Curriculum

In Key Stage Two, St Michael’s pupils are 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

• understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (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

To do this we use the Salut! interactive teaching programme.

Aims

The national curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all St Michael’s pupils:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources

• speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation

• can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt

• discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied

Vision

At St Michael’s, we aim not just to give our children a good grounding in how to communicate using a foreign language; we also set out to inspire them to have a real curiosity for other cultures in the world around us.

We do this through providing French lessons that spark enthusiasm for France, French culture and language learning in general. We learn through a combination of conversation and singing to help embed new vocabulary.

Wherever possible, we also link our language learning to other curriculum areas, helping to provide a geographical and cultural context to what is being taught.

For learning to be most effective, it is important to back it up with the provision of real-life experiences for the children. Giving children the opportunity to apply their learning through interacting with native French speakers- either in the form of visitors to the school or by writing to children in a francophone country- is an important way of building confidence and sparking a passion for learning French.

Languages Club

At our Friday lunchtime languages club we love to explore different languages and cultures. So far we have held conversations in French, listened to music in foreign languages, watched foreign films, studied and imitated French art, sang French songs and even followed recipes in French to bake meringues and croissants! Here are some examples of what we have been up to