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French
Vision statement
We believe that learning French will empower your children from Year 7 to Year 11 to develop lifelong language and communication skills, and give them confidence in familiar and unfamiliar contexts.
We build strong foundations in listening, speaking, reading, and writing through our inclusive and vibrant curriculum, centred around the interests of young people: from school life, food and hobbies to social media, relationships and global issues.
Our students thrive at GCSE and beyond; through placing great emphasis on cultural understanding and discussing current events such as sports competitions, music, and trends from the French speaking world.
Students have opportunities to experience French in real life contexts with an exchange of letters with French Guiana in Year 7, a spelling bee competition in Year 8, a trip to Normandy in Year 9, a visit to the cinema in Year 10 and a trip to Paris at A-level and many competitions open to all year groups.
Our Students on French
- “Kaylia Nemour won a gold medal for Africa? I love the Olympics” - Y10 student
Reason we love this quote: our curriculum is about the whole French speaking world with which many students can feel a connection and a sense of pride and belonging. The texts that our students study target specific vocabulary topics and grammar points, and mention people who are known to all francophones. Our students leave the classroom with a story to tell.
- “Could you see me move to France with this knowledge of French? Wouldn’t it be amazing?” - Y11 student
Reason we love this quote: French can feel unattainable at times and, by bringing context to the classroom through anecdotes, new events, historical facts, or personal experiences, our students become increasingly motivated and curious, and start imagining themselves in everyday situations in France. In lessons, we practise the skills needed at GCSE (photo descriptions, role plays, Q&A) and the conversations can be transferred to real life situations. Our students leave the classroom feeling confident.
- “Our letters are actually crossing the ocean?” - Y7 student, about our penpal project.
Reason we love this quote: our students get to write real paper letters to someone their age who lives in French Guiana, and look forward to a reply. When they do, it is like all one's Christmases come at once. They are fascinated by the authentic aspect of the project and it gives them a purpose to write, be creative, and use the vocabulary studied in class. Our students leave the classroom having expressed a purposeful message.
A Typical French Lesson
We open each lesson with a retrieval task that links to previous learning.
We then move to introduce new vocabulary via sentence builders and mini white board activities so students can communicate complex messages effectively in full sentences within minutes. We build language skills progressively with a wide range of valuable soft skills activities to develop comprehension.
Grammar is embedded through interactive activities and pair work, focusing on the use of verbs, nouns, or adjectives in context. This promotes accuracy, confidence, and independence when expressing a message verbally or in writing.
We finish our lessons with a cultural element in line with the texts studied such as a celebration, a famous sports person, a song, or film extract.
