Modern Foreign Languages

Intent

At St Norbert’s we use the Kapow Primary’s French scheme of work which aims to instil a love of language learning and an awareness of other cultures. We want pupils to develop the confidence to communicate in French for practical purposes, using both written and spoken French. Through this scheme of work, we aim to give pupils a foundation for language learning that encourages and enables them to apply their skills to learning further languages, developing a strong understanding of the English language, facilitating future study and opening opportunities to study and work in other countries in the future.

Implementation

Through the Kapow Primary’s French scheme, pupils are given opportunities to communicate for practical purposes around familiar subjects and routines. The scheme provides balanced opportunities for communication in both spoken and written French, although in Year 3 the focus is on developing oral skills, before incorporating written French in Year 4 and beyond. The Kapow Primary scheme is a spiral curriculum, with key skills and vocabulary revisited repeatedly with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Cross-curricular links are included throughout our French units, allowing children to make connections and apply their language skills to other areas of their learning. Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including role-play, language games and language detective work. Our scheme of work focuses on developing what we term ‘language detective skills’ and developing an understanding of French grammar, rather than on committing to memory vast amounts of French vocabulary. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all. In order to help pupils, retain their French learning, we provide information about how to incorporate French into the classroom environment every day in our ‘During the week’ sections.

Impact

The impact of Kapow Primary’s scheme can be monitored continuously through both formative and summative assessment. Each lesson includes guidance to support teachers in assessing pupils against the learning objectives. After the implementation of Kapow Primary French, pupils should leave school equipped with a range of language-learning skills to enable them to study French, or any other language, with confidence at Key Stage 3.
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Advent 1

French greetings with puppets

Look carefully at the speaker and respond confidently with the appropriate gesture and phrase.  Begin to recognise how some sounds (‘on’, ‘ou’, ‘et’ and ‘oi’) are represented in written form. Link actions or pictures to the new language, both in spoken and written form. Imitate the pronunciation of sounds. Take turns to speak and use appropriate intonation.

Portraits – describing in French

Understand that adjectives change depending on whether they are describing a boy or girl, for example: sérieux and sérieuse. Correctly identify a person from a description of their hair and eye colour. Place word cards in the correct order, with the adjectives following the noun. Give a spoken sentence to describe a friend. Write four sentences accurately with the correct adjectival agreement, helped by a support sheet.

French monster pets

Notice cognates and near cognates in the text. Recognise some previously known words. Use a dictionary resource to research the meaning of relevant vocabulary.  Recognise and sort nouns by gender and number, and to explain the effect this may have on an adjective. Confidently modify sentences to use the correct articles/pronouns (un/une and il/elle) according to gender. Unscramble jumbled sentences without any  errors in word order. Recognise rules of agreement in longer phrases. Produce a short, structured paragraph using a range of familiar structures, with some manipulation of language and use of a word bank for support.

 

French sport and the Olympics

Accurately pronounce the name of a sport. Construct simple sentences to say whether they like a sport or not.  Know where some of the countries are located in the world. Identify some of the French country words using cognates and near cognates. Use the correct form of ‘aller’ and the correct preposition in most cases in written exercises. Understand and accurately pronounce most words and phrases about sports. Follow the basic rules of pétanque. Write an interview article in French about their Olympic sport and visit to the Olympic Games using a writing frame.
Advent 2

French adjectives of colour, size and shape

Listen carefully to build correct sequences of three to four blocks. Show understanding by correctly identifying a described shape, drawing it in the air or pointing on the board. Recognise cognates. Use please and thank you. Listen carefully to instructions. Describe some of the shapes in their work using language of colour, size or shape. Listen and then select the correct decoration according to its colour. Use software to produce artwork in the style of Matisse.
 Clothes- getting dressed in French

Remember and pronounce some of the new words, recognising that some are masculine and take un, some feminine and take une and some plural and take des. Understand how to convert the indefinite article to a possessive adjective. Correctly identify items of clothing based on the written word. Say the words for items of clothing with accurate pronunciation. Put the colour adjective after the noun. Make an intelligible attempt to spell new words. Write accurately using a support and the correct form of the adjective in the correct position. Say a sentence using J’aime or Je n’aime pas. Use il/elle correctly and put the adjective in the correct position in relation to the noun. Put the right agreement on the adjective where relevant.

Space exploration – in French

Listen and identify cognates in French, noticing differences with spelling and pronunciation, e.g. for planet names. Write their own metaphors using a writing model, replacing nouns with original vocabulary. Make the correct choice of un/une for gender and add colour adjectives when writing. Form a factually and grammatically accurate phrase to compare two planets in terms of their size or temperature. Adapt a model text to create an original sentence of their own, including descriptive phrases.

 

French football champions

Try two methods of memorising and learn at least four of the new words. Learn and pronounce most of the new words, remembering the vocabulary from the previous lesson. Translate some player profiles. Construct the sentence, I come from [a place] in French. Understand comprehension questions based on the topic of football and show some competence in answering them. Complete part of a player profile. Deliver an oral presentation with a reasonable standard of pronunciation.
Lent 1

French playground games- numbers and age

Recall all numbers one to six, with generally accurate pronunciation, in particular vowel and combinations sounds (‘un‘, ‘eu‘, ‘oi‘ and ‘in‘). Join in with a song using actions. Respond to numbers by showing fingers or ticking on whiteboards. Ask and answer a question about their age. Change their answers and recognise number words. Listen carefully and relate sounds to a written phoneme. Recall numbers one to twelve with increasingly accurate pronunciation.

