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Modern Languages
BackWe aim to inspire a love of learning languages from an early age, giving every child the opportunity to build confidence in communicating in French and learning about French culture.
As pupils progress through the School, they develop the skills required to express opinions, talk about themselves, their family, their interests and life at school, as well as practical language for travelling to French-speaking countries. Upon leaving Micklefield, pupils have a solid foundation in French to be able to confidently move on to their senior school language studies.
"The youngest pupils demonstrated an excellent appreciation of the way in which words stemming from one language inform words used in another." ISI March 2023
Nursery
French learning at Micklefield starts as early as Nursery, where the children are introduced to the concept of learning another language. The focus is entirely on speaking and listening, using songs, games and stories with our lovable character ‘Camembear’, building confidence in participating and communicating in French.
The focus of learning a foreign language through fun and interactive activities continues throughout the school, with a variety of games, role plays and tasks to introduce basic reading, listening, writing and speaking skills.
Lower School
In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, we use Language Angels with its variety of stimulating songs and visuals to inspire and engage our pupils.
As the children continue through the school, they explore a variety of topics to build vocabulary, which, in time, allows them to communicate more creatively, confidently and independently in French.
Upper School
The curriculum is based on the National Curriculum in England and offer a broad-based, stimulating and enjoyable curriculum which is accessible to all children.
In Years 3 and 4 we follow the Rigolo 1 interactive course. Speaking and listening activities are supplemented by reading and writing activities, which reinforce, extend and assess learning.
In Year 5, we follow the Rigolo 2 interactive course which builds on the language learned in Rigolo 1. The teaching of grammar becomes progressively more explicit and is always linked to the topic.
In Year 6, we prepare ourselves for our visit to France in June, learning activity-based vocabulary and practising role plays for the various situations ahead.
Learning in the Upper School is also supplemented with relevant material from Language Angels and pupils have access to their interactive language games on their iPads.
Other languages and clubs
In Year 6, children study a term of Spanish, giving them a sound foundation of the basics to be able to talk about themselves, their family and their interests. This gives them the opportunity to explore a fresh, new language and prepare them for the language choices at senior school level.
External Spanish Clubs start in Nursery and continue in Reception and Years 1 & 2.
We also run very popular Spanish and Italian clubs in the Upper School.
