to have a strong foundation to build upon, as they prepare for high school and beyond. It is our wish, that as they learn something about others, they learn something about themselves.

Implementation

Our MFL curriculum is designed to progressively develop children skills in languages, through regularly taught lessons. Children and teachers use the Language Angels app as part of their learning. Through using Language Angels, Spanish lessons are interactive and children's progress can be tracked. The attainment targets set out in the DfE Languages Programme of Study are linked to the app to ensure children are meeting curriculum targets.

Children progressively acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary organised around topics. Children are encouraged and supported to develop their speaking and listening skills through conversational work, singing activities and games. As confidence and skill grows, children record their work through pictures, captions and sentences.

A love of the subject is also fostered through learning different Hispanic cultures and traditions. One way in which we do this is learning about celebrations such as Fiesta Nacional de Espana, Dia de los Muertos and Dia de los Reyes. Another example is through cooking and sampling examples of Hispanic food. To embed the language, Spanish is also used around the school so that simple conversations become part of everyday life.

Impact

The learning challenges used to plan and teach MFL, ensure that all children are accessing work at age related expectations, with regular opportunities to be challenged through higher-level objectives. The Language Angels programme of study is inclusive of all year groups from Nursery through to the end of the primary phase- everything is catered for including SEND. 

Children are assessed according to age related expectations in line with curriculum requirements and the expectations of the local authority. This is done in line with the school assessment calendar. Each half term, formative and summative information is recorded by the class teacher and monitored by the co-ordinator. Staff use this information to inform their short-term planning and short-term interventions. This helps us provide the best possible support for all of our pupils, including the more able. The assessment milestones for each phase have been carefully mapped out and further broken down for each year group. This means that skills in MFL are progressive and build year on year. In additional to monitoring assessments, the co-ordinator gathers other evidence such as work samples, pupils interviews and examples displayed on social media.