Modern Foreign Languages
At The Olive School, Birmingham, we have high expectations for all our children, so they become confident and ambitious, life-long language learners. We have designed our French and Arabic curriculum with the intent to give our children a well-rounded knowledge of listening to, speaking, reading and writing French/Arabic.
Through exciting, pupil-friendly and relevant topics such as ‘animals’, ‘the family’ and ‘my home’, our children will systematically develop these essential modalities, including a focus on basic grammar and core vocabulary. We will methodically introduce, frequently practice and continually revisit important vocabulary, spellings and pronunciation principles, so that our children will learn more and remember more. By the time our children leave us, our French/Arabic curriculum will have laid the foundations for further language learning in Key Stage 3 and beyond.
We will deliver a knowledge-rich French/Arabic curriculum that:
- Has speaking and listening at its heart, so that children can engage in and understand simple conversations, as well as present to an audience.
- Supports children to read with expression and understand relevant points in simple texts.
- Develops children’s abilities to write longer sentences and shorter paragraphs, using basic grammar correctly.
- Systematically builds a useful and practical French vocabulary.
- Adapts the Language Angels scheme of work and its vast bank of interactive resources to support teachers to provide high-quality weekly lessons in Key Stage 1 and 2.
Our French curriculum is taught according to the following whole school long term plan:
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
| Salutations and Numbers | Salutations and Numbers | Salutations, Colours and Numbers | Presenting Myself | Do You Have a Pet? | Healthy Lifestyles |
| Colours | Colours | In My Town | My Family | What is the Date? | At School |
| Days and Months | Days and Months | Minibeasts | My Home | The Weather | The Weekend |
| Animals | Animals | Seasons | At the Café | Habitats | Me in The World |
| Food | Food | Superheroes | The Classroom | Clothes | World War 2 |
| My Body | My Body | Fruits | Goldilocks | The Olympics | The Planets |
Our Arabic curriculum is taught according to the following whole school long term plan:
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
| Independent Letters | Independent Letters | I can say my name and age | School | Where I live | Myself and others |
| Joined letters | Joined letters | I can greet others and express how I am | Where I am from | My Family | What I look like |
| Vowels and nunation | Vowels and nunation | I can say when my birthday is | The weather | Jobs | Comparing people |
| Vowels and nunation | Vowels and nunation | I can say when my birthday is | The weather | Jobs | Comparing people |
| Leen, Saakin and Tashdeed | Leen, Saakin and Tashdeed | I can say what pets I have | My town | My home | Clothes |
| Review and revisit | Review and revisit | I can say what pets I have | My town | My home | Clothes |
The detailed, sequential development of French knowledge, skills and understanding is carefully mapped out in our curriculum plan, accessible below. This curriculum plan ensures that teachers are supported to plan lessons that include all learners, of all abilities, allowing skill progression within a particular strand of French/Arabic to be fully understood by teachers.
Related documentation: