French
At The Otley and Witnesham Partnership, we aim to develop a passion for language learning through exciting and engaging lessons and topics. We want to develop resilient learners who persevere and are willing to take risks and make mistakes.
At our schools, we teach French as a foreign language throughout Key Stage 2. As children move through the key stage, they develop four key language learning skills – speaking, listening, reading and writing. They also develop an understanding of key grammar points, such as adjective placement and agreement. Each year has an overarching theme – monsters, witches/wizards, aliens/planets and superheroes. Children can use the language that they have learnt in a meaningful and exciting ‘end product’. Examples include writing their own book about a witch/wizard or designing and describing their own planet.
Children are introduced to a range of different texts in the target language, including stories, letters and emails. They also enjoy singing songs in the target language. Children develop confidence in their communication and their ability to understand unfamiliar language through the use of cognates, for example.
Throughout the year, children produce a variety of different end products, including a mixture of spoken and written outcomes. We feel that it is important that children learn to manipulate language to say something that is meaningful to them. Children are taught how to use bilingual dictionaries to search for the vocabulary that they would like to use.
Throughout our language lessons, we include opportunities to develop intercultural understanding. We aim to create respectful children who understand and respect similarities and differences between different cultures, people around the world and people in our local area.