French

At Perton Middle School we strongly believe that studying a foreign language enriches the mind and will open up new opportunities in the future. In addition, by studying a foreign language, children are better able to understand their own language. They are able to explore the similarities and differences between French and English, in terms of vocabulary, grammar, spelling and punctuation.

The department is made up of one teacher, who is a French specialist. Teaching includes a variety of activities to suit different learning styles such as songs, role-play, ICT, games and videos.

 

This year we are organising a Year 7 and 8 visit to Paris, which will allow the students to practise their language skills in authentic situations. A languages club is offered weekly during lunchtime. This allows children to have a taster of German and Spanish.

Year 5 Curriculum

We are in a very fortunate position to be able to offer dedicated French lessons two years earlier than the legal requirement. This allows students to acquire language skills to help with English.
Pupils will have one hour a week dedicated to French. Although a course book will be used in class, pupils will also be taught through interactive activities, songs, poems and dedicated language websites.

Pupils will cover the following topics in Year 5:-

• Learning about numbers, days, months and likes and dislikes – Term 1
• Descriptions of themselves and others – Term 2
• Talking about school subjects and school life – Term 3

Year 6 Curriculum

This year pupils will continue with studying one hour of French a week. The course book used will be Studio 1 and pupils will cover the following topics:-

• Talking about sports and leisure activities – Term 1
• Talking about where you live – Term 2
• Talking about holidays – Term 3

Much of the spoken work will be in the form of role plays using material from the text books or simple ones written by the pupils themselves. This will involve pupils co-operating with others, either in pairs or small groups. They will perform simple written tasks most of which will be with help from written cues. From time to time pupils will be required to learn items of vocabulary and reproduce these from memory. This is a very important aspect of language learning.

Year 7 Curriculum

This year pupils will build on the skills and knowledge acquired in Years 5 and 6, but will have two hours of French lessons per week. They will study from Studio 2 with supplementary materials being used as and when necessary. Pupils will continue to develop their expertise in all four language skills. The length and difficulty of written tasks will increase and pupils will be asked more frequently to reproduce both spoken and written tasks from memory. This is a very important aspect of language learning. The topics to be covered this year are:-

• Free Time, technology – Term 1
• Paris and talking about myself – Term 2
• Clothes, where I live and food – Term 3

Year 8 Curriculum

This year pupils will continue to build on the skills acquired in Years 6 and 7. Obviously this is an important year as pupils prepare to transfer to another school. The course book used will be Studio 3 with supplementary materials as and when required. Pupils will also be given their own access to accompany the course book to help consolidate their understanding.

The topics to be covered this year are:

• Going out, past and present tenses – Term 1
• Healthy lifestyles, past, present and future tenses – Term 2
• Holidays, past, present and future tenses – Term 3

The key to success this year will be careful learning of new vocabulary and structures as pupils will often need to recall work covered in earlier units at a later date. This will prove to be a vital skill when approaching G.C.S.E. We have strong links with Codsall High School to ensure
progression.

If there is any other information you would like about any of the French courses, please let us know.

Mrs K. Fullwood
Co-ordinator of Modern Languages.