Primary Languages
CO-ORDINATOR: MRS J PASCUAL
OUR INTENT of French at St Joseph's is that:
every child has an understanding of the French language and French culture.
Children learn French at St Joseph’s in order to be liberated from insularity and to be given an insight into another culture. Teaching French fosters pupils’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world. It also enables pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and writing.
At St Joseph’s, we have created our own Scheme of Work which provides all pupils with a progressive and sequential French Scheme of work to ensure that everyone achieves their best. The French Scheme of Work has clearly defined pre-knowledge and end points, making sure that knowledge and skills embed in children’s long-term memory. Repetition and modelling are key elements to lessons.
See HERE for the Curriculum Overview.
We have a French lunchtime prayer to use with the children. We also celebrate that lots of our children also speak or hear another language at home – 42 different languages.
In Year 6, pupils are given the opportunity to visit Paris on our annual trip to the Chateau de Grande Romaine. The day they visit the market to buy their own lunch gives them a good opportunity to use their French. The highlight of this very popular event is an action-packed day in the centre of Paris where we visit the Tour Montparnasse and see many other famous sights.
An after school Spanish club is offered to Year 6 pupils. The children build up some basic Spanish language and enjoy learning about many cultural aspects of Spain. They explore a variety of materials and over the year will have the opportunity to present and perform their own work, along with ending the year with a tapas event!
The school year is rounded off with a whole school French Day – a mixture of physical activities ( Boules, Tour de France and Dance), Art work – Monet, Matisse, Rousseau and Seurat, tasting croissants, cooking crêpes, watching a French film, singing French songs and playing French games. All staff and children are fully involved and have a hugely enjoyable and educational day.
We offer French from Early Years through to Year 6 with children being taught in small groups with access to computers and French educational software. Modern Foreign Languages are not a requirement of the EYFS. At St Joseph’s, however, all children take part in French lessons from the beginning of their Reception year. This supports many aspects of the EYFS, including: Listening and Attention, People, Culture and Communities and Managing Self
In Early Years and Key Stage 1 teaching is very informal and structured around the use of drama, rhymes, songs and games. Learning a foreign language requires plenty of revision and repetition so we build up a repertoire of simple action songs and games to ensure lessons are kept lively, interactive and fun.
The same interactive approach is maintained in Key Stage 2 with the constant recycling of the language that has been taught through memory games and activities. French books are also introduced in Year 3 so that the skills of reading and writing are taught alongside listening and speaking. Learning is also supported through use of the internet and software such as “Rigolo” and ‘Babelzone’ which pupils use as a whole class with the teacher and individually using the computers in the language laboratory. In this way pupils can make progress at their own pace.
Updated July 2023