French

‘To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world.’

Chinese Proverb

At St Nicolas School, we celebrate the different languages spoken in our school community, and enjoy learning greetings and other words from those of us who come from all around the world.

In Key Stage 2, children learn French, following the online schemes of work developed by Rachel Hawkes. Pupils are taught to listen, speak, read and write in French. French is taught by class teachers, using interactive resources including pre-recorded native spoken audio, video and a range of fun games, songs and activities.

They explore the French language through a wide variety of everyday topics, such as Animals, Colours, Celebrations, Artists, Food and Drink, Sports and Opinions and Where I live.

Pupils respond with actions and words and as their understanding develops, they begin to hold short conversations, improvising responses using the vocabulary that they have learnt. They learn to follow longer texts and record their ideas using and adapting modelled phrases and sentences.

What you will see:

• Children learning French through engaging, visual resources.
• Paired and group work with children learning new vocabulary and trying new language structures with each other. 
• Children reading French, beginning with identifying written words and moving on to understanding longer passages by decoding known sounds and using their wider understanding with unfamiliar words.
• Opportunities for children to write in each unit, beginning with individual words and building up to simple paragraphs.
• Children excited by and celebrating their enjoyment of foreign languages, and understanding how important this is for our global world.

What you will hear:

• Children listening to, repeating and responding to French words, modelled by their teacher and by native speakers on a recording. 
• Children singing songs to learn and rehearse new vocabulary.
• French conversations between children and with staff.