French Curriculum Plan – Nuneaton Academy

Curriculum Leader

 Daniel Perera

daniel.perera@nuneatonacademy.org.uk

YEAR

1st Half of the year (September – February)

2nd Half of the year (March –July)

7

Moi, moi, moi

In this unit pupils are introduced to the basics of the language, including phonetic and spelling patterns, basic grammar such as agreements and word order, and key vocabulary such as numbers and dates. They develop their ability to understand classroom commands and to use basic classroom language among themselves and with the teacher appropriately. Teachers and learners’ use of the target language is carefully considered.

Students develop the ability to introduce themselves, ask others about personal information and to express what activities they usually do. They begin to develop their ability to express opinions and preferences.

My Family

In this unit pupils develop their ability to describe people and animals and express simple opinions about family members and preferences about colours and animals.

Learners develop their ability to give and justify opinions.  The key verbs ‘avoir’ and ‘être’ are used in the present tense to allow students to describe people in their context.  Adjectival agreement and noun gender are introduced.

School

In this unit pupils develop their ability to express preferences and justify them, to discuss their school routine including times and the facilities at their school.

Students learn to make comparisons using familiar and unfamiliar adjectives.  The impersonal pronoun ‘on’ is used to describe why students prefer might prefer some school subjects to others.  Further development of personal descriptions is made with reference to teachers.

The near future and conditional tenses are briefly explored to allow students to communicate what they plan to do after school (development of activities) and what they would like to have in their school.

Where I Live

In this unit pupils further develop their ability to establish comparisons and express their opinions including some justification. They develop their ability to describe houses and locations and express preferences, including where they would like to live in the future.

Mid-Year Assessment: Reading and writing

End of Year Assessment: Listening, reading and writing

8

Holidays

We start the year with the introduction of the past time frame which will be revisited under each unit this year to ensure pupils embed it in their long term memories and have plenty of opportunity to practise it in different contexts.

Students narrate events on holiday in the past using a combination of both familiar and unfamiliar activities.

We revisit the near future tense to allow students to express themselves in three time frames.

Going Out & Staying In

This unit revisits and extends some vocabulary and grammar from year 7, while making full use of the infinitives learnt or revised in the previous unit. In this unit pupils further develop their ability to express future plans and narrate events in the past as well as expressing preferences about their free time and make comparisons. The focus on role plays lends itself to specific practice of aural skill and phonics.

Daily Routine, Health & Fitness

In this unit pupils develop their ability to discuss their daily routine and give their opinion about it, including any desired changes, as well as develop their ability to discuss simple healthy and unhealthy habits including recommendations. The focus on role plays lends itself to specific practice of aural skill and phonics.

Students describe their daily routine and narrate a day in their life in the past tense.  Reflexive verbs are introduced and used to discuss daily tasks.

Students learn to give and understand advice using modal verbs.

School & Future Plans

In this unit pupils revisit key language from year 7 such as personal description, subjects and expressing opinions. They further develop their ability to discuss school life including giving and seeking opinions about school rules, uniform, etc. In unit 8 pupils also develop their ability to discuss their hopes and ambitions for the future combining more than one way of expressing the future time frame.

Mid-Year Assessment: listening and speaking

End of Year Assessment: Listening, reading and writing

9

Relationships

The first unit in year 9 combines revision of previously learnt language with the introduction of a wider range of vocabulary, allowing for a more mature and sophisticated way of describing people, personal relationships and future wishes. Pupils also extend their ability to express preferences, future plans and to narrate events in the past, including a range of past tenses.

Festivals & Celebrations

This is a predominantly cultural unit aimed at expanding knowledge of other countries’ traditions and to establish comparisons with their own culture. In this unit pupils further develop their ability to express future plans and narrate events in the past combining various tenses.

Students compare differences between how festivals and traditions are celebrated in different French-speaking countries.

City or Region in French-speaking Country

In this unit pupils further develop their knowledge about and ability to compare different countries and cultures. They extend their knowledge about the French-speaking world or an area of a French speaking country by learning about particular cities/countries/areas.

The World Around Us

This is the last unit in our KS3 curriculum and a clear bridge between KS3 and KS4. Pupils have the opportunity to extend their knowledge about world-wide issues through French, using knowledge they might have acquired via other areas of the curriculum such as Geography or PSHE.

Students describe and discuss problems facing the environment and how we can help to solve them.  Comparisons are made to problems that existed when students were younger (using the imperfect tense).  Students also consider their own future plans and how they might help people in the future.

Mid-Year Assessment: Reading and writing

End of Year Assessment: Listening, reading and writing.