French
You can see details of the national curriculum for Languages here.
As the national curriculum says, “Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures.”
Learning a language unlocks so much opportunity in the world and within a person. It offers a new way of thinking and the opportunity to experience other cultures.
At St Anne’s, we learn French in Key Stage 2 (Years 3 - 6). Our vision is that children are taught to develop a passion for learning other languages in a way that is enjoyable and stimulating. It is our intention to ensure that by the end of our children’s primary education, they will have a natural curiosity and confidence to explore other countries, cultures and languages, accepting that, in a multi-lingual society, it is a valuable skill to be able to communicate effectively with others in another language. They will be engaged and prepared to continue language learning at secondary school.
In line with the National Curriculum for languages, children at St Anne’s school are taught 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 clear
- describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing
- understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter 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.
Our language curriculum is designed to develop children skills in French, through regularly taught lessons. We use the Kapow Scheme of Work for French.
The Kapow scheme of work is designed with six strands that run throughout.
These are:
1. Speaking and pronunciation
2. Listening
3. Reading and writing
4. Grammar
5. Intercultural understanding
6. Language detective skills
The scheme of work is fun and creative and engages children with themes such as Food, Weather, Animals, Festivals, Me and My Family, Free Time and Holidays. Children are given experiences of listening, speaking, reading and writing in French from the very beginning of their language journey. As they progress through the school, they will get experience of listening to more complex dialogues; reading and writing more complex texts and creating their own dialogues as they become more advanced. Children are also taught some geography of France, as well some of the cultural similarities and differences (school, Easter and Christmas) between our two countries. They learn that French is not just spoken in France so we explore some of the cultural differences between other French speaking territories/countries.
Children progressively acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary organised around topics. We like to teach vocabulary through a variety of exciting and engaging ways for example:
Phonics: The children are regularly given phonics inputs to help them read and write like a French speaker. This allows them to decode text with more confidence and have a try at new unfamiliar vocabulary.
Dictionaries: We sometimes use dictionaries to help us learn new vocabulary that we would like to find out for ourselves. We are taught how to use a bi-lingual dictionary and are encouraged to use digital technology as well to improve our knowledge.
Stories: In Year 4, for example, we learn about food and how to say what foods we like and dislike. We use the story ‘Le chien très gourmand’ (based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar) to introduce us to key vocabulary and phrases.
Songs: learning a new language through songs is a great way to encourage listening skills and retain vocabulary. We use a variety of resources to help us with this including ‘Français, Français’ which is a bank of conversations, songs and raps created by French speaking children. The children love these audio aides and it really supports retention of learning.
