Foreign languages

The aims of the Languages Curriculum at Rednal Hill Junior School are:

• To provide an opening into other cultures and develop an awareness, and deepen understanding, of the world around us
• To inspire a love of languages and a curiosity in another language/place
• To build spoken language skills and develop confidence in using accurate pronunciation and intonation
• To develop speakers who can express their ideas and thoughts in another language and understand and respond to foreign speakers across a range of meaningful contexts
• To further develop an understanding of their own language and to make comparisons with a foreign language, enriching their understanding of both
• To further develop an understanding of their own language and to make comparisons with a modern foreign language, enriching their understanding of both.

Delivery of Language Lessons at Rednal Hill Junior School

From Year 3 to Year 6, all pupils engage in a weekly language lesson which is delivered during teachers’ PPA (planning, preparation and assessment) sessions by an external specialist linguistic teacher. Here at Rednal Hill Junior School, we teach the children the language of French as we believe it is one widely learned and spoken – particularly In our local feeder secondary schools.

Children are taught 6 topics each year and the content of these topics have been carefully selected in order to ensure that pupils are exposed to meaningful and purposeful contexts in which to learn a foreign language.  Many topics are linked to allow pupils to revisit previous learning and to allow them to build a repertoire of words/phrases/sentences linked to a particular topic. This approach encourages depth of learning and pupils are more likely to retain the language being learned. Here is our coverage document and colours indicate where topics are linked:

Language lessons are delivered 1 x per week in a 45 minute session. There is a strong emphasis on lessons that encourage pupils to be actively vocal to allow them the opportunity to practice their articulation and fluency when speaking a different language.

Lessons are structured as follows:

During the ‘Main Content’ section, there are a series of teacher led activities followed by whole class activity to ensure that pupils are engaged and actively involved in the learning. The main content part of the lesson will involve pupils:

• listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding
• explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words
• engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others
• speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
• read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
• describe people, places, things and actions orally

Mr. C. Flanagan

If you'd like to find out more please contact me via the school office using:

Tel: 0121 453 2520 or

e-mail: enquiry@rednalhilljuniors.com