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Gilbert Inglefield

French 2022-2023

Head of Department: Miss N. Gonzalez
Email: ngonzalez@gilbertinglefield.com

Year 5

In Year 5, pupils develop their French language skills through listening, speaking, reading and writing. In the past in Year 5, particular emphasis was given to communicating in French as much as possible through listening and speaking. However, having started learning French in Lower School, all pupils will be introduced to reading and writing fairly quickly, as well as continuing to develop their listening and speaking skills. Pupils are given many opportunities to practise their language skills through a variety of fun, communicative activities, such as games, songs, pair work, group activities and ICT usage.

Pupils’ literacy is developed by learning about grammatical features of French, such as the gender of nouns, and how to use a bilingual dictionary properly. The children also develop a growing understanding of the Francophone world and French pronunciation by studying cultural aspects and phonemes respectively. Pupils’ numeracy is developed by learning days of the week, months of the year, numbers and time.

Children’s learning is at the forefront of every lesson and teaching children how to learn is actively taught. We look at strategies to help children learn, such as colour-coding, using rhyme, quizzes, mind maps, games and mnemonics as well as encouraging children to evaluate their work and understanding.

At Gilbert Inglefield Academy, teachers use a variety of resources to make learning as motivating and engaging as possible. Resources consist of PowerPoint presentations, ICT resources, props, games, songs, teacher-made activities and we also use the Wakefield Scheme of work as a basis for the work we do.

In Year 5, having already learned the basics, such as being able to say ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’, French numbers, alphabet, etc. We review these in new topics in order for progression to take place in later years. Topics are revisited throughout the course to ensure secure understanding. By the end of Year 5, pupils will have studied the topics below:

  • Saying your name, e.g. ‘Je m’appelle Max.’
  • Asking someone his/her name
  • Greeting people and ask how they are
  • Classroom instructions
  • Classroom equipment
  • French numbers from 1-100
  • Months of the year and days of the week.
  • Colours
  • School subjects
  • Giving opinions on school subjects
  • Giving reasons on school subjects
  • Saying your age and when your birthday is
  • Learning to tell the time
  • Learning short phrases on daily routine
  • Learning the name of the shops and some places in town.
  • Learning to give simple directions.
  • Matching sounds and spelling patterns
  • Learning short phrases on hobbies.
  • Weather phrases.
  • Learning to order for ice-creams.
  • Learning to order for breakfast items.

Related Web links

(Pupils are provided with the necessary usernames and passwords at the beginning of the year) : 

We also cover some cultural aspects such as:

  • Christmas in France.
  • Easter in France and Mardi Grass.
  • Sports in France (les boules).

Extra – Curricular Opportunities: 

  • KS2 French Club- (Every Tuesday at lunch time room 29)
  • KS2 Spanish Club – (Every Tuesday at lunch time in room 33)
  • French/Spanish Yoga Club/Workshop – Summer term
  • French Day
  • French Theatre production
  • Filming techniques to develop language
  • Lower Schools invited for French Day (run by our Year 6s)

Year 6

In Year 6, pupils develop their French language skills through listening, speaking reading and writing. In Year 6, the emphasis is still given to communicating in French as much as possible through listening and speaking but with a deeper, grammatical dimension. Pupils are given many opportunities to practise their language skills through a variety of fun, communicative activities, such as games, songs, pair work, group activities and ICT usage.

During the Autumn term, pupils learn to talk about themselves including physical appearance, hair and eyes, family and pets. They describe people and themselves by learning adjectives and learn the essential auxiliary verbs ‘avoir = to have’ and ‘être = to be’.

In the Spring term, they learn to talk about where they are going to go on holiday. They learn the names of countries, the means of transport, and what they are going to do there, and again they learn to give simple opinions about their holidays. The simple future is introduced. They will learn to give a simple description about what they want to do on holidays by having conversations on the phone. They will also learn to create and write a post-card in French.

 In the summer term, pupils learn how to describe their parts of the body giving adjectives of colour and size. They will create monsters and will learn to describe them.

Children’s learning is at the forefront of every lesson and teaching children how to learn is actively taught. We look at strategies to help children learn, such as colour-coding, using rhyme, quizzes, mind maps, games and mnemonics as well as encouraging children to evaluate their work and understanding. In Year 6, developing presentation, reading and learning strategies as well as using the dictionary more effectively are key areas.

At Gilbert Inglefield Academy, teachers use a variety of resources to make learning as motivating and engaging as possible. Resources consist of PowerPoint presentations, ICT resources, props, games, songs, teacher-made activities and we also use the Actif Stage1course which adheres to the QCA Scheme of Work.

Course Outline

By the end of Year 6, pupils will have studied the topics below:

  • Revising age and numbers.
  • Learning hair and eyes with the verb avoir
  • Learning adjectives to describe their appearance with the verb etre
  • Saying how many of the family they have.
  • Saying what you do not have, e.g. Je n’ai pas de frères. = I don’t have any brothers.
  • Saying if they have any pets or not.
  • Describing colour of their pets.
  • Musical instruments
  • Countries
  • Means of transport and verb “voyager”
  • Revisiting leisure activities.
  • Introduction of future tense with “aller”
  • Giving opinions and reasons.
  • Revisiting weather
  • Parts of the body
  • Adjective agreement.
  • Subject pronouns (je , il, elle, nous, vous, elles, ils)

Related Web links

 (Pupils are provided with the necessary usernames and passwords at the beginning of the year):

Extra – Curricular Opportunities: 

  • KS2 French Club- (Every Tuesday at lunch time)
  • KS2 Spanish Club – (Every Wednesday at lunch time)
  • French/Spanish Yoga Club/Workshops ( Summer term)
  • French Day
  • French Theatre production
  • Filming techniques to develop language
  • Lower Schools invited for French Day (run by our Year 6s)

 Year 7

In Year 7 the emphasis in French is on the ability to understand and to communicate in the foreign language; however, the skills of speaking and writing accurately in French are developed further and in more detail. In Year 7, pupils learn to express themselves using different verbs; a range of high frequency words; and opinion words/structures. The perfect tense is also introduced and used in a variety of situations. Pupils are expected to apply previous knowledge and ideas to new contexts, as well as develop their ability to formulate rules from patterns in language and apply them. Grammatical structures are reinforced in different contexts – home, school, and leisure activities the art topic.

