St PetersCE Primary School
The French Graduate Award Scheme is your opportunity to deepen your knowledge and explore French beyond the classroom.
In order to become a French graduate, you will need to
- Plan and teach a French lesson to a key stage 1 class
- Prepare for and take part in a French conversation with Mrs Barnes
Plan and teach a French lesson
As a French Graduate, you will become the teacher and introduce younger pupils to French.
You will need to:
- Choose a suitable topic
- Plan a 20-minute lesson
- Include plenty of speaking and listening
- Create or prepare resources
- Teach the lesson to a KS1 class
- Be observed by the French subject specialist (Mrs Barnes)
- Reflect on your teaching afterwards
The aim isn't to teach KS1 children lots of French. The aim is to make them confidently say and understand a small number of French words or phrases.
Possible topics:
Greetings
- Bonjour!
- Salut!
- Au revoir!
- Ça va?
- Ça va bien!
Colours
- rouge
- bleu
- vert
- jaune
- rose
- noir
- blanc
Numbers
- un–dix
Animals
- un chat
- un chien
- un lapin
- un lion
- un éléphant
Fruit
- une pomme
- une banane
- une orange
- une fraise
Weather
- Il fait chaud.
- Il fait froid.
- Il pleut.
- Il y a du soleil.
Parts of the body
- la tête
- les yeux
- le nez
- la bouche
- les oreilles
Classroom language
- écoutez
- répétez
- regardez
- asseyez-vous
- levez-vous
Lesson structure:
1. Bonjour! — 2 minutes
The pupil introduces themselves: Bonjour! Je m'appelle ______.
They teach the children to say: Bonjour! Je m'appelle...
Perhaps use a puppet or teddy to make it less intimidating.
2. Introduce the vocabulary — 5 minutes
Introduce perhaps 5–6 words maximum.
For example, animals:
🐶 un chien
🐱 un chat
🐰 un lapin
🦁 un lion
🐭 une souris
The pupil models each word.
Teacher: "Écoutez... un chien."
Children listen.
Teacher: "Répétez... un chien."
Children repeat.
Then gradually remove the support.
"Quel animal?"
Children respond:
"Un chien!"
3. Listening game — 4 minutes
Demonstrate that you can teach listening, not just get children to repeat words.
For example:
"Montrez-moi!" = show me
Place five animal pictures on the board.
"Montrez-moi le chat!" show me the cat
Children point to the correct picture.
Then make it more challenging:
"Montrez-moi le chat et le chien."
Or:
"Où est le lapin?" where is the rabbit?
4. Speaking game — 5 minutes
For example, "Devinez!" guess
Secretly choose an animal.
Children ask:
"Un chien?"
Teacher:
"Oui!" / "Non!"
Or the teacher shows a picture and asks:
"Quel animal?"
Children answer:
"Un lion!"
Alternatively, children could take turns asking each other.
5. Final challenge — 3 minutes
Finish with a little "Can you remember?" challenge.
Show pictures one at a time and children say the French.
Then perhaps remove the pictures.
"What is this?"
The children have to recall the word without visual support.
Finally:
"Très bien! Au revoir!"
Lesson reflection
- What went well?
- What did the children learn?
- What was the most successful activity? Why?
- What would I change if I taught the lesson again?
- What did I learn about being a teacher?
- Would you like to be a French teacher? Explain why or why not.
French conversation
Choose five categories that you would like to practise before your conversation with Mrs Barnes.
Mrs Barnes will ask you questions from your five chosen categories, so make sure you are prepared to answer questions about each one.
Below, you will find the categories along with some sentence starters and ideas to help you prepare your answers.
Remember: You do not need to write out your answers word-for-word. Use the sentence starters to help you practise speaking in French and build your confidence.