Implementation
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in French, our curriculum is progressive throughout the whole school.
Key Concepts: Speaking and Pronunciation, Listening, Reading, Grammar, Writing, Intercultural Understanding.
Domains of Knowledge: Greetings, Classroom instructions, Numbers and time, Days and months of the year, My family, Weather, Colours, Animals, Food, Songs and stories in French, The French speaking world.
In KS2, pupils are introduced to French from Year 3 and receive a weekly 30-minute lesson. This enables the children to develop early language acquisition skills that facilitate their understanding of the patterns of language and how these differ from, or are similar to, English. Our school has implemented the Kapow French scheme of work, to provide our teachers, with varying levels of French, with a weekly plan to ensure that French is taught with accuracy and confidence.
The resources include:
- Access to sound files to help with pronunciation
- Detailed lesson plans to ensure progression
- Poems, rhymes and songs to enable repetition of skills
- PowerPoint presentations to enable effective teaching
- Access to writing opportunities
During the lesson, pupils are given opportunities to communicate for practical purposes, using familiar subjects and routines. They are provided with opportunities for communication in both spoken and written French, developing oral skills first, before incorporating written French later on. The spiral curriculum revisits key skills and vocabulary, allowing the pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work, including role-play, language games and language detective work. Every lesson is appropriately differentiated to ensure that the lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all.
It covers the aims of the Languages programme of study as stated in the National Curriculum 2014. The scheme has an equal balance of spoken and written French and the resources provided model good pronunciation, which supports all staff.
Enrichment:
The school’s French curriculum is enriched through our themed French Days. These days enhance the children’s understanding of language and provides them with opportunities to apply previously learned language in real life scenarios.