2 October 2014
Year 7 French - Information for Parents
Dear Parents and Carers
I hope that your son/daughter has settled into Teign and is enjoying lessons! I thought it would
be useful at this point in the year to give you some information about French for Year 7.
Lessons
Students have six lessons of French per fortnight and are currently being taught in mixed ability
teaching groups. They will have their first assessment in mid-October and we will use the results
of this, along with teacher input, to select one top set in each year half. The other students will
continue to be taught in mixed-ability groups. There will of course be the possibility of students
moving into and out of this top set at later assessment points.
Throughout the year, students will be learning grammar and vocabulary as well as skills that are
invaluable to language learning such as phonics, developing autonomy (including using a dictionary
effectively) and memory skills. It is vital that students remember to bring in their exercise book
and vocabulary book to each lesson.
Homework
Students will have at least one piece of homework per week which should generally take about 30
minutes to complete. This may involve learning vocabulary (spelling, meaning and pronunciation)
or be a piece of written work. Occasionally they may be given a more in-depth task in which
case they will be given longer to complete it. We expect all homework to be completed on time.
Late or non-completed homework will be logged using the school system and therefore two
uncompleted pieces of homework will lead to an after-school detention.
Foreign Language Spelling Bee Competition
In an effort to encourage students to learn new vocabulary in an engaging way, I have signed our
Year 7 up for the Foreign Language Spelling Bee competition. This is a national competition in
which students have to learn the meaning of and spell (using the French alphabet) French words.
The first round of the competition (the class competition) will take place at the beginning of
December when children will be tested on the first 50 words. There will then be a school
competition in February to determine the four Year 7 winners who will go on to represent the
school in the regional competition in April.
To make it more manageable for students we will be issuing them with ten words per week over
the next five weeks. They will need to learn the meanings of them and spell them using the
French alphabet and will be tested on these regularly in lessons. We will also be signing all
students up to a website, Vocab Express, to help them to learn the words.
Assessments
There will be one formal assessment each term to assess students’ progress in all four skills
(listening, speaking, reading and writing). As well as this, there will be regular tasks for which
National Curriculum levels will be given and students will be able to track their progress in each
skill on the progress tracker in the front of their exercise book. Dates for formal assessments are:
Autumn Term:
Spring Term:
Summer Term:
week beginning 13 October 2014
week beginning 2 March 2015
week beginning 1 June 2015
Dictionary
It would be useful for students to have a dictionary to support them with homework. We
recommend the Oxford Learner’s French dictionary as these are the ones that they will be used to
using in lessons. As we place a bulk order, we can offer these at the discounted price of £5.00 so
if you would like one, please pay by ParentPay by Monday 13 October and ask your son or
daughter to return the slip below to the Languages office in D block. If you receive this by
Parentmail and are unable to print, we can provide a printed copy of the slip.
Websites
There are also a number of websites that students can use to enhance their language learning.
For Year 7 we recommend Linguascope (www.linguascope.com login: teign, password: kitkat) and
Mylo (www.hellomylo.com).
Mini-French Exchange
For the first time last year we ran a mini-exchange with one of our partner schools based in
Brittany. French students came to stay with English families for three nights and then all students
and their teachers travelled by ferry back to France where the English students enjoyed four days
in France. It was a wonderful experience and we are planning on repeating this trip in June 2015.
More information will follow shortly about this.
Please do not hesitate to contact either myself or your son/daughter’s French teacher if you
would like any further information.
Yours sincerely
Liz Gavrilenko
Leader of Department
Modern Foreign Languages
ega@teignacademy.co.uk
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Year 7 – French Dictionary - Slip
I would like to purchase a French dictionary for my son/daughter and confirm that I have paid £5
using Parentpay:
Student Name: _________________________
Tutor Group: ___________________
Signature
Name_____________________________
____________________________