Modern Foreign Languages at St. Luke's
“A different language is a different vision of life.” Federico Fellini
At St. Luke’s, we speak over 30 languages and our community come from a range of countries and cultures. This is celebrated, not only in our curriculum but fully embedded within the culture of our school.
Our Modern Foreign Language curriculum is planned in order to cover the National Curriculum and allow the children to progress and explore the learning of languages throughout their time with us. The lessons take place once a week but language is rooted in the learning that happens daily within the classroom. Our primary language is French but children have the opportunity to explore additional languages throughout their time here; from Nursery to year 6.
Using the language as a springboard, we cover topics such as number, colour, greetings and weather, with Upper Key Stage 2 developing their knowledge and beginning to build sentences and explore grammar. The lessons are designed to cover the four specific skills required: speaking, listening, reading and writing; we are also working alongside Secondary schools in the area to ensure that the children are ready for the transition with regards to their language knowledge.
As well as our set language sessions once a week, we have creative days where each class and year group have an immersive experience centred around a language and country that they have yet to explore. In previous terms, they have learnt all about Japan and the Japanese culture, the children have even tried the ancient art of calligraphy!
These days are creative both in name and nature, the children really enjoy finding out about countries from around the world and are extremely curious about the lives led by the people who live there. This has developed the children’s language knowledge and also supports their geographical understanding; cross-curricular links are integral to long term learning.
Our curriculum links to National Curriculum expectations and is further supported by the LanguageNut Scheme.