Children at St. Christopher’s learn French in Years 3,4,5 and 6.

Children learn a conversational approach to French – through speaking and listening activities, vocabulary lessons and learning to write basic sentences in French.

Children learn new words, phrases and sentences, then revisit those as they get older to ensure they have remembered them.

St. Christopher’s has chosen to adopt the Twinkl scheme of learning for French. Details of what the children learn in each year are in the documents below.

INTENT

There are carefully planned sequences of lessons, ensuring progressive coverage of the skills required by the national curriculum. Our chosen themes – Time Travelling, Let’s Visit a French Town and This Is France – provide an introduction to the culture of French-speaking countries and communities. It aims to foster children’s curiosity and help deepen their understanding of the world. A linear curriculum has been chosen to allow opportunity for children to gradually build on their skills. The scheme enables children to express their ideas and thoughts in French and provides opportunities to interact and communicate with others both in speech and in writing. At the heart of the scheme is the desire to expose children to authentic French, so the scheme offers regular opportunities to listen to native speakers.

In Lower KS2, children acquire basic skills and understanding of French with a strong emphasis placed on developing their Speaking and Listening skills. These will be embedded and further developed in Upper KS2, alongside Reading and Writing, gradually progressing onto more complex language concepts and greater learner autonomy.

We intend to inspire pupils to develop a love of languages and to expand their horizons to other countries, cultures and people. We aim to help children grow into curious, confident and reflective language learners and to provide them with a foundation that will equip them for further language studies.

IMPLEMENTATION

Lessons are sequenced so that prior learning is considered and opportunities for revision of language and grammar are built in.

Our lessons and resources help children to build on prior knowledge alongside the introduction of new skills. A series of lessons provide structure and context as well as offering an insight into the culture of French-speaking countries and communities. The introduction and revision of key vocabulary and grammatical structures is built into each lesson. The course has been designed by a language specialist teaching team, including French native speakers, so that teachers and children feel confident and supported. Lessons contain adult guidance, accurate language subject knowledge and accompanying audio materials.

IMPACT

Using the full range of resources, including display materials, will increase the profile of languages across school. We want to ensure that French is loved by teachers and pupils across school, therefore encouraging them to embark on further language studies. Impact can also be measured through key questioning skills built into lessons, child-led assessment such as success criteria grids, jigsaw targets and KWL grids and summative assessments aimed at targeting next steps in learning.