French

At St Johns, we realise that our children will be growing up in a diverse, multi-cultural society, and in order to help them fit in and function in such a world, it is essential that they have language skills beyond that of their main spoken tongue. We begin to teach French in Foundation and Key Stage One, using songs and informal teaching to teach children the basics. In Key Stage 2, children take part in weekly French lessons to form a basis for Modern Foreign Language lessons at our main feeder schools.

Children will learn the following:

Listening          

• to listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding

• to explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words

Speaking

• to engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help

• to speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures

• to develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases

• to present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences

Reading

•  to carefully decode and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing

  appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language

• to broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary

Writing

• to be able to write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly

• to describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing

Grammar

• to understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, such as (where relevant) feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.