Going into next academic year, the challenges for MFL are three-fold in my opinion. Firstly, as in any new year, the aim is to ensure that languages are seen as an integral part of the primary curriculum, one which makes meaningful links with learning across other subjects such as English, grammar, geography and PSHE. Start as you mean to go on with your new class with a growth mindset to learning languages (which they will pick up on), ensuring that MFL sessions are delivered as consistently as possible. Remember, MFL lends itself really well to very short (five-minute) re-visits of language throughout the week to embed learning and once this becomes routine, you will reap the rewards in terms of retention.
Secondly, teachers new to the profession need to know where they can access quality support for language upskilling, lesson resources and subject knowledge CPD. For example, www.primarylanguages.network offers a CPD journey open to members and some to non-members which can be accessed remotely. Everyone’s needs are different and there is something for teachers at every stage of their career to benefit from.
Thirdly, transition between year groups and key stages is something which always seems to receive a negative press. It needn’t be something elaborate which takes copious planning but a simple conversation or transition document outlining attainment and confidence, for example, along with a bank of vocabulary, phrases and language learning skills which the children have both encountered and retained would be really useful information for their next teacher. In the same way, Y6 teachers can make contact with the head of languages at the feeder secondary schools to ask if they have a set format for how they would like to receive information, if they are part of the SixIntoSeven portal for transition or if there is any scope for a sample lesson or Q&A session with the high school to give pupils a flavour of what to expect at KS3. In short, when it comes to transition, anything is better than nothing and whatever you manage to do will benefit both their subsequent teachers in terms of planning and setting as well as the pupils’ motivation to continue learning languages which can only be a good thing!
