Languages

Languages at St Leonard’s

We aim to give children an introduction to the French language, both spoken and written, and inspire a passion for languages that will lead to lifelong learning.

Hi, I’m Mrs McDaid and I’m the Languages Subject Lead at St Leonard’s. I passionately believe that being able to speak a second language is such a valuable skill. In today's interconnected world, proficiency in other languages provides the opportunity to engage meaningfully with the world - both within our own community and across the miles. At St Leonard's we've chosen French to be the language we learn. I enjoy inspiring and motivating the children on a life-long journey of developing their skills in a second (or even third or fourth) language. Every small step forward in learning a new language is something to be celebrated.

Our Approach to Teaching Languages

We have adopted a bold, new approach to teaching languages. Having discovered that a single, long session once per week is not enabling our children to know and remember as much French as we would like, we have written our own scheme of work that helps children learn differently.

In our new model, children in Years 3-6 will receive one, 1/2 hour lesson and then a series of short, 'top-up' sessions throughout the week. We will use our experience with effective phonics teaching to make the most of these short sessions, using flash cards to help children learn high-frequency words and phrases. This will then be reinforced by teaching that will develop their writing in a progressive way, building sentences of increasing complexity as they make their way up through the school. 

In this way we aim to achieve our intent to build a Languages Curriculum that:

• Fosters a love of languages
• Helps children be 'Secondary Ready'
• Teaches children 'Survival French'

This ties into our over-arching curriculum aim to be 'outward looking'.