The Modern Foreign Languages (French) Curriculum at St Thomas'

Excellence

At St Thomas’, we deliver an ambitious, and enriching foreign language curriculum which enables our pupils to become confident French linguists.  Pupils’ French pronunciation is at the heart of our studies; we prioritise oral rehearsal and recall before applying this knowledge in our reading and writing. Through the use of Language Angels’ audio clips, all pupils are exposed to excellent authentic pronunciation during lessons, which also provides staff the confidence and skills to deliver excellent teaching of this language. These audio clips are referred to throughout lessons to improve upon and in some cases correct pronunciation. QR codes directly connects pupils with the audio clips on the school website which can be accessed at home and in school. As a result, we have high aspirations of pupils’ pronunciation of French at St Thomas’.

Experiences and Life skills

Our Foreign Languages curriculum enables our pupils to develop practical communication skills which can broaden horizons and open doors to all that life has to offer. Through the rigorous and progressive teaching of French, pupils are prepared for further study of languages in Key Stage 3. Children apply their growing French vocabulary during French Fridays. This provides our pupils the opportunity to use French in their daily routines such as classroom instructions, ‘1-2-3’ in French.

Celebrate Diversity

Through the exploration of a range of languages, and our focus language of French, pupils are exposed to wider cultures, helping them to understand the diversity of the world in which we live. Our curriculum is designed to enable pupils to develop their cultural understanding in addition to language knowledge, particularly within a unit in Year 2 entitled, ‘I’m Learning French’. We learn basic greetings in multiple languages in addition to building more in-depth skills in French, allowing our pupils to develop a love for the diversity of language across the world.    

Christian Values

The Bible teaches us ‘to love thy neighbour as thyself’ (Matthew 22:39). By learning an additional language, we are the developing respect for the diversity of the people God created. Being able to communicate effectively with others in other languages gives us the tools to develop friendships and learn to respect other people.

Reading and Vocabulary

Linked to our whole school Intent Statement, we place a strong focus on reading across the French curriculum, with opportunities for children to explore a range of authentic texts from traditional tales to non-fiction texts about the Romans. Children learn to use cognates (words in French which are similar to the English translation) to help them to decode increasingly challenging French texts. This enables our pupils to see reading in French as a puzzle for which they have the tools to solve. Reading French vocabulary within sentences allows our pupils to not only apply their knowledge of taught vocabulary, but also build upon this simultaneously. Furthermore, planned links between subjects such as ‘Planets’ in Year 5 allow children to reinforce and consolidate the vocabulary across both science and French lessons, strengthening the retrieval process and improving retention.

Knowledge Rich and Academic

Our curriculum builds upon prior knowledge in a rigorous and progressive sequence, both within and between year groups to ensure coverage of the National Curriculum, and to create meaningful links with other subject areas, such as ‘World War II’ and ‘Planets’. This allows our pupils to stretch themselves with their application of French language.

Pupils learn French from Reception, to enable our pupils to become confident with core vocabulary by the time they begin Key Stage 2. We have high aspirations for all our pupils in French, and provide opportunities for our pupils to study French at home through the use of a e-learning platform www.languageangels.com and knowledge organisers with audio clips which are available on the school website.

Scan the code below with a camera to open the French Knowledge Organisers on another device. The audio clips can be more user-friendly via a phone.