French

Our French program begins at the pre-kindergarten grade level, where the child learns conversational French. An oral-aural approach is used, and the language is bought to life through games and songs. This method of teaching is used throughout all of the lower grades, encouraging our students to gain confidence with the language, whilst steadily building their vocabulary. From pre-kindergarten to second grade, the program is built on relevant and timely events; the seasons, seasonal events, holidays and themes of relevance to young children are the main topics covered.

In the third grade, the topics of time and date are introduced and vocabulary continues to be built. As the child proceeds through the fourth to eighth grades, conversation continues to be stressed, but increasing emphasis is placed on reading and writing French. Throughout all the grades, seasonal holidays and events that are relevant to the French language such as Valentine’s Day and Mardi Gras, continue to be celebrated.

In the fourth, fifth and sixth grades, the text “Exploring French” is used to introduce numerous topics. In fourth grade, greetings, expressions of courtesy, commands and numbers are explored. In fifth grade we cover geography, house and family. The sixth grade moves onto colors, time concepts and clothing - culminating in the sixth grade French fashion show!

As our students move into the seventh and eight grades we introduce a new text: “Allez Viens!” With this text we have an increased focus on grammar, whilst continuing to build reading, writing, and self-expression skills. Verb conjugations form an important part of our work in these last two years.

In both the sixth and the eighth grade, our students take part in national competitions; “The Foreign Language Elementary School Challenge” for sixth graders, and the NFT competition for eighth graders.

At the end of our French curriculum our students are well equipped to move into French 1 or French 2 study in their chosen high school. We focus on providing them with a strong grounding in French, taught through fun and creativity, to create a life-long love of the language.