MFL at Anton Junior School

Our Vision for French

At our school, we are committed to enabling all children to develop confidence and proficiency in the four key language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Through our French curriculum, our children build a solid foundation in language learning, including essential grammar such as the use of masculine and feminine forms with definite and indefinite articles.

We strive to deepen the children’s appreciation of French by engaging them with a rich variety of authentic written texts, helping them discover the beauty and diversity of the language. They are taught to understand and respond confidently to spoken and written French from a range of sources, developing both accuracy and fluency.

Our curriculum encourages children to express themselves in French, both orally and in writing, nurturing their confidence and communication skills. Alongside language learning, we foster curiosity and a deeper cultural understanding of France and other French-speaking countries, broadening pupils’ global awareness.

We place importance on regular assessment and reflection, enabling our children to track their own progress in speaking, listening, and reading. By encouraging self-assessment, we empower learners to take ownership of their language development and celebrate their achievements.

By the time our children leave us, they will be enthusiastic, skilled communicators in French, equipped with the language skills and cultural insights to engage meaningfully with the wider world.

Listen more attentively and for longer.

Understand more of what we hear even

when some of the language may be

unfamiliar by using the decoding skills we

have developed.

listen to longer text and more authentic

foreign language material. Learn to pick

out cognates and familiar words and learn

to 'gist listen' even when hearing language

that has not been taught or covered.

Read familiar words and short phrases

accurately by applying knowledge from

'Phonics Lesson 1'. Understand the

meaning in English of short words I read in

the foreign language.

Read aloud short pieces of text applying

knowledge learnt from 'Phonics Lessons 1

& 2'. Understand most of what we read in

the foreign language when it is based on

familiar language.

Understand longer passages in the foreign

language and start to decode meaning of

unknown words using cognates and

context. Increase our knowledge of

phonemes and letter strings using

knowledge learnt from 'Phonics Lessons 1

to 3'.

Be able to tackle unknown language with

increased accuracy by applying knowledge

learnt from 'Phonics Lessons 1 to 4'

including awareness of accents, silent

letters etc. Decode unknown language

using bilingual dictionaries

Write familiar words & short phrases using

a model or vocabulary list. EG: 'I play the

piano'. 'I like apples'.

Write some short phrases based on

familiar topics and begin to use

connectives/conjunctions and the negative

form where appropriate. EG: My name,

where I live and my age.

Write a paragraph using familiar language

incorporating connectives/conjunctions, a

negative response and adjectival

agreement where required. Learn to

manipulate the language and be able to

substitute words for suitable alternatives.

EG: My name, my age, where I live, a pet I

have, a pet I don't have and my pet's

name.

Write a piece of text using language from a

variety of units covered and learn to adapt

any models provided to show solid

understanding of any grammar covered.

Also start to incorporate conjugated verbs

and learn to be comfortable using

connectives/conjunctions, adjectives and

possessive adjectives. EG: A presentation

or description of a typical school day

including subjects, time and opinions.

Start to understand the concept of noun

gender and the use of articles. Use the first

person singular version of high frequency

verbs. EG: 'I like…' 'I play…' 'I am called…'

Better understand the concept of gender

and which articles to use for meaning (EG:

'the', 'a' or 'some'). Introduce simple

adjectival agreement (EG: adjectival

agreement when describing nationality),

the negative form and possessive

adjectives. EG: 'In my pencil case I have…'

or 'In my pencil case I do not have...'

Revision of gender and nouns and learn to

use and recognise the terminology of

articles (EG: definite, indefinite and

partitive). Understand better the rules of

adjectival agreement and possessive

adjectives. Start to explore full verb

conjugation (EG: 'I wear...', 'he/she

wears...' and also be able to describe

clothes in terms of colour EG: 'My blue

coat'.

Consolidate our understanding of gender

and nouns, use of the negative, adjectival

agreement and possessive adjectives (EG:

which subjects I like at school and also

which subjects I do not like). Become

familiar with a wider range of

connectives/conjunctions and more

confident with full verb conjugation ‐ both

regular and irregular. EG: 'to go', 'to do',

'to have' and 'to be'.