At Greatham CE Primary School, our aim is to develop an enthusiastic and positive attitude toward other languages and language learning. We hope to encourage life-long learning of languages among our pupils in order to enhance their understanding of the world and their future economic well-being. We want children to develop a love for French through lessons that are enjoyable, supportive, and stimulating.
Our main objective in the teaching of a modern foreign language at primary school is to promote the early development of linguistic competence and an understanding of other cultures. We believe that to accomplish this, we should help the children to do all of the following:
• familiarise themselves with the sounds and written form of a modern foreign language;
• begin to understand a new language, and communicate in it;
• make comparisons between languages;
• learn about different countries and their people, and work with materials from different countries and communities, thus increasing their awareness of other cultures;
• develop a positive attitude toward the learning of foreign languages in general;
• use their knowledge of the foreign language with growing confidence, both to understand what they hear and read, and to express themselves in different ways;
• acquire, through all of the above, a sound basis for further study at Key Stage 3 and beyond.
Learning a second language enables pupils to explore relationships between language and identity and develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and the world around them.