Key Stage 2 Framework for languages

At the beginning of Year 3 the main emphasis is on familiarising children with the sounds and speech patterns of the new language. They enjoy listening to and joining in with a range of songs, poems and stories, and develop their confidence, imagination and self-expression.

They learn to differentiate unfamiliar sounds and words. They mimic and play with sounds. They understand simple words and phrases, and begin to repeat and to use some of them independently in simple communicative tasks and role-plays.

They listen to a variety of voices, which may include the class teacher, visiting native speakers, audio CDs, cassettes and use websites and CDROMs, DVDs or videos.

• Enjoy listening to and speaking in the language
• Listen and respond to familiar spoken words, phrases and sentences
• Communicate with others using simple words and phrases and short sentences
• Understand conventions such as taking turns to speak, valuing the contribution of others
• Use correct pronunciation in spoken work

As children listen to sounds, words and phrases, they repeat and chorus, learning accurate pronunciation. They then gradually learn to link simple phonemes and spellings. They enjoy reading a few familiar words and phrases aloud and begin to copy letters and familiar words. They also experiment with writing some familiar words from memory.

• Recognise and understand some familiar words and phrases in written form
• Read aloud in chorus, with confidence and enjoyment, from a known text
• Write some familiar simple words using a model
• Write some familiar words from memory

Learning a language arouses children's interest and curiosity in their own identities and helps them to see the relationships between their lives and those of others. During the year they think about the linguistic diversity of their own school and talk about the languages they would like to learn. They find out where the language they are learning is spoken.

They make contact either in person or through Internet or video with a partner school or native speaker, e.g. a parent, or a language assistant.

• Appreciate the diversity of languages spoken within their school
• Talk about the similarities and differences of social conventions between different cultures
• Identify the country or countries where the language is spoken
• Have some contact with the country/countries
• Recognise a children's song, rhyme or poem well known to native speakers

At this initial stage, children begin to foster their interest in the similarities and differences between languages and begin to think together about how they are learning the new language.