- About Us
- Key Information
- Curriculum at Our Lady of Grace
- Foreign Languages
- National Curriculum in Foreign Languages
National Curriculum in Foreign Languages
National Curriculum Content/guidance |
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Speaking and Pronunciation |
Listening |
Reading and Writing |
Grammar |
Intercultural Understanding |
Intercultural Understanding
Through the study of modern foreign children’s intercultural awareness is stimulated leading to the fostering of curiosity about and a deepening understanding of the world around them. Our French curriculum is designed to promote global citizenship and personal development by incorporating teaching about cultures, communities and people in France. Through experiencing this, and making comparisons, children gain a new insight into their own culture and society; they learn new ways of thinking, recognising that there are different ways of seeing and interpreting the world, developing a truly international outlook.
Speaking and pronunciation |
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National Curriculum |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
Year 6 |
Engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help. |
Asking and/or answering simple questions Forming simple statements with information including the negative Practising speaking with a partner |
Recognising and answering simple questions which involve giving personal information Beginning to form opinion phrases Beginning to use conversational phrases for purposeful dialogue |
Forming a question in order to ask for information Presenting factual information in extended sentences including justification |
Developing extended sentences to justify a fact or opinion Planning, asking and answering extended questions Engaging in conversation and transactional language |
Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases (and simple writing). |
Using short phrases to give information Beginning to adapt phrases from a rhyme/song |
Using a model to form a spoken sentence Speaking in full sentences using known vocabulary |
Rehearsing and recycling extended sentences orally Planning and presenting a short descriptive text |
Planning and presenting a short text Modifying, expressing and comparing opinions
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Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases. |
Repeating short phrases accurately, including liaison of final consonant before vowel Listening and repeating key phonemes with care |
Comparing sounds and spelling patterns with English Listening and repeating further key phonemes with care |
Using intonation and gesture to differentiate between statements and questions Making realistic attempts at pronunciation of new, vocabulary Listening and repeating key phonemes with care applying pronunciation rules |
Discussing strategies for remembering and applying pronunciation rules Speaking and reading aloud with increasing confidence and fluency Comparing and applying pronunciation rules or patterns from known vocabulary |
Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences. |
Introducing self to a partner with simple phrases |
Rehearsing and performing a short presentation |
Adapting a story and retelling to the class |
Giving a presentation drawing upon learning from a number of previous topics |
Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences. |
Recognising and using adjectives |
Choosing appropriate adjectives from a wider range of adjectives |
Using adjectives with correct placement and agreement |
Recognising and using a wide range of descriptive phrases |
Listening |
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National Curriculum |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
Year 6 |
Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding. |
Listening and responding to single words and short phrases Following verbal instructions in French Responding to objects or images with a phrase or other verbal response |
Identifying items by colour and other adjectives Listening and selecting information Using language detective skills to decode vocabulary |
Listening and gisting information from an extended text using language detective skills such as cognates Listening and following the sequence of a story, song or text including some unfamiliar language |
Using prepositions to indicate the location of objects relative to something Understanding directional language and phrases and prepositions to describe how to get to places e.g. the route to school Recognising present and near future tense sentences (using aller + infinitive) |
Explore the patterns and sounds of languages through songs and rhymes and link to spelling, sound and meaning of words. |
Listening and identifying key words in rhymes and songs and joining in Beginning to identify vowel sounds and combinations Listening and noticing rhyming words |
Listening to songs, joining in with songs and noticing sound patterns Noticing and beginning to predict key word patterns and spelling patterns |
Matching unknown written words to new spoken words Recognising blends of sounds and selecting words to recognise common spelling patterns |
Recalling and performing an extended song or rhyme Listening to stories, songs or texts in French. |
Reading and Writing |
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National Curriculum |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
Year 6 |
Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing. |
Recognising some familiar words in written form |
Noticing and discussing cognates and beginning to identify language detective strategies |
Recognising features of different text types Using a range of language detective strategies to decode new vocabulary including context and text type |
Making increasingly accurate attempts to read unfamiliar words and phrases Reading and using language detective skills to assess meaning including sentence structure |
Appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language. |
Reading aloud some words from simple songs, stories and rhymes |
Following a short text or rhyme, listening and reading at the same time |
Reading and adapting a range of different format short texts |
Reading and responding to. an extract from a story, an e-mail message or song Reading short authentic texts for enjoyment or information |
Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary. |
Beginning to develop dictionary skills Identifying cognates and near cognates |
Becoming familiar with format, layout and simple use of a bilingual dictionary to find the meaning of unknown words and check the spelling of unfamiliar words Using cognates and near cognates along with other detective skills to gist information |
Confidently using a bilingual dictionary to find the meaning of unknown words and check the spelling of unfamiliar words Using contextual clues and cues to gist and make predictions about meanings Gisting information from an extended text |
Using a bilingual dictionary to select alternative vocabulary for sentence building |
Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences to express ideas clearly. |
Recalling and writing simple words from memory |
Selecting and writing short words and phrases |
Using existing knowledge of vocabulary and phrases to create new sentences Completing a gapped text with key words/phrases |
Choosing words, phrases and sentences and writing as a text or captions |
Use familiar vocabulary in phrases and simple writing. |
Experimenting with simple writing, copying with accuracy |
Making short phrases or sentences using word cards |
Writing a short text using word and phrase cards to model or scaffold |
Constructing a short text on a familiar topic |
Describe people, places and things and actions orally and in writing. |
Recognising and using adjectives of colour and size |
Using adapted phrases to describe an object or person |
Using different adjectives, with correct positioning and agreement Using language of metaphor and comparison |
Using a wide range of descriptive phrases Recognising and using verbs in different tenses |
Grammar |
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National Curriculum |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
Year 6 |
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 to build sentences and how these differ from or are similar to English. |
Beginning to recognise gender of nouns, definite and indefinite article Identifying plurals of nouns Recognising adjectives and placement relative to the noun Beginning to understand that verbs have patterns Noticing the negative form |
Using indefinite article in the plural form Recognising and using possessive adjective ‘my’ and pronouns he/she/it Recognising and beginning to apply rules for placement and agreement of adjectives Recognising and using the negative form Using prepositions Making comparisons of word order in French and English |
Correct use of definite and indefinite article depending on gender and number of noun, and including partitive article for ‘some’ Applying placement and agreement rules for adjectives Recognising and applying verb endings for present regular ‘er’ verbs Exploring verbs in infinitive form Learning and using some high frequency irregular verbs e.g. to have, to be, to go Using comparative language |
Accurately applying placement and agreement rules for adjectives Recognising and beginning to form some verbs in near future tense using aller Recognising and applying verb endings for present regular ‘er’ verbs Learning and using some common irregular verbs, e.g. faire ‘to make/do’ Understanding how word order differs between French and English Identifying word classes within a sentence |
Feminine and masculine forms: Nouns (including articles, pronouns and plural formation) |
To understand that every French noun is either masculine or feminine To know that the gender affects the form of the indefinite article un or une To know that feminine nouns often (but not always) end in e To know that when we turn the statement j'ai un/une (‘I have a…’) into a negative je n'ai pas de (‘I don't have a…’) then we change the article from un/une to de To know that if a word is plural, we cannot use un or une and instead use des (some) To know that when talking about a specific noun in French we use the definite article le (m.) la (f.) l' (m./f. before a vowel) or les (m./f. plural) To know that I can find the gender of a noun by looking it up in the dictionary where French nouns are followed by a gender indicator |
To know whether to use the pronouns il or elle (he or she) when describing what someone is wearing |
To know that de translates as 'of' or 'some' and know that it changes when coupled with le to become du (not de le) and when coupled with les to become des (not de les) |
To know that different prepositions are used to say going to a country: en if the country is feminine singular (en France) au if the country is masculine singular (au Canada) aux if the country is plural (aux États-Unis d’Amérique) To know a range of prepositions to describe the position of objects When using the prepositions à côté de, près de or loin de, the de may change if followed by le or les: de+le = du, de + les = des |
Feminine and masculine forms: Adjectives (position and agreement) |
To know that adjectives of size are positioned in front of the noun in French e.g. un grand cercle To know that adjectives of colour are positioned after the noun in French e.g. un cercle bleu |
To know that, in French, adjectives change if they describe a girl or a feminine noun and that this is called adjectival agreement To know that most (but not all) adjectives take an extra 'e' at the end of the word to make it feminine To know that most adjectives go after the noun in French To know that if the noun in a sentence is plural then the adjective describing it also becomes plural To know that the feminine and masculine form of some adjectives can sound quite different e.g. vert/verte heureux/heureuse To know that, in French, the possessive adjective 'my' must agree with the gender of the noun and that we use mon (m.), ma (f.) and mes (pl.) To know that some adjectives do not change when describing a feminine noun (orange, marron, à pois) To know that if an adjective already ends in an 'e' in the masculine form, then it doesn't take another 'e' in the feminine form (e.g. jaune / rose |
To know that there are usually four forms of an adjective to describe- a noun that is singular masculine, a noun that is singular feminine, a noun that is plural masculine and a noun that is plural feminine To revise that adjectives of size go before the noun and adjectives of colour go after the noun To know that when a singular noun begins with a vowel, the possessive adjective ma is difficult to pronounce, so mon is used (e.g. mon ami / mon amie) |
To know that when standalone adjectives are used, such as when saying c'est amusant, we always use the singular masculine |
Verbs (including conjugation and negation) |
To know that placing ne and pas around a verb makes the verb negative |
To know that 'je aime' becomes 'j'aime' and 'je ne aime pas' becomes 'je n'aime pas' to help with pronunciation |
To understand that French verbs take different forms. To know that the infinitive is the basic form of a verb which in English is usually expressed as 'to [do something]' (e.g. 'to run') To know that there are three different endings for French verbs in the infinitive form: those that end -er, those that end -ir and those that end -re To know that the ending of regular -er verbs changes to go with the subject pronoun. To know that some verbs do not follow regular patterns, such as avoir (to have) and être (to be) To know how to conjugate the verbs avoir (to have) and être (to be) |
To know that we use the verb jouer (to play) with some sports and faire (to make) with other sports To know that the way verbs change to match the pronoun is called conjugation To know each part of the verb aller - to go, depending on the pronoun To know that the near future tense is formed by using the present tense of the verb aller + the infinitive, eg je vais manger - I am going to eat To know how to distinguish between the present and the near future tense |
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 |
To know that we can use connectives such as et (and) and mais (but) to join clauses To know that most nouns in French become plural by adding an 's' at the end, as in English To know that 'en' is usually used as a preposition when the mode of transport is something you get into e.g. 'en train', whereas 'a' is usually used when you are not getting into a form of transport e.g. 'a vélo' ( a bicycle) To understand that I can use a model sentence as a guide for building other sentences To know that tone of voice can indicate a question To know that a cedilla is the tail mark under the 'c' changes the pronunciation of the c from a hard sound to a soft 's' sound To know that a cognate is a word that is the same in both French and English e.g. un triangle To know that a near-cognate is a word that is very similar but not identical in French and English e.g. un cercle To understand that I can use known vocabulary, cognates and near cognates as clues to help me understand a text in French To know that sentences are often structured differently in French and English To know that, in French, a space is needed before and after ? and ! |
To know that some American and English words are borrowed by the French such as le hot-dog and le hamburger To know that when building 2 digit numbers in French, we say 'twenty and one' or vingt-et-un |
To know some language detective strategies such as: recognising cognates and near cognates, guessing words by the layout of the page and using the words from before and after the unknown word to help To know that there is no possessive apostrophe in French but that to say 'my mother's father' the French would say Le père de ma mère (the father of my mother) To know that the word order is sometimes different in French compared to English To know that there are clues in the words for the multiples of 10, eg cinquante - 50 To know that the pattern of building larger numbers changes beyond 70 by adding the teen numbers to 60, eg soixante-dix (70), soixante-onze, soixante-douze To know that the word for 80 means ‘four twenties’ - quatre-vingts, and numbers up to 100 are built by continuing to count on from quatre-vingt, e.g. quatre-vingt-neuf (89) quatre-vingt-dix (90), quatre-vingt-onze (91) To know that the French use guillemets << >> in the same way that the speech marks are used in English |
To understand that existing written sentences in French can be adapted To know that when standalone adjectives are used, such as when saying c'est amusant, we always use the singular masculine |
Intercultural Understanding |
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Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 6 |
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Skills |
Knowledge |
Skills |
Knowledge |
Skills |
Knowledge |
Showing awareness of the capital and identifying some key cultural landmarks Recognising cultural similarities and differences between customs and traditions in France and England |
To know that in French there are formal and informal greetings and when it is appropriate to use each one To know the names of some Parisian landmarks To know some French playground games To know that there are French speaking countries around the world |
Comparing schools and celebrations between France and the UK Comparing shops and high streets of France and UK Recognising and using the Euro currency Identifying some French-speaking countries |
To know some similarities and differences between French and English schools To know some French festivals that happen throughout the year To know some similarities and differences between French and English birthday celebrations To know that the abbreviation R.S.V.P, which is often used in English stands for 'Répondez s'il vous plaît' which translates as 'Reply, if you please' To know that the currency used in France is Euros and to recognise some of the notes and coins To know that the Louvre is a famous French art gallery |
Learning about France’s sporting culture and events Asking question and making insightful commentary on cultural differences, including some understanding of stereotype |
To know the French word for countries around the world To know that the Tour de France is a world famous cycling race that takes place in France each year To know that pétanque is a popular French game sometimes known as boules To know different ways to travel to and around France |
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Vocabulary*
Unlike other curriculum subjects, the word ‘vocabulary’ in language learning refers to the building blocks of the subject
itself rather than a simple list of relevant vocabulary. In other words, whereas vocabulary in other subjects helps develop a framework glossary of understanding, in French the vocabulary grows into more of a dictionary of knowledge chunks.
But language learning does not necessarily progress simply because our vocabulary widens. In our lessons, vocabulary is
taught discretely, but always with the aim of moving from simple recall of a word to a deeper understanding of how it is used in the context of sentence structure and grammar. Individual items of vocabulary need to be understood, learned, recalled, re-encountered and recycled in different topics and in different sentence forms as our learners progress in their understanding of language and grammar.