Impact
At St. Augustine’s, we believe that languages are important to children’s learning and enhances their understanding of the world around them. Our aim is to foster a love and a curiosity of different languages, as well as broadening children’s awareness of different cultures around the world. At our school, French is taught from Year 3 up to Year 6 on a fortnightly basis. We also have a yearly languages afternoon, where children from EYFS through to Year 6 learn about a different language, such as Mandarin or Spanish, which is a fun and exciting way for children to discover a new culture.
Our pupils learn French beginning in Year 3 and continuing through until Year 6. French is an opportunity for children to discover a new language. Our school follows the Mr. French scheme of work, where children learn French in a fun and engaging way. Children learn a range of topics, from hobbies to families to describing the weather. They are taught through a range of written, listening and oral activities, which aim to engage and inspire children. Children also learn to express themselves and how to communicate in a different language.
Implementation
Year 3
Children start to learn French in Year 3. The topics covered in Year 3 are:
- France and its culture
- Greetings and introducing your name
- Number 0-20
- Saying your age
- The French alphabet
- Colours
- Numbers 20-50
- Saying the date and learning how to say birthdays
- Family
- At the farm
Through these topics, children begin to build a basic knowledge of vocabulary. Children learn how to pronounce sounds and words, as well as recognising words in reading and spelling vocabulary. Children therefore start to develop their French speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Additionally, children begin to learn basic French grammar, which will enable them to start to write simple sentences independently.
Year 4
In Year 4, children will cover the topics of:
- Pets
- At home: describing where you live
- Going to school and school subjects
- Sports and hobbies
- Playing an instrument
- The weather and seasons
- Names of fruit
- At the market
During lessons, children develop their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills, as well as their knowledge of basic French grammar. They also learn the pronunciation of different sounds and words.
Year 5
Children in Year 5 build on their learning from Years 3 and 4 and continue to develop their understanding of the French language. The topics that are covered are
- Describing feelings and emotions
- Naming body parts
- Countries and cities around the world
- Travel around the world
- Names of French-speaking countries and regions around the world
- Nationalities around the world
- Numbers 50-100
- Using Euros
Through these topics, children continue to develop key skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. They also learn more complex grammar, including the simple future tense and an increasing range of conjunctions and prepositions.
Year 6
In Year 6, children learn:
- Telling the time
- Describing daily routines
- Physical descriptions
- Describing personality
- Names of clothes and of colours
- In the city and giving directions
- Jobs
Many topics covered in the previous years are also touched again to ensure that they have a good understanding as possible and that children are able to transfer skills across the different topics. They also continue to develop their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills, with their ability to communicate becoming more complex.
Impact
French is assessed through lessons using assessment for learning, this enables teachers to identify any gaps in learning that may need to be revisited at the start of the following lesson. All pupils record key vocabulary in their vocabulary books and this stays within them throughout their KS2 journey. Teachers use the worksheets provided to assess children, which is kept in children's individual porfolios.