Our approach to French

Intent of curriculum:

Our school vision ‘Ready, Respectful, Safe’, demonstrates our goal, which is, to strive for every pupil to be ready to learn, fulfil their potential, develop resilience, work in partnership with each other, be a responsible citizen, have value and respect each other. The personal development of pupils, spiritually, morally, socially and culturally, plays a significant part in children’s ability to learn and achieve, which is why at Poplar we weave this through school life and our curriculum. We foster the ideals of our pupils having their own values and beliefs, spiritual awareness, high standards of personal behaviour, a positive, caring attitude towards other people, an understanding of their social and cultural traditions and an appreciation of the diversity and richness of the cultures.

Within the French curriculum at Poplar we aim that all pupils will develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about foreign languages, finding them enjoyable and stimulating. Learning a second language will also offer pupils the opportunity to explore relationships between language and identity, develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and the world around them with a better awareness of self, others and cultural differences. The intention is that they will be working towards becoming life-long language learners.

All pupils have access to a very high-quality foreign languages curriculum using the ‘Language Angels’ scheme of work and resources as well as additional bespoke resources created by the teachers . This will progressively develop pupil skills in foreign languages through regularly taught and well-planned weekly lessons within Key Stage 2. The key areas of Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing, Grammar and Phonics are taught and built-on in all units, enabling children to demonstrate substantial progress by the end of Key Stage 2. The lessons will be primarily taught by french speaking teachers, but are fully accessible for class teachers and/or supply teachers if required. 

At the end of KS2 our children will have learnt to:

• Listen attentively to the 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.