French Curriculum

At St Patrick’s, we believe that primary school is about providing the best possible start in life for children. Language skills and an awareness and understanding of other cultures broaden a person’s outlook and increase the opportunities available to them in adult life. Language is the vehicle that brings emotional content to our lives, it defines who we are. An awareness of other cultures gives us an appreciation of the similarities and differences between people and therefore a deeper appreciation of our communities.

Introducing children to foreign languages at primary school, encourages an interest and helps to develop a strong foundation in learning language, which they take with them to secondary school. Children are more likely to study foreign languages later in life if they have been introduced to them at primary school. Young children are well adapted to learning languages whereas this often becomes more difficult in later life. The modern foreign language taught in the school from Year 3 to Year 6 is French. France is our nearest neighbour and French is spoken in many countries around the world .Whether in the course of work or on holiday, adults are likely to be confronted with occasions when the ability to understand and speak French will be of advantage to them.

 

Please click here for an overview of the units.

French Year Overview

St Patrick’s French Progression

 

Please click the link below to see the National Curriculum for French.

Primary- French- National Curriculum

 

French- Curriculum Statement

Intent


The 2013 National Curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages aims to ensure that all children:

  • Understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources.
  • Are able to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and that they are continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation.
  • Can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt.
  • Discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

A high quality languages education should foster children’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. We aim to develop the importance of values, whilst respecting the differences of others. At St Patrick’s we are committed to ensuring that competence in another language enables children to interpret, create and exchange meaning within and across cultures. It also helps children develop skills that will open further opportunities later in life. We want pupils to be independent and self-motivated. The teaching of French in EYFS, KS1 and KS2 provides an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and lays the foundations for further foreign language teaching at KS3.

 

Implementation


Children are introduced to French from the EYFS and receive a weekly lesson using ‘Petites Etoiles’, throughout their time in Year 1 and Year 2. 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. In KS2, each class has a timetabled French lesson of 45 minutes. Lessons across the Key Stages support the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing:

  • Children are taught to listen attentively to spoken language and respond, joining in with songs, rhymes and games.
  • Links have been developed with another primary school in Aldershot (St Joseph’s Primary School – Y4/5) with regular correspondence taking place through the means of writing letters, as a way to ‘publish’ target language knowledge.
  • French Day enables the whole school to be immersed in the inclusion of the culture and use the language meaningfully in context.
  • Children develop an appreciation of a variety of stories, songs, poems and rhymes in French that are delivered through the curriculum content as well as by native French speakers within the Language Angels lessons.
  • Cross curricular links with computing are provided using the French Language website – children have access to online games that facilitate current learning.
  • We follow the primary MFL scheme of work produced by Language Angels.

 

Impact


Our MFL curriculum ensures that children develop their knowledge of where different languages, in particular French, are spoken in the world. Varied learning experiences, including ‘French Day’ also ensure that languages are celebrated throughout the school community whilst providing a context for language learning and develop the children’s understanding of different cultures.

Enjoyment of the curriculum promotes achievement, confidence and good behaviour. Children feel safe to try new things. High quality teaching through Language Angels, enhances the curriculum and provides opportunities for writing for a purpose.

Developing their independence and motivation as learners and their sense of responsibility as future citizens is at the heart of all our teaching and learning.