French

What do we do in French?

French is taught throughout the school through stories, native speaking DVD’s, games (Monsieur Michelin is an important assistant!), dictionary work, writing and songs (Mon Ane, or Donkey as it is commonly known, being our favourite DVD!). French culture is also an important part of our lessons as are French phonics to aid pronunciation.

In Robins the children learn to introduce themselves, and to ask their partner their name. They count up to 20, learn the house colours and learn some Christmas vocabulary. We sing songs and watch traditional stories.

In Kooks the children build on the vocabulary learnt in Robins and learn more colours, numbers to 31, days of the week, months of the year and their age. They learn to ask ‘how old are you’, and ‘what is it’ and the vocabulary for things in their pencil case, clothes and seasons. They write the date and learn the alphabet in French. They are introduced to the gender of nouns, the position of adjectives and their agreement to the noun. Vocabulary is constantly being revised during the course of the year.

Eagles now have the opportunity to write letters to children in a Collège in Chamalières near to Clermont Ferrand, a city in the Auvergne region, which is in the centre of France. It is a city famous for being the home of the Michelin tyre company, its twin spired black cathedral and ASM - the rugby club! Year 6 have the opportunity to visit France for the day – a joint trip with Bentley School. They also start asking the question ‘what do you like doing’ with regard to hobbies and sports, ‘would you like’ with regard to food and the café and then work on giving directions. They also learn numbers to 100, talk about the weather and work on their dictionary skills.