French

At Bentley, we teach French as our Modern Foreign Language (MFL) from Year R. We believe learning a foreign language enriches children's experiences of their immediate world and provides an opening to other cultures and communities. Our MFL curriculum fosters our children's curiosity and deepens their understanding of the wider world. It enables children to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It also provides opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes. We believe our curriculum provides a strong foundation for learning further languages later and may inspire them to hope to study and work in other countries.

You'll find lots of useful everyday words and phrases on the handout at the foot of the page; it could be laminated and used as a mat. You can extend your French learning at home in many interesting ways. Here are a few ideas...

Internet-based resources

From stories on Youtube to fun games to play, the internet has made learning a language at home so much easier. Here are some of the fun resources Madame Jones uses in the classroom to learn French.

YOUTUBE

YouTube is great for songs and stories. Below are some ideas to get you started and some of our favourites:

Stories

Va t’en Grand Monstre Vert (tagadatsointsoin production) (Y2 and Y6) – Click here
Le Loup qui voulait changer de couleur (Tillthecat) – KS1 – click here
Le Loup qui voulait faire le tour du monde (Tillthecat) (Y3 and Y5) – Click here
Un automne avec Pop (Fanny Saldias) – all years – Click here

Songs

Here are some French channels to subscribe to for some songs.

Mini TFO
Monde des Titounis
Maître Lucas
Alain le Lait

Other YouTube channels

Nattalingo Productions – Nathalie Paris created lots of short videos for home learning during lockdown.
Mr Johnson MFL – aimed at secondary but the language content is often the same as primary e.g. days of the week
Little French House – variety of French activities from gardening to cooking aimed at primary children.

WEBSITES

BBC Bitesize

Click here to go to the BBC KS1 Bitesize Page for French.
Click here to go to the BBC KS2 Bitesize Page for French.

Games

Click here to go to the French games website and follow the instructions to play a range of fun games.

Duolingo

Lots of children really love to play Duolingo. The app can be downloaded onto a phone or tablet for free and can be played in lots of different languages.

Other ideas

Hopscotch is a game which is great for practising French numbers and is a good way of getting outside.
Making puppets and using them to practise French conversation.
Make mini-books and use these to practise simple French writing e.g. Write about yourself, A French book of Colours
Play games like Snakes and Ladders in French using the French numbers up to 6 from the dice.
Practise a role play in French e.g. a café or shop