MFL at GJS
At Greasby Junior School, we believe that learning a modern foreign language enriches children’s education and helps them to understand the world beyond their immediate experience. Our MFL curriculum, taught through French, provides pupils with the opportunity to develop curiosity, confidence and enjoyment in learning another language while broadening their understanding of other cultures and communities.
Our curriculum is designed to develop children’s understanding of language structure, communication, and culture through a sequence of meaningful, enquiry-led units that build substantive knowledge (phonics, vocabulary, and grammar) and disciplinary skills (comprehension and production) over time. Each year group studies a balance of foundational language skills and practical communicative themes. Children move from simple greetings, counting, and describing shapes in Year 3 to expressing opinions, using complex verb structures, and planning a holiday to France in Year 6. This progression ensures pupils know more, remember more, and can make informed connections between different linguistic concepts.
Our curriculum combines real-world relevance with academic rigour. Language comprehension (listening and reading) and language production (speaking and writing) are the key disciplinary concepts woven throughout every unit. Children are encouraged to practise speaking and listening regularly through songs, games, role play and conversation activities that make learning fun and meaningful. As pupils move through Key Stage 2, they build proficiency in skills such as ordering food in a restaurant, understanding a shopkeeper’s conversation, and building sentences using correct grammatical structures.
Substantive knowledge is carefully sequenced so that key ideas such as greetings, descriptions, numbers, verbs, and expressions of opinion are revisited and deepened over time. Alongside this, cultural awareness is integrated into units like describing clothing, saying the date, and planning a French holiday, fostering respect and understanding of diversity. These elements work together to help pupils understand not only what is being said, but also how language and culture intersect.
Through this approach, MFL at Greasby Junior School inspires children to appreciate the diversity of our planet, develop critical thinking, and recognise the value of global communication. By the time children leave, they are well-prepared for the continued study of languages at secondary school, with a strong foundation in pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and communication.