Modern Foreign Languages - French

One of our school ‘drivers’ is for us all to be good ‘global citizens’, and an important aspect of that is generating enthusiasm about the world and its people. Learning another language is part of that – because it enables children to communicate with others – and it shows a desire to connect with others from different cultures and backgrounds.

The global citizenship element is taught and promoted from Reception onwards, and children at Clinton learn French from Year 3, for an hour a week.

Their lessons are based very much on speaking and listening, and they are learning rehearsal skills in order that they know how to improve and develop. We want our children to be able to develop the ability to converse using the language they have learnt, so we build their vocabulary into short phrases which they can use.

We have routinely taken children to France in Year 6, and the children are encouraged to put their language to use! We try and give them a purpose for learning the language, so that they know they are building up to an event!