Take a look at some of the exciting MFL enrichment activities we have been taking part in this year so far.
Year 6 Residential to France
We feel extremely proud and fortunate that for the last 10 years (excluding the COVID years) we have been able to offer our Year 6 pupils the opportunity to participate in our residential to France. Following two trips to Normandy, we have now settled on visiting the Calais region where the children enjoy a week of practising their French, enjoying the French culture and visiting the battlefields of the Somme to enhance their understanding of the history of World War 1. The trips have been a huge success and over the years we have visited: local boulangeries (bakeries) to try our skills at croissant making; a local sweet factory to listen to a French commentary on how sweets are made; a creperie to taste the French classic crepe; a chocolate factory to learn about the history of chocolate (in French!); the market at Le Touquet to practise our bargaining skills (in French!); the local Glacerie (ice cream shop) to practise asking for different flavours and visits to the local beach to relax and play games. We feel this is a great opportunity for the pupils to put to the test the language skills acquired over seven years, experience some French culture and helps them develop their independence and more importantly create some great memories before heading off to high school.
Cross-curricular links
Wherever possible the teaching of MFL is linked to other areas of the curriculum.
See below pictures of UKS2 using their musical skills to perform raps to help them remember the months of the year.
International Day of Languages
September 26th is an annual event which takes place across the whole of Europe to help promote and celebrate the value and importance of language learning. This year we celebrated here at Tranmere with a whole school assembly where the children practised and performed two tongue twisters in German and French – not an easy task but they did brilliantly: see the results below. They then spent the rest of the day undertaking different language challenges in their classes. The challenges included: learning to count to 10 and say “Hello” in different languages; learning some expressions in Bulgarian and Ukranian to be able to converse with our own native speakers of these languages and also learning some expressions in British Sign language. This last challenge was so popular that Doves class have challenged themselves to learn a new expression in BSL every week in the hope of being able to carry out a whole conversation by the end of the school year – watch this space.
The 4 language disciplines
Our French curriculum offers a balance of Speaking/Reading/Listening/Writing
Speaking French
Our KS2 children talking part in their own French Fashion show
Reading/Listening to French
Writing French
See below a selection of writing to show how we progress from writing words from memory in KS1 to full sentences by the end of KS2
Transition
In the summer term, we welcomed Mr Radcliffe (Languages teacher at Guiseley School) to Year 6 to teach two language lessons in German in preparation for many of our students learning another new language next year. The pupils were able to see how language skills, once learnt, can be easily transferred to the learning of a new one# and had great fun practising some German expressions.
MFL Challenge Day
Our Challenge Day this year focussed on learning about the history of Bastille Day and some drama activities (in French) to try and understand how the ruling classes and the revolutionists would have felt at the time. We then finished off with some traditional French food and a well fought challenge in the French traditional game of Boules.