At Gilbert Inglefield Academy, teachers use a variety of resources to make learning as motivating and engaging as possible. Resources consist of PowerPoint presentations, ICT resources, props, games, songs, filming, and teacher-made activities and we also use materials from a range of courses/textbooks.

Course Outline

By the end of Year 7, pupils will have studied the topics below:

  • Expressing likes and dislikes of cognitive names using connectives
  • Describing yourself and others (family members)
  • Revisiting relatives, present tense of avoir , etre and s’appeller, subject pronouns and possessive adjectives.
  • Revisiting definite articles (le, la, les) and connectives ( mais, aussi, et , donc, cependant)
  • Expressing school subjects likes and dislikes with reasons
  • Describing your timetable and telling the time
  • Describing your school day, comparison between UK and France schools, using “on” to say “we”
  • Talking about food in canteen and use of partitive article
  • Talking about computers and mobiles, regular -er verbs
  • Talking about which sports you play, using jouer a
  • Talking about activities using the verb faire de
  • Saying what you like doing using j’aime + infinitive verbs
  • Describing what other people do, using 3rd person plural
  • Talking about your town using il y a/ il n’y a pas de
  • Giving directions, understanding when to use tu and vous
  • Talking about where you go using a + the definite article
  • Asking someone to go somewhere using je veux/tu veux
  • Saying what you can do in town using on peut + the infinitive
  • Using nous to say we, talking about holidays
  • Talking about getting ready to go out, using reflexive verbs
  • Buying drinks and snacks, using higher numbers
  • Talking about future plans, using the near future
  • Saying what you would like to do using je voudrais
  • Learning about French artists and styles
  • Learning to describe a painting
  • Talking about sports

Related Web links

(Pupils are provided with the necessary usernames and passwords at the beginning of the year)

Extra – Curricular Opportunities: 

 Web links (shown above)

  • Weekly vocabulary tests or learning sheets.
  • Magazine subscriptions to Allons-y, personal, or library copies.
  • KS3 French Club- (Every Tuesday at lunch time in room 26)
  • KS3 Spanish Club – (Every Wednesday at lunch time)
  • French/Spanish Yoga Club/Workshops ( Summer term)
  • French Day

 Year 8

It is hoped that by Year 8 pupils will have mastered essential grammatical structures studied in previous years, thereby paving the way for further understanding of the French language as well as building vocabulary.

To begin with, pupils study a unit about “Media” where students will learn to write a project on their favourite book, film or TV show. After the autumn half term, students will cover the topic of “Holidays in the past tense”. This is also that they have a thorough understanding and experience of the perfect tense in Year 8. Pupils also learn to talk about the wider world, especially Europe and French-speaking countries.

Then pupils follow a topic on clothes and fashion, which incorporates three tenses, to allow for a level 6 possibility for G&T pupils, whilst reinforcing all three tenses for all pupils.

Finally, the pupils complete the topic of “Talent and Ambitions” where students will have the opportunity create a profile of a music start. They will also cover the topic of food and drink much more in depth.

At Gilbert Inglefield Academy, teachers use a variety of resources to make learning as motivating and engaging as possible. Resources consist of PowerPoint presentations, ICT resources, props, games, songs, teacher-made activities and we also use a variety of resources from a range of course books.

Course Outline

By the end of Year 8, pupils will have studied the topics below:

  • Talking about Media: TV, cinema, literature ( likes and dislikes, negatives and revision of present tense of -er verbs)
  • Talking about Paris (On peut + infinitive. Two verbs together j’aime + infinitive, introduction of the Perfect Tense – ‘er’ verbs and negative form)
  • Describing their identity
  • Talking about their relationships and music taste. (Focus on the Perfect Tense (verbs that take ‘être’ are now introduced properly) and learn key irregular verbs. The near future tense. Pupils to start using present, past and future confidently.)
  • Using three tenses with describing what they are wearing in detail. (Clothes and colours)
  • Understanding adjectival endings
  • Size and materials with clothes
  • Talking about places in a town using aller in the perfect tense
  • Talking about where they live and what they eat. (Il faut + infinitive, Revision of the near future and particles Du/de la/des)
  • Ordering food and designing a menu
  • Taking part in extended role plays in a restaurant.
  • Talking about talent and ambitions
  • Saying what you must and can do
  • Talking about jobs
  • Using the imperative
  • Writing a profile of a music star

Related Web links

(Pupils are provided with the necessary usernames and passwords at the beginning of the year)

Extra – Curricular Opportunities:  

  • KS3 French Club- (Every Tuesday at lunch time in room 26)
  • KS3 Spanish Club – (Every Wednesday at lunch time in room 33)
  • French/Spanish Yoga Club ( Summer term)
  • French Day
  • Web links (shown above)
  • Magazine subscriptions to Allons-y, privately through the school and in the school library.
  • Gifted and Talented Day partnered with Fulbrook and Brooklands Middle School.

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