Curriculum Aims

Sacre Coeur

Aims

  • To foster a positive attitude and enjoyment in the process of acquiring a new language.
  • To impart a clear idea of the importance and relevance of learning a foreign language.
  • To teach French as a living, spoken language through speaking and listening.
  • To reach pupils to be able to read and write French.
  • To equip pupils with a thoroughly learnt vocabulary.
  • To instil a readily accessible knowledge and understanding of everyday sayings, idioms and phrases.
  • To impart a knowledge of the basic rules of French grammar.
  • To expose pupils to language beyond the basic syllabus and consequently extend their passive vocabulary.
  • To prepare pupils thoroughly and rigorously for the demands of the 13+ Common Entrance examination and scholarship where appropriate, without the workload ever feeling too burdensome.
  • To instil good language learning habits in the pupils.
  • To develop pupils' awareness of other languages and demonstrate how key concepts are often transferable.
  • To impart an awareness of the cultural differences between France and other Francophone countries and England.
  • To ensure that pupils feel valued, confident and positively encouraged in their French lessons and linguistic abilities. Pupils should be able to recognise their particular strengths in particular skill areas.

Syllabus

By the time they sit the 13+ Common Entrance Exam, the boys will have learnt the relevant vocabulary and structures for the following topics, at least once and often twice.

  • The language of the classroom
  • House, home daily routine and chores
  • Life and work at school
  • Time, dates, numbers and prices
  • Personal description
  • Family, friends and pets
  • Meeting people
  • Free–time activities
  • Describing holiday activities
  • Visiting a café of restaurant
  • Simple health problems
  • Description of a town or region
  • Finding the way and using transport
  • Understanding tourist information
  • Shopping (e.g. for food, clothes, presents) and pocket money
  • Weather

The following grammar is thoroughly learnt and practised:

 Verbs

  • Present tense: Regular and common irregular verbs
  • Common reflexive verbs
  • Passé composé with avoir / être
  • Future tense with aller
  • Imperfect tense
  • Imperative forms
  • Infinitive after aller, aimer, détester, préferér, vouloir, pouvoir, devoir
  • Interrogative forms + est–ce que
  • Negative with: ne........pas, ne......jamais, ne.....plus, ne.....rien,
  • Idiomatic expressions: e.g. avoir chaud / froid / faim / soif / mal, faire + weather

Nouns

  • Genders and plurals of common nouns
  • Definite article
  • Indefinite article
  • Partitive article ( and de / d' with quantity + negatives )


Adjectives

  • Agreement and position of regular and irregular adjectives
  • Comparison of adjectives: moins / plus / aussi + adj......que
  • Possessive adjectives: (mon / ma / mes etc..)
  • Demonstrative adjectives


Adverbs

  • Adverbs ending in –ment
  • Common adverbs


Pronouns

  • Subject personal pronouns, including on
  • Reflexive pronouns
  • Disjunctive pronouns (moi, toi etc...)
  • Direct object pronouns
  • Relative pronouns


Prepositions and conjunctions

  • Common prepositions and conjunctions


Numerals

  • Cardinal numbers: 0 – 1000
  • Ordinal numbers: 1 – 10
  • Dates and time: 12–hour and 24–hour clock
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