Why should specialist language teachers invest in a Scheme of Work?
Emilie Woodroffe is a Director at PLN, leading a team of specialist language teachers working across 40 primary schools in the North West. A native French speaker with 16 years of experience in primary MFL, she is also the voice and face of PLN’s in-class support programs, Video2Teach and Click2Teach. In this blog series, she shares insights, reflections, and ideas to inspire primary language teaching. Connect with Emilie on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.
What to look for in a good SOW?
When I talk about a Scheme of Work (SOW), I mean a published resource or online platform that schools can buy into. Many subjects rely on structured schemes because they are designed by teams of experts and practitioners, saving teachers hours of planning. Think of the popular maths scheme widely used in primary and secondary schools in the UK!
But if you're an MFL teacher—trained, experienced, and knowledgeable—why should you consider using a SOW? Here are seven key reasons:
1️. Reduce workload
Teachers should focus their time and energy on teaching rather than planning lessons and creating resources. A well-structured SOW allows for flexibility, enabling teachers to tweak and adapt lessons to fit their specific context while reducing planning time significantly.
2️. Designed by experts
A high-quality SOW is created by subject specialists and experienced teachers with up-to-date knowledge. So, consider your scheme, does it include essential documentation such as long-term and medium-term plans, lesson plans, knowledge organisers, phonics/grammar/vocabulary maps, and more? This ensures a clear and logical progression within the subject.
3️. Comprehensive and current curriculum coverage
A strong SOW guarantees that the Programme of Study (PoS) is fully covered, ensuring progression in all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Built-in progression across year groups provides continuity and structure. And…the work behind the teaching is done for you and may just require slight adjustments to suit your context.
4️. Native speaker audio recordings
One of the most valuable features of a good foreign language SOW is the inclusion of authentic native speaker audio recordings. Hearing a different voice—beyond the teacher’s—improves listening skills, pronunciation, and overall language comprehension. It makes it real!
5️. Exposure to different voices
Students benefit from hearing different accents and speech patterns. A good SOW includes a variety of audio and video content that exposes learners to the target language (TL) in diverse contexts.
6️. Engaging cultural lessons
Planning and resourcing cultural lessons can be incredibly time-consuming. A high-quality Scheme of Work (SOW) includes ready-made cultural resources, helping students build and develop their curiosity about different cultures. These are the memorable lessons that students will remember for years to come. One of my favourite cultural lessons to teach in French is about ‘La galette des rois’ in Year 4, and I’m frequently asked about it, even by Year 6 students.
7️. Built-in Assessment
A well-structured SOW integrates both formative and summative assessment, allowing teachers to monitor, track, and report progress throughout the year. Features like Assessment Clouds, Check for Learning, and Puzzle It Out (in our SOW) provide structured opportunities to assess understanding at key points. Less stress, reduced workload, and easy to gather evidence of progress. The assessment we follow is linked to the CEFR – box ticked!
And now for value added… I’ve got the time to add ‘sparkle’ and be creative! Watch out for my next blog all about adding sparkle to our “At the market” unit.
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