Early Years: fun with new sounds!

French begins in Year 1 and continues through the early years with a lively blend of language games and songs. We are looking to develop a good accent and keenness to participate.

When children progress to Years 3 and 4 in the prep school they continue to follow a lively oral approach to the subject, but with an increasing allocation of time, reflecting the importance we place on good language skills. With the introduction of simple written work – role-plays, songs and worksheets – we are able to build an understanding of how familiar words break down into syllables, and how sounds match with spellings. With the emphasis on phonics, it is like learning to read all over again!

Children joining the school with little or no experience of French in these early years need not worry, as we revisit key areas of vocabulary frequently in order to reinforce and extend knowledge. The children grow and develop so quickly that they are always ready to tackle things in a new way.

Formal Study: combining knowledge with real skills!

Our more formal programme begins in Year 5. We have 3 sets for French, ensuring that every child can continue to develop the confidence gained during the early years. There is of course movement between the sets, and it would be quite possible for an able beginner to progress from set 3 to set 1 during the course of their first academic year here.

Our scheme of work for years 5 to 8 broadly follows Encore Tricolore, but we feel that the key to our success at Vinehall has always been our sense of ambition and our willingness to stretch children through the use of a wide range of our own resources, which take children beyond the texts book. Creativity and tasks combining the four skills are highly valued – for example the adaptation of stories or the writing of playlets based on stories. Wherever possible, we are looking for real skills as well as examination success. Independent learning is supported by the use of our extensive library of stories accompanied by cassettes for individual listening.

Visits are very important to us and, for many years, we have organised exchanges to areas such as Gascony, Lyon and Normandy. The children enjoy having penfriends and they are able to gain a real understanding of the subject through visits to France. In order to bring France into the classroom, we have been acquiring a growing collection of French films on DVD. Most children are able to follow French sound track supported by French subtitles, and even the youngest are able to enjoy Harry Potter in French! Future projects include interactive boards in our language suite of three classrooms, as well as French T.V. via satellite.