Modern Foreign Languages

We believe that a high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. Our teaching will enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and will help them to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. We will provide opportunities for our pupils to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching at St Johns' will provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.

AIMS
Languages should:

1. Ensure that all pupils understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources.
2. Enable pupils to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation.
3. Teach pupils to write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures they have learnt.
4. Help pupils discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

We endeavour to use exciting and effective teaching methods and materials to build enthusiasm and motivation in our young learners. A great deal of emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills and pupils are given the opportunity to learn vocabulary and structures through games, rhymes, chant and song.