- Home
- Our Curriculum
- Subjects
- French - KS3
French - KS3
Students at SJB study French to become citizens of the world, equipped with transferable and communication skills, as well as an open-mindedness to other cultures.
Studying French at SJB enhances linguistic and cognitive skills, helps to foster deeper cultural understanding, improves future academic and careers prospects, and provides a practical advantage for travel and communication with French speakers.
Learning French also provides the skills needed to speak one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union, UNESCO, NATO, the International Olympic Committee, the International Red Cross and several international courts.
Below you can find the key documents that we share with students. These provide an overview of what we study, when in the key stage and how we assess students.
Catholic Social Teaching Principles in MFL
Mastery Assessment Framework for Year 7 - MFL
Mastery Assessment Framework for Year 8 - MFLMastery Assessment Framework for Year 9 - MFL
Please click below to find out more about what our students learn in each year group.
Our students will learn to use and adapt key grammatical skills that will enable them to converse in the target language using different time frames and be able to express personal opinions with confidence.
They will develop a wide range of vocabulary on topics such as personal identity, local area, school, free time and leisure activities. They will appreciate the cultural differences that exist in the world and have opportunities to experience first-hand what life is like in France.
A European Culture Club is offered at lunch time for students to explore French language and culture across Belgium and Switzerland in greater depth, exploring the arts, music, sports and current affairs.
In Year 7, the following French topics are covered in all languages:
• All about me
• Family and friends
• Free time
• Where I live
• School
Students focus on using the present tense and develop their skills in listening, reading, writing and speaking.
Year 7 French Assessments
Students are assessed on their vocabulary learning through fortnightly language and grammar tests.
Skills assessments are conducted termly on the following skills:
UNDERSTANDING (LISTENING, DICTATION & READING)
Understand familiar vocabulary, phrases and opinions in short written & spoken passages in the present tense.
Translate familiar words and short phrases into English.
PRODUCTION (WRITING & SPEAKING)
Write a few short, relevant sentences and respond to simple questions to give simple information and opinions in the present tense.
Translate familiar words and short phrases into the Target Language
In Year 8, students follow and continue their French journey from Year 7 and will build on the skills acquired in year 7. They will revisit some topics (for example: Family, School) and further develop their range of vocabulary using an online vocabulary learning application.
Students at the end of year 8 should be confident forming short paragraphs using two tenses that combine both regular and irregular verbs. They should also be able to extract key information from short passages of spoken and written French.
When writing and speaking in the target language, students will begin to include time expressions, sequencers, and intensifiers to further personalise their work. There are opportunities for students to enrich their cultural appreciation of target language countries through the use of news articles, films and music.
A European Culture Club is also offered at lunch time for Year 8 students to explore French language and culture across Belgium and Switzerland in greater depth, exploring the arts, music, sports and current affairs.
All languages cover the following topics:
• My family, friends and me
• Local area and/or holidays
• School
• Work and future plans
• Global dimension
Students focus on using two tenses; the present tense, as well as the future or past tense. Students continue to develop their skills in listening, reading, writing and speaking.
Year 8 French Assessments
Students are assessed on their vocabulary learning through fortnightly language and grammar tests.
Skills assessments are conducted termly on the following skills:
UNDERSTANDING (LISTENING, DICTATION & READING)
Understand shorter and long written and spoken passages which include opinions with basic reasons and up to two different tenses (present and past/future). Begin to recognise and use strategies to cope with distractors.
Translate longer sentences into English showing awareness of vocabulary and some grammatical structures.
PRODUCTION (WRITING & SPEAKING)
Write short texts & respond to questions on a range of topics to give information, opinions and basic reasons. Use up to two tenses (present and past/future).
Translate simple sentences into the Target Language containing familiar words & grammatical structures.
In Year 9, students begin to study some of the French topics from Year 8 in greater depth. Year 9 students will add the final time frame tense(s) to their grammar portfolio, so that they are able to successfully converse in the language across a range of topics. Students by the end of the year should be able to follow grammatical patterns to form six different tenses (present, past perfect, near future, simple future, imperfect and conditional). They will also feel more confident analysing and responding to longer passages of spoken and written French.
Complex structures, such as negative expressions, modal verbs and using comparatives and superlatives will enable students to develop their work further and prepare for the transition to Key Stage 4.
Students will be exposed to selected French films (Les choristes) and music through the year to help them develop a taste for French culture.
Themes studied in Year 9:
• My world
• Travel
• Work and future plans
• My life now and then
• World issues
Students focus on using three tenses; the present, past and future tenses, as well as gaining familiarity with GCSE-style tasks.
Students continue to develop their skills in listening, reading, writing and speaking.
Year 9 French Assessments
Students are assessed on their vocabulary learning through fortnightly language and grammar tests.
Skills assessments are conducted termly on the following skills:
UNDERSTANDING (LISTENING, DICTATION & READING)
Understand shorter and long written and spoken passages which include opinions with basic reasons & up to two different tenses (present & past/future).
Begin to recognise and use strategies to cope with distractors.
Translate longer sentences into English showing awareness of vocabulary & some grammatical structures
PRODUCTION (WRITING & SPEAKING)
Understand short & longer written and spoken passages which include opinions with reasons and up to three tenses.
Recognise and use strategies to cope with distractors.
Use processes to work out meaning from texts, sometimes with unfamiliar language.
Translate longer sentences and short passages into English showing awareness of vocabulary and some grammatical structures.