French

 

Our Intent

At St Luke’s, every child in Key Stage 2 has with the opportunity to learn a foreign language once a week.

We have chosen to teach French as it is an official language in 29 countries and it is spoken in many more. It is also one of the most popular languages taught in Secondary schools.

​

Our mission is:

• To inspire children to celebrate and welcome diversity in their school, immediate community as well as the country, continent and world that they live in.

• Thereby, prepare children to be global citizens of the 21st century.

• To cultivate high aspirations that will continue to inspire them long after they move on from primary school.

• To foster a lifelong love of language learning enabling children to keep or further develop their awe and curiosity about other countries, cultures and languages.

• To challenge and transcend our insularity; learning a language acts like a bridge connecting nations, promoting co-operation and developing a mutual understanding and appreciation.

• To nurture children’s thought systems and broaden their minds as they discover the world around them from a new perspective.

• To develop their self-confidence by teaching them additional social skills.

• To develop children’s resilience when facing unexpected, challenging situations, by helping them to develop strategies to overcome their fear or barriers, and have a go.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Planning and Delivery

A native speaker teaches French.

 

Children have a 55-minute-lesson every week in Years 3 and 4; In Years 5 and 6 they have a 45-minute-lesson every week.

During the lessons, we use pictures, games, songs, videos, movement breaks and ICT to support the teaching and learning of French. As often as possible, we work with authentic resources to create immersive learning environments. We also work with resources from the software Rigolo and the websites Lightbulb Languages and Twinkl.

​

We encourage children to use and develop their creativity in French. They can design posters, write songs, poems and create role-plays and anything that will enliven the practice of French. In addition, we use class work, group work and pair work to cultivate communication skills. Whenever possible, instructions and day-to-day classroom communication are in French to expose the children to the language.

​

We display material related to the lessons in the children’s classroom so teachers or children can refer to it if they wish.

Assessment is based on class observations of listening and speaking activities as well as written evidence in the children’s French book. These regular informal assessments ensure that planning takes account of the children’s understanding, their way of thinking and their language skills development.

​

For every pupil in Key Stage 2, learning a language is a statutory foundation subject. The new programme of study for KS2  set outs the new national requirements for the curriculum in languages which, amongst other things, requires substantial progress to be made in one language across the key stage.

​

At St Luke's, we teach French in Years 3 to 6 as part of the national entitlement to the study of a second language.

By the end of Key Stage 2, pupils should be able to:

 

• Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding.

 

• Explore the patterns and sounds of 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.

 

• Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary.

 

• Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly.

 

•  Describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing.

 

•  Understand basic grammar: feminine and masculine forms 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.

​

​

​

Phrase of the week: 10

​

Je suis un ami génial!     Je suis une amie géniale! 

(shjuh swee un ah-mee shjeh-neeyal)     (shjuh swee Un ah-mee shjeh-neeyal) 

= I am great friend !