FRENCH CURRICULUM

EYFS (Nursery and Reception) 

Children will: 

  • Become comfortable hearing spoken French and begin to mimic words and sounds 

  • Listen to authentic French children’s songs 

  • Begin to sing along to familiar French songs when led by the teacher 

  • Learn actions to help them memorise songs and relate the words to the meaning  

  • Gradually build up their first French collection of basic words relating to greetings, numbers, colours, animals, days of the week, parts of the body, clothes, weather and food 



KS1 (Year 1 and Year 2) 

Children will: 

  • Understand and respond to spoken French when it forms part of their rituals 

  • Be gradually introduced to French sounds and graphemes including those that are different in French and English (e.g. French /ch/ sounds like English /sh/). They will learn to mimic the sounds and copy the written forms 

  • Discover the language through songs and stories to enable them to secure their basic vocabulary relating to greetings, numbers, colours, animals, days and months, parts of the body, clothes, weather and food. 

  • Develop a basic understanding of some French cultural celebrations such as Christmas and Mardi Gras 

  • Know the colours of the French flag  



KS2 (Years 3 and 4) ​

Children will: 

  • Understand and respond to spoken French when it forms part of their lesson rituals or a well- rehearsed conversation 

  • Be able to introduce themselves in French (name and age) 

  • Be confident using the language in familiar contexts (e.g. greetings, providing the date, singing happy birthday) 

  • Be able to state their likes and dislikes 

  • Be able to match spoken pronunciation to its written form 

  • Recognise French graphemes and understand that there are sometimes silent letters at the end of French words 

  • Understand that /e/ /é/ and /è/ represent different sounds 

  • Extend and solidify vocabulary from familiar topics such as food and numbers and give it a meaningful context (e.g. shopping for food, ordering a snack, asking about the price) 

  • Be familiar with the first person (je) and second person (tu/vous) 

  • Be aware of the word order of colour adjectives (e.g. une pomme rouge not rouge pomme) 

  • Understand the concept of gender for all French nouns 



KS2 (Years 5 and 6) 

Children will: 

  • Understand and respond to spoken French in familiar contexts 

  • Be able to introduce and describe yourself 

  • Be able to ask basic questions to others and respond when others ask them questions 

  • Express likes and dislikes with a variety of expressions  

  • Develop new vocabulary for school life (stationery, subjects, school uniform, classroom furniture), leisure activities and home-life 

  • Consolidate and extend vocabulary for familiar topic areas (weather, family, animals, clothes, food, shopping) 

  • Make adjectives agree (e.g. un stylo vert, une trousse verte) 

  • Be able to define a word of vocabulary using only French 

  • Be able to read a short paragraph in French and understand the gist 

  • Be able to read a short paragraph out loud in French so that it is intelligible to a French person 

  • Compare how French children and British children dress for school 

  • Become aware of the main celebrations in the French calendar 



KS3 (Years 7 and 8) 

Children will: 

  • Understand and respond to spoken French in familiar contexts 

  • Be able to introduce and describe yourself 

  • Be able to ask questions to others and respond when others ask them questions 

  • Be able to take part in a roleplay, ask for information and respond appropriately 

  • Incorporate authentic idiomatic phrases into their oral production (e.g. Zut alors!) 

  • Express likes and dislikes and give reasons and examples to support their opinions 

  • Recognise French diphthongs in familiar words and use that knowledge to aid pronunciation of new words 

  • Follow the gist of basic conversations 

  • Be able to define a word of vocabulary using only French 

  • Be able to talk about the past, present and future 

  • Be able to read a text in French and understand the gist 

  • Be able to read a text out loud in French following the pronunciation rules so that it can be easily understood 

  • Develop new vocabulary relating to health, holidays, directions, technology and the environment whilst consolidating and extending familiar topic areas (weather, family, animals, clothes, food, shopping, telling the time, school life, stationery, subjects, leisure activities, sports and homelife). 

  • Write a self-portrait 

  • Write about your morning routine 

  • Write an account of a past event (e.g. details about a holiday using the perfect tense) 

  • Make comparisons between school life in Britain and in France (e.g.  the length of the school day and the choice of subjects available in schools) 

  • Understand that French is spoken in Canada, 5 European countries, 26 African countries and several small island nations 

  • Compare cultural celebrations and sporting events in different countries