French at St Mark's...

At St Mark's we focus on French throughout Key Stage 2 as this is one of the main languages taught by our feeder secondary schools. We believe that it is important that the children gain experiences of other languages. We aim to heighten their awareness of these through the teaching of various topics throughout the school year. We often hold French themed days as well as the Year 6 children visiting Boulougne so a great deal of their curriculum is focused on speaking in the market!

Key Stage 2 Objectives

Pupils should be 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 clearly
• describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing

Please see below for the French Curriculum Plan, created by Subject Lead Mrs Jo Hunt

What does "Mastery" in French actually look like?

Children working at greater depth in French should show flair and curiosity for language and its culture. They eagerly engage in learning new vocabulary, building on their current knowledge and seek to learn new phrases which they can apply within their spoken and written work. They will play with language and develop a greater understanding of grammatical rules and the start to link matching sound words from previous topics.

Top Tips for Parents...

• Practice little but often! The more the children use the vocabulary and key phrases the more it will be remembered.
• Listen to French and have a go at copying saying it – why not try the some of the French activities below? (the BBC games, videos and songs)
• Why not try using some of the key phrases linked to your children’s topic? (Please see the overview for the different years and also the progression in phrases.)

Wibbly Wobbly Web Links..

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2french.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/french/

(for food and drink) http://primarygamesarena.com/Play/Food-and-drink-in-the-French-l-2127

(for fruit and vegetables) http://primarygamesarena.com/Play/Fruit-and-vegetables-in-French-2111

http://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/pl/ (just make sure you take the mute off particularly in stories/rhymes)

http://www.french-games.net/ There are little ‘lessons’ to learn new vocabulary and then games linked to this.