French in the Prep

At Chilton, our aim in the Prep Department is to make French fun. If the children are having fun, they will want to take part and participate and to do that they have to speak in French! It is all about giving children confidence in speaking a different language and for them to want to communicate.

Teaching French offers opportunities for children to develop language skills and language-learning skills. It is also important to form a sound basis and a desire to learn more in Key Stage 3.

To do this, we play and make games, we sing songs and act out situations children are most likely to enjoy doing themselves: buying ice-creams, buying toys in supermarkets, ordering food and drink in a café, presenting fashion shows, or the weather forecast. The focus is on building self confidence, and therefore little emphasis is put on writing especially in the lower years.

Each year we look forward to our French Day where the children dress up as a French character, use Euros to buy a chocolat chaud and a croissant from the café, enjoy a French-themed lunch and participate in themed activities throughout the day. It is a day the children remember and look forward to repeating.