KS1/2 MFL - Teaching

As English primary schools gear up to teach modern foreign languages, we look north of the border - where schools have 10 years experience of MFL - for some top tips and advice.

Deep in rural Aberdeenshire, Easterfield has only 23 pupils, while inner-Edinburgh Bruntsfield Primary has 460, with a fair share of EAL. Local advisors Anne Moncur and Bethan Owen agree there's no perfect model for all contexts.

In rural, "composite" Easterfield, Kate Miller is class teacher for children from seven to 12. Gentle immersion in French games and songs is fun but carefully planned to include the youngest and oldest at different levels and over successive years.

In contrast, language teacher Jim Wilson is a specialist at Bruntsfield. As deputy headteacher, he explains some of the management issues involved in MFL provision, and we see him teach a more traditionally structured German lesson complete with lesson objectives, success criteria and "Knowledge about Language" input to a P7 class (the equivalent of the English Year 7).