French

JUNIOR SCHOOL French

Learning French in Junior School

Learning another language helps to develop communicative skills and to encourage intercultural knowledge and understanding. Learning languages opens students’ minds to different cultures whereby students feel “Citizens of the World”.

At St Cuthbert’s Junior School, we nurture a lifelong passion and curiosity for languages and consolidate the skills for future language learning. The students have the opportunity to learn French from Year 0 to Year 6.

My teaching of French in our Junior School is all about hands on learning and having fun. The students can experience French food, get to know France and important landmarks and learn about the French language and culture.

This year was a very special year as we had to adopt to different ways of learning. When we had our French Zoom classes girls created origami croissants instead of devouring real ones. Girls were challenged to recreate the Eiffel Tower with materials they had available at home. They learned about French food and their love for “escargots” and the girls were sent off to look out for snails in their backyards.

Students created houses made of paper, labelled them in French, and gave us a virtual tour. They enjoyed creating family portraits depicting their families in as much detail as possible. Girls were able to then film themselves presenting their family.

We talked about favourite sports and the students were encouraged to dress up in their sports uniform, pretending to play and record themselves saying which sport they were playing.

The girls learned and performed traditional French songs and dances and they loved using puppets or masks to present themselves in French.

Even though it was a different way to approach learning French this year, it is amazing how well the girls adapted and progressed, and how much fun they had along the way.