ITALIAN INTENT, IMPLEMENTATION AND IMAPCT  

Schools are free to choose whether to teach an ancient or a modern language; it is much more about language learning skills than the particular language on offer. 

At John Burns we currently teach Italian in KS2. 

Curriculum Intent

At John Burns Primary School, our intent is to:

• Learn a foreign language to be a part of a multi-cultural society.
• Promote curiosity about other cultures and languages.
• Provide opportunities for children to communicate for practical purposes.
• Establish a foundation for learning further languages at primary age or later on.
• Understand and respond to spoken and written language.
• Speak with increasing confidence and fluency.
• Write at varying length for various audiences and discover a love of writing in Italian.

Curriculum Implementation

In line with the National Curriculum for MFL, pupils at John Burns Primary School are taught to:  

• Listen attentively to spoken Italian language and show understanding by joining in and responding.
• Explore the patterns and sounds of the Italian 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; seek clarification and help.
• Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures. Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases.
• Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences
• Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing.
• Appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language.
• Write phrases from memory and adapt these to create new sentences.
• Describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing.
• Understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.
• Develop confidence and autonomy to access new and unfamiliar language through the use of decoding skills brought about by the teaching of phonics and sound patterns. 

This is achieved through a weekly Italian lesson, taught by a native Italian teacher.

Curriculum Impact

At John Burns Primary School, our pupils will: 

• Become confident and fluent speakers of Italian.
• Enrich their language learning by developing an understanding of Italian culture.
• Be aware that a language has a structure, and that the structure differs from one language to another.
• Develop their language through development of the four key skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing. 
• Transfer to KS3 effectively and successfully and will be well prepared to continue and develop their language skills.
• Become aware that the world is a small place and that language skills can be very useful for travelling and conducting business across a global market.