French numbers, calendars and birthdays

Say the numbers to 31 in French. Read and calculate Maths sums correctly in French. Say all the days of the week, working out the words for yesterday and today. Match most of the French months to their English equivalents. Ask when someone’s birthday is and give the number and month of their birthday. Say the seasons of the year. Translate the date from English to French. Say the similarities and differences between birthdays in the UK and France. Put a present wish-list into a sentence.

Shopping in France

Recognise number words in written form. Correctly pronounce two-digit numbers that have been generated randomly. Recall vocabulary by matching the correct pictures to the appropriate words. Join in with a story, using gestures and key vocabulary. Correctly sort word-cards by gender and apply the appropriate article. Highlight a range of known and easily recognisable vocabulary in a text.

In my French house

Understand the different types of houses and their rooms in French. Ask and answer questions using vocabulary about houses. Remember and understand the elements of a house and family. Use a writing frame to create a written description of their house. Label a bedroom and use the related vocabulary in simple sentences. Accurately use prepositions verbally as well as in written sentences. Describe all the rooms in their house. Describe where they live and with whom. Write a letter including questions.

 
Lent 2

French weather and the water cycle

Recall all numbers one to six, with generally accurate pronunciation, in particular vowel and combinations sounds (‘un‘, ‘eu‘, ‘oi‘ and ‘in‘). Join in with a song using actions. Respond to numbers by showing fingers or ticking on whiteboards. Ask and answer a question about their age. Change their answers and recognise number words. Listen carefully and relate sounds to a written phoneme. Recall numbers one to twelve with increasingly accurate pronunciation.

French weather and the water cycle

Use a physical response to show their understanding of six to eight weather phrases. Repeat new phrases with accurate pronunciation. Say at least two sentences intelligibly to convey the weather in a given place. Point or move in the correct direction during a compass points game. Understand and say several directions and weather sentences. Place weather symbols in the correct locations on a map. Match at least three numerals and words correctly. Say the correct number for their temperature. Show an understanding of the water cycle and relevant cognates in both languages

 

French speaking world

Recognise and respond to directions. Form directional phrases of their own. Read and understand a range of sentences including directions. Form full sentences to ask and answer questions as modelled orally. Show some understanding of national identity and stereotypes. Understand a set of true/false statements and have some idea of where to locate the information about these statements in a graph/table Use prompts to ask and answer questions that are necessary to complete information on a passport, seeking clarification if needed.

Planning a French holiday

Remember the countries in the world in French. Use a writing model to create a complex sentence. Begin to understand the present and future tense of ‘aller’ in French. Identify the present and future tenses in reading and listening. Label images of clothing correctly. Speak in sentences and write a paragraph. Recognise familiar words and cognates. Begin to understand the gist of the text to be able to answer some questions. Find out information from a range of websites and use this information to plan a holiday.
Pentecost 1

French transport

Explain strategies for working out the meaning of words. Recognise nouns that are cognates or near cognates. Recognise transport words in written form. Join in with a song using actions to aid recall. Form simple statements about a picture, using and adapting a model. Build phrases with generally accurate pronunciation. Write a simple sentence, including forming two different accents.

French food- miam, miam!

Work out what new words mean by looking for cognates. Use a model text to support conversation. Complete mathematical calculations in French, writing answers in euros. Recognise shop names and label a triarama. Use a bilingual dictionary to translate given words. Spell French words accurately. Use a range of strategies to understand an unfamiliar text.  Ask and respond to questions found in a café conversation.

Verbs in a week

Attempt to read new verbs aloud with confidence and mostly accurate pronunciation. Create an opinion phrase using one of the new verbs. Work together to visually and orally present a verb in at least three different forms, with the appropriate pronoun. Work together to build a verb spinner and use it to generate appropriate phrases. Recognise and recall different parts of verbs ‘avoir’ and ‘être’. Create an original short text, correctly adapting a range of verbs to their appropriate form.

 

Visiting a town in France

Describe routes to school using pictures and word cards. Follow simple directions accurately. Describe the relationship between places using a preposition. Put modes of transport into a simple sentence. Role-play buying tickets. Use modes of transport to build sentences about going to places. Begin to use negative sentences correctly. Learn to say and read places in a town. Use a writing frame to give a reasoned opinion on a visit. Identify the grammatical elements of a text. Understand the gist of a text. Use a text to write their own description.
Pentecost 2

A circle of life in French

Source new vocabulary from the dictionary and apply the appropriate indefinite article (un/une).  Build a range of sentences from the model, selecting appropriate vocabulary. Create a sentence in the negative form. Identify some different word classes in a sentence. Recognise key vocabulary and structure clues, and use scientific understanding to solve a puzzle. Attempt to decode new sentences using their context and sentence structure. Apply understanding of the sentence structure to generate new phrases.

French and the Eurovision Song Contest

Answer questions based on a video of a French-speaker, getting at least half of them correct. Match a set of instrument words to the appropriate picture, getting the majority of them correct (allowing for any that they don’t know in English). Say which instrument they play. Say what kind of music they   like, using a whole sentence. Ask a question after listening to other pupils’ attempts.Read and understand music genres in written form. Recall country names with accurate pronunciation. Use a full sentence to say ‘J’habite en/au/aux …’ Write information in French about a character from a different country. Use familiar language to write several phrases or short sentences Perform a song from memory with accurate pronunciation.

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Meet my French family

Correctly complete a gap-fill activity with French vocabulary, using pictures. Recognise words that are similar to English. Adapt a sentence to change its meaning. Apply some understanding of French pronunciation. Recognise key information within a longer text. Confidently build sentences using word cards. Respond to spoken opinions with the correct gesture. Use different opinions in sentences. Change elements of a sentence whilst retaining the meaning. Organise a text, making simple adaptations which do not affect its overall sense.