MfL - Modern Foreign Language - FRENCH

French at Jesse Gray is taught weekly from years 3 – 6.  Modern Foreign Language lessons are compulsory at KS2,  and from September 2019 we have been introducing French to KS1 pupils, so it is a whole school experience.   

We will introduce French by way of songs, rhymes, games and simple stories to encourage enthusiasm for, engagement with and enjoyment of language learning.

In KS2 each lesson is planned to incorporate oral and aural activities such as songs and rhymes in order to improve the children’s confidence in exploring the patterns and sounds of their new language.  We focus on a particular song, rhyme or French playground game for half a term so that they become very familiar with the vocabulary.  By the end of a half term the children can sing a song and recite a rhyme or play a French playground game with confidence!  In Y5/6 we also work on simple mini ‘plays’ where small groups work together to perform simple scripts.

Use of video clips and sound clips, ensures the children regularly listen to native speakers in order to improve their intonation and pronunciation. 

The children are introduced to a new text each half term which broadens their vocabulary and allows them to develop their reading of words, phrases and simple sentences.  The children are introduced to a bilingual dictionary in Year 3 and continue to use it regularly throughout KS2.

Each termly unit of work is presented under theme e.g. food and drink and all new vocabulary, sentence and grammatical work links to the theme.

In addition to each unit of work, we ensure there is an aspect of intercultural understanding to their language studies by dedicating one session each half term to learning about an aspect of French culture.  This may be finding out about particular events e.g. ‘Le Tour de France’, national holidays e.g. ‘La Fête Nationale’, regions of France e.g. ‘L’Alsace’ or even creating a little French cuisine and following a simple recipe!

At Jesse Gray we aim to encourage a love of language learning and equip the pupils with language learning strategies that may be applied to any language they choose to study as they move through to KS3.

Estelle Barnes