Modern languages are now well established in many primary schools. Much of the best primary practice has been entirely teacher-led, as practitioners in the classroom have created new materials for French, German or Spanish, aimed at their own classes. A wealth of that material is now available on TES Resources, and more is uploaded daily.
Getting started
There are a number of phonics resources for children to learn the sounds of French. “Francophoniques” has been designed with a multi-layered VAK approach to fixing new learning in longer-term memory, as each key sound is given an iconic word that represents it. The word is learnt through a visual, a gesture and the sound of the word itself. “French phonics work - tons of stuff!” is a rich treasure trove of work on French phonics. With lots of activities to do in the classroom, this is one of the most popular resources.
Taking it further
Ma surprise du zoo is a French version of the PowerPoint of the English story Dear Zoo, with a variety of follow-up activities. One teacher reviewer said: “Fantastic surprise! A whole lesson I don’t need to plan for. Lovely activities. C’est formidable!” There’s an excellent resource called Jeux Olympiques, using a CLIL (content and language integrated learning) approach. It uses clear visuals and simplified language to teach the history of the modern Olympics. This would be an excellent introduction to sports or an ideal way of looking ahead to the Olympics. Other resources include countries where French is spoken around the world, simple weather resources and a weather song, French songs, and a PowerPoint and audio resources using the French version of the song Old MacDonald.
Where to find it
www.tes.co.ukprimary-mfl.
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