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The Primary French Project

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• This short presentation is to introduce
teachers to the Niveau Bleu Primary
French Project
• For further details and how to book a
course please contact Denise Martin,
Network for Languages National Manager
• d.martin@bathspa.ac.uk
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The Primary French Project
The Primary French Project is a collaboration between
•The Association for Language Learning (ALL)
•Network for Languages
•Institut français du Royaume-Uni (IFRU)
The purpose of the Primary French Project is to support
any primary school in the UK that wishes to teach
French throughout Key Stage 2 as part of the statutory
curriculum, by offering excellent training for teachers.

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The Primary French Project
The training takes place as the teacher uses the French
teaching materials classroom. The materials have the
following aims:
•to exemplify the Programme of Study for Languages in
Key Stage 2
•to train teachers with little or no knowledge of French
(language and methodology)

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The Primary French Project
The materials support all teachers of French in KS2 by:
•providing class teaching materials that develop the teacher’s
subject knowledge (French language and culture);
•saving planning time - all materials include half-termly planning
and weekly lesson plans;
•saving preparation time - all materials include easy-to-use
PowerPoint presentations to enable teachers to deliver each
lesson through the interactive whiteboard, together with printable
picture cards and word cards, and links to French story books on
line;
•providing exemplification of the Programme of Study for
Languages in KS2, with strong links to literacy;
•providing a scaffolding for linguistic progression throughout KS2.

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Culturethèque
The Primary French Project materials are all
downloadable for free, from Culturethèque
website.
http://culturetheque.org.uk/learn
The Training Logs will also be there from
Autumn 2014.

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Primary French Project Training
Although the Primary
French Project
materials can be used
to teach children,
their core purpose
is to be a
mechanism that
trains the teacher.

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Primary French Project Training
By using the
materials to teach
children, the teacher’s
subject knowledge is
developed in terms of
vocabulary, linguistic
progression,
grammar,
pronunciation,
intonation and
spelling, as well as
cultural knowledge.

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Primary French Project Training
Primary French
training is developed
over a minimum of
four years, starting
with niveau bleu,
then moving on to
niveau blanc, niveau
rouge and niveau
tricolore.

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Primary French Project Training
A complete course of KS2 French
training comprises:
1st
year of training - use niveau bleu
materials to teach children in year 3;
2nd
year of training - use niveau blanc
materials to teach children in year 4;
3rd
year of training - use niveau rouge
materials to teach children in year 5;
4th
year of training - use niveau
tricolore materials to teach children in
year 6.

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Primary French Project Training
Primary French training at
each level is achieved as
the teacher uses the
materials for a minimum of
one school year for:
•planning
•delivery
•assessment

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Primary French Project Training
Training for secondary
teachers is identified as
niveau multicolore, and
this is designed to help
secondary teachers to
understand the primary
experience and to build
upon it in Key Stage 3 and
beyond.

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Primary French Project Training
Training at each level begins
when the Primary French
materials are introduced by
means of a one-day course to
teachers, subject leaders,
headteachers, governors,
advisors or trainers.

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Primary French Project Training
The materials can then be
disseminated and used in
schools by any practitioner or
trainer who has attended the
initial training day, or who has
been introduced to the materials
by a colleague who has attended
the initial training day.

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Primary French Project Training
The introductory training days
are run throughout the country
by Network for Languages. For
details of training events in your
region, please see
www.culturetheque.org.uk, or
contact your local Network for
Languages Centre.

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Primary French Project Training
Primary schools are strongly
encouraged to become members
of the Association for Language
Learning. ALL Primary Hubs
across the country will offer
focussed support that can help
teachers to further develop their
subject knowledge, and their
confidence in the classroom.

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Primary French Project Accreditation
Delegates who attend the
introductory training day
receive an attendance
certificate. Teachers who use
the materials as
recommended, to teach
French to children throughout
a whole school year, may
download a certificate, as
evidence that they have
completed the training at the
corresponding level.

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Primary French Project Training
KS2 practitioners
should start at
niveau bleu level,
before moving on
to niveau blanc,
niveau rouge and
niveau tricolore.

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Primary French Project Training
The full length of training
for KS2 French is a
minimum of four years.
Full training in one level or
“niveau” should be
completed before moving
to the next level. For
example, teachers should
complete niveau bleu
before embarking on
niveau blanc.

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Training Log
A downloadable log and a
digital information pack are
currently being developed
and will be available on
Culturethèque from June
2014.
The log will help schools to
provide evidence of training
and development in terms of
primary French teaching.

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Continuity KS2-KS3
Training and support for
secondary teachers of
French will be offered as
part of the project, to
enable secondary
teachers to build on
children’s prior learning.
This level of training is
known as niveau
multicolore.

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Purpose of PFP materials 2
• support practitioners with
little or no knowledge of
French by including all
necessary sound
recordings
Bonjour,
Nounours !
To train the teacher by developing
knowledge of the French language and
how to teach it in Key Stage 2

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Niveau bleu training aims
• Not daunting in terms of language
competence or confidence
• Each lesson 15 mins x2 (Little time in the
curriculum)
