French
The aim of the French course at The English School is to encourage a love of language learning and develop the skills needed to use the French language in French speaking countries. We hope to instil a desire to pursue further independent learning.
In year 4, the children hear native speakers on tape and video and are given plenty of opportunity to use the language as often as possible in the classroom. They have conversations with each other and learn to ask for classroom equipment in French. They sing songs and play games as well as learning basic grammatical structures used in every day language both spoken and written. The language they learn during this time is topic based and designed for enjoyment and to develop a thirst for more.
In years 5 and 6, all pupils have access to a new French course which has a topic based approach combined with clear grammatical progression. This course offers plenty of enjoyable and motivating activities and caters for a wide range of ability. It is used to maximise the children’s exposure to native speakers on tape and to improve their reading and comprehension skills. This works alongside spoken language in pairs and groups and is followed by a greater degree of written French. During this time the children are being taught the skills they will require in later years while maintaining an exciting approach to the language. All children have access to suitable reading material.
In years 7 and 8, pupils develop their skills in accordance with National Curriculum requirements and have access to all four areas of study in equal shares. In the senior school, children are developing the skills they will require in order to pursue examination courses in KS4 while still learning through activities and games. There is a greater degree of access to material on PC’s at this stage and this is cross-referenced to the course of study. Independent learning is encouraged and there is also a library of reading material available as well as the web sites will be used.