MFL German
At Thurton CE Primary School, we aspire for children to have as many opportunities to learn about and connect with the wider world as possible. One of the ways we do this is through the teaching of languages in KS2, specifically German.
We aim for our children to leave KS2 with the ability to read, speak and write in German so that they can express their ideas and opinions in another language, as well as being exposed to familiar stories in the German language. This gives children a great opportunity to practise oracy and literacy more generally too.
As part of our teaching of German, children also learn about German traditions, what school life is like, about German towns and cities, about German currency and much more. We hope that children will leave Thurton not just with an ability to read, write and speak the German language, but also with a deeper understanding and respect of different countries and cultures, using their learning about Germany as a brilliant starting point.
Progression of Learning
MFL German Topics Rolling Programme
Learning of the German language is implemented in a variety of different ways at Thurton CE Primary School. Children in KS2 enjoy 45 minutes of learning German each week and the lessons are always structured to make time for revisiting prior learning at the start, followed by an introduction to new learning. Children have lots of opportunities to practise new learning within each lesson, both verbally and normally with a little activity. We use dual coding to help support children who are not yet secure with reading German writing.
We also teach German through song, starting every lesson with our ‘Hallo! Wie Geht’s?’ song and using other songs throughout our topics, such as ‘Körperteil Blues’ and ‘Die Jahresuhr’, which the children love and also helps to consolidate their learning.
We study an abridged version of a familiar story each year as part of our German learning (The Very Hungry Caterpiller, The Gruffalo, The Rainbow Fish and a range of traditional fairytales). Because these stories are familiar to the children, they are able to identify new vocabulary much more easily and have a chance to retell the stories in German too.
Children have special lessons around Christmas, Easter, St. Martin’s Day and starting school, where they learn about German traditions and often get to do a craft or try some German food that links to the celebration.
Each unit of learning is presented to the children as a learning journey with a clearly defined end point which will demonstrate their understanding. This allows the children to understand the small steps in learning that need to take place to achieve the larger goal at the end of the journey.
Example Year 3 and 4 MFL German Unit
Teaching Tube Map:
German is overseen by one member of staff which ensures that prior and future learning are known and understood and learning is progressive across the four years. Due to the fact that learning is constantly revisited, children become increasingly confident throughout KS2 and the learning becomes much more ambitious over the four years.
Children assess and correct their written learning throughout lessons and spoken German is peer assessed and may also be corrected by the teacher. In this way, children are aware of what they are doing well and how to improve.
Mini-assessments may be used throughout the year to get a further understanding of the children’s capability.
Children’s attainment is reported twice a year to parents in their school reports.
Children really enjoy their German lessons at Thurton CE Primary School. They will leave school being able to understand and use basic German confidently as well as having a good understanding of German culture and life. We hope that children will take the transferrable skills they have developed when going on to study any language in High School.
