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French Curriculum KS3

Curriculum Intent 

Sacred Heart is a community of faith and learning, based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, his values and teachings. The Sacred Heart five goals and High Performance Learning are at the centre of our Sacred Heart Education.

Advanced Performers 

Our French teachers believe in fostering a passion for languages through a well-planned, rigorous curriculum and innovative, engaging teaching. Via CPL&D, we are committed to constantly improve everything we do so that we can make a difference to the young women who will shape our future, regardless of ability or background. We demand a high standard of work and behaviour from all our pupils so that they can achieve high levels of attainment and expertise in French, enabling them to fulfil their potential both in Higher Education and Careers.  The French department  takes a ‘backwards planning’ approach to curriculum and assessment.

Our French lessons are designed to develop pupils’:

  • Understanding of the spoken and written forms of French  in a range of contexts including authentic materials.
  • Ability to communicate effectively in French through speaking and writing using a range of vocabulary, grammatical structures, explicit teaching of phonics, and engaging texts.
  • Intellectual confidence, for example by entering our in-house competitions as well as external ones.

Our lessons help pupils increase literacy across English as we  encourage them to compare French to English, leading to improvements in the knowledge of  English grammar and  use of metalanguage.  Via a range of strategies we employ, for example the teaching of phonics, our French lessons lead to improvements in reading skills

Global citizens and leaders

Via the use of engaging texts in French lessons and our cultural capital enrichment club, our competitions, we build pupils’ cultural capital by developing their  aesthetic appreciation of the rich heritage of France and French speaking countries.  We cover aspects of history, geography, current affairs, human rights in France and French speaking countries.   The worldly knowledge pupils acquire in our lessons contributes to British values – tolerance, diversity. 

Enterprising and confident learners

We provide a safe learning environment built upon mutual respect. The message communicated to  pupils is that they can learn from their mistakes, enabling them to become more resilient in all key stages. 

French is a challenging and respected academic pursuit. The logic and rigour required by the subject are very highly regarded by Higher Education Institutions. French is useful as a tool to such a wide range of careers that success ensures many opportunities later in life.

Themes
Skills -Assessment Objectives (AOs)
  • My life: Me, my family & friends
  • Where I live: My town, my free time
  • My school: Opinions, subjects
  • My holidays: Opinions, past tense
  • AO1 – Listening (understand & respond to different types of spoken language)
  • AO2 – Speaking (communicate & interact in speech)
  • AO3 – Reading (understand & respond to different types of written language)
  • AO4 - Writing (communicate in writing)

Modules Taught

Year 7
 
Year 8
 
Year 9

Access Studio/ bridging course in Aut term
Greetings and introductions; Numbers 1-100;The alphabet; Days of the week and months;Classroom objects and school equipment;Colours and describing pets; Saying what sports you do or don’t do and express your opinion

Module 1:  talking about likes and dislikes, describing yourself and others, introducing yourself in detail

Module 2: school subjects and giving opinions about them, describing your school day, talking about food, talking about schools in other Francophone countries, talking about future job plans, talking about Christmas and other winter celebrations in France and other Francophone countries

Module 3: talking about computer and mobiles, talking about sports you play and activities, talking about what you and others like doing, extreme sport

 

Module 1: Describing where you live and what there is/ isn’t to do; Giving directions to be able to get from one places to another, talking about where you go at the weekend, asking someone to go somewhere, saying what you can and can’t do where you live, learning facts about France and Francophone countries

Module 2: Talking about your holidays, talking about getting ready to go out, taking about future holiday plans, talking about dream holiday plans, talking about where people can go on holiday in France or Francophone countries, buying drinks and Snacks

Module 3: A creative module on describing pets they have drawn in art, reading and writing poems and describing paintings

Module 4: Talking about TV and film, talking about reading, what you do/did on social media, talking about what you did yesterday evening.

Module 5:  Describing what you do and did in Paris, understanding information about a tourist attraction, being able to talk about where you went and how.

 

 

 

Module 1  talking about your personality and relationships, being able to describe what you and others wear, talking about your passions in the three tenses

Module 2  Describing different regions in France, talking about where you live, describing your house, talking about meals and buying food, being able to talk about an event

Module 3 talking about talent and ambition, encouraging or persuading someone, being able to give someone instructions, giving advice and orders, being able to say who is the best, the most, the least, using a variety of structures and the language

Module 4 Learning world geography and Francophone countries, understanding why the 14th July is a national bank holiday in France, learning parts of the body in French and what hurts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assessment

Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Personal details            

Family and pets
School life and future plans
Hobbies

Town
Holidays
Leisure and media

Me, family and friends
My home and area, events in present, past & future

 

 

 

Stretch & Challenge

Extension questions & tasks, focus on specific exam skills, authentic resources

Enrichment Opportunities

Cultural elements embedded in lessons, summer term project TBC