« Avoir une autre langue, c’est posséder une deuxième âme »
To have a second language is to have a second soul
Charlemagne, King of the Franks, 768-814
The French Department aims to equip pupils with a solid foundation of knowledge and communication skills to encourage them to flourish with courage, curiosity and compassion as independent global citizens. Through learning French, we want to open a world of new possibilities and opportunities for our pupils, deepen their understanding of their own culture and those of others, and to foster a lifelong love of language learning.
Our specialist teachers work with our pupils from Year 1 all the way to Year 11. Our impressive GCSE examination results are a testament to the quality of teaching and learning taking place throughout a pupil’s French experience at Ballard. We bring French to life through a number of fun events and experiences: cooking and tasting traditional food, a virtual exchange with our partner school in Vendée, themed days at school, trips to France, and of course our after-school clubs which offer opportunities to have fun with the language, raise attainment or practise conversation and debating skills in la langue de Molière.
Pre-Prep
French is taught from Year 1 by our Head of French, accompanied by our lovely French bear, Camembear. Together they cover a wide range of cross-curricular topics in French using songs, rhymes, games, activities and stories.
Each week our star pupil is given the opportunity to go home with one of Camembear’s cousins and our young learners enjoy practising new words and phrases with them.
Lower Prep
Pupils continue to learn through games, stories and role plays and follow the adventure of an English family moving to France, where they make new friends and learn about life in a different country. The emphasis is placed on speaking as much as possible with a light-touch introduction to key grammatical concepts which support children’s literacy and provide a strong grounding for their move to the upper section of the school.
Upper Prep
Pupils in Year 6 and above have their own French digital notebooks and access to a number of engaging online learning platforms. As the language taught becomes more complex, pupils continue to progress as confident language learners and delve deeper into how to manipulate vocabulary and structures. They finish their time in this section of the school with a visit to Normandy and are able to put their language skills to the test.
Senior
On entering the Senior school, pupils focus their attention on expanding the breadth of their vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. Our objective remains the same: to develop students’ French language skills and to give them the tools and knowledge to communicate in a variety of contexts with confidence. Alongside rigorous preparation for the AQA French GCSE, the language is brought to life through cultural events, language learning competitions and our link to like-minded students from our partner school in France.
