MFL (Modern Foreign Languages)
Year 6 MFL Holidays February 2024
This term Y6 have been describing their Dream Holiday. They have been able to reuse vocabulary from Y4 & Y5, which helps to consolidate their knowledge as well as learning countries and accommodation vocabulary. This topic is popular as pupils are given the complete freedom to choose and their French then becomes a means to communicate, with the discussion focusing predominately on the where, who and what?
The samples of work will give you an idea of both their aspirations and the wide variety of vocabulary covered.
Year 6 French Day 8th June 2023
Y6 celebrated 4 years of French learning with a French Day on Thursday 8th June. The highlight was undoubtedly the Café Velmead, where children could order pain au chocolat, croissant & chocolat chaud. The morning also featured a music quiz, treasure trail and puzzles, all of which were completed by Y6 with their usual enthusiasm and sense of fun.
Ratatouille was a welcome rest after lunch before heading outside once more for French cricket and an Ice Cream stall.
MFL Documents
Year 5 Using French Dictionaries for Word Puzzles February 2023
French is taught weekly to all classes at Velmead and the main aims are to enthuse children with a love of language learning and the confidence to have a go. As well as practising the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, pupils are also given an insight into another culture. Lessons are fun and lively and spoken communication is always at the core of every session.
Y3 pupils are encouraged to speak the language from the very start in a safe, secure environment, learning simple introductions and greetings as well as basic classroom language. During the course of Y3 children are regularly exposed to a variety of authentic French conversations and songs, and they begin to pick out some familiar words and phrases. Children also start to have an appreciation that phonetics and thus pronunciation and spellings are different from English, and by the end of Y3 most pupils know some basic rules.
In Y4, pupils are encouraged to be more independent and express more personal views and opinions. Y4 learn new topics and some simple grammatical concepts. Children continue to be exposed to a variety of authentic spoken and written French material and they can pick out key points in slightly longer passages. Y4 children begin to recognise French phonetics, and this helps them with both pronunciation and spelling. By the end of Y4, there is an expectation that most pupils can read unfamiliar words with a recognisable French accent.
During the course of Y5, pupils are encouraged to build upon their previous knowledge, as well as mastering new topics and grammatical concepts. Children are now used to reading and listening to authentic French and they can pick out key points with confidence. Pupils have a growing awareness of French culture and some history. Pronunciation and understanding of French phonetics continue to improve and children are increasingly aware of the need for written accuracy by paying close attention to spellings and accents. By the end of Y5, pupils know about noun gender and the most able understand that it can alter spellings and sentence structures.
By Y6 children become more independent learners by applying their previous learning and understanding of grammar to new topics and situations. Pupils continue to hear authentic spoken French as well as being required to read longer written French passages. They are confident with pronunciation and their understanding of French phonetics continues to develop. Y6 are also increasingly aware of the need to pay close attention to spellings and accents. In preparation for KS3, there is also an emphasis on comparing French grammatical concepts such as noun gender and adjectival agreement to other Modern Foreign Languages as it is likely that many children may learn these languages in Y7.
German Club
Velmead German Club takes place after school on Tuesday and is open to Years 5 & 6.
It is a club open to beginners as well as pupils who have learnt German previously. The aim of the club is to encourage a love of languages and each week we aim to learn something new as well as reinforcing basic vocabulary such as greetings, numbers, colours etc. Children also work hard on improving their German accents and dictionary skills by trying to pronounce, as well as understand, some of the longer words German has to offer.
We use a variety of materials and children are encouraged interact in various games with many different partners as the club also offers a great opportunity to make new friends.
All German club fees go towards MFL & Club resources.