French

Bienvenue!

At Sinai, learning of other languages helps children explore a world rich in diversity and culture. It instils in our children an awareness of our multi-lingual and multi-cultural global community. Learning a foreign language not only broadens their horizons but also offers a unique lens through which to appreciate their own culture and that of others.

Our children embark on a captivating journey to explore the differences and similarities between the foreign language and English. Language learning acts as a bridge, facilitating cross-curricular connections and reinforcing the knowledge, skills and understanding developed in other subjects.

Our aim is to empower children to use French as a means of expression, enabling them to articulate their ideas and thoughts in a new linguistic landscape. To achieve this, we provide immersive opportunities for children to engage in games, appreciate stories and learn songs in the target language.

Ultimately, French lessons at Sinai serve as the cornerstone for future language-learning endeavours, equipping our children with a solid foundation upon which to build their linguistic journeys. Our commitment is to nurture a lifelong love for languages and foster a profound appreciation for the beauty of global communication.

Starting in year 3 the children will embark on a journey of discovery of the French language; they will learn how to talk about themselves and their family, they will sing songs, read stories, perform conversations and play games.

French is an important language, spoken by more than 220 million people and a great language to learn. At Sinai, we are committed to providing a positive language learning experience for all, which should encourage the children to continue to learn a modern foreign language at secondary school.

At Sinai, each unit of learning concerns itself with a specific communicative function, such as ‘I can say what pets I have’. The children receive a knowledge organiser for each topic with a sentence builder, which models the target language. The children learn how to pronounce the new sounds through a system of phonics with sounds, actions and spelling. The children complete listening activities to make them aware of the sounds and to train their decoding skills. They complete reading activities to focus on the meaning of texts. The children have short translation and writing tasks, which increases their confidence and ability to produce the language.

By the end of year 6 the children should have a have a solid foundation for learning further languages in the future.

Homework Information

The Sentence builder website gives children opportunities to practise their listening, reading and writing skills at home.
Other homework may include creative tasks, such as a poster about pets, a birthday party invitation or a poem.
In research homework, your child finds out about the culture of a French speaking country, such as regional food and drink, a festival or sporting event.
Children also have opportunities to access the French songs from lessons at home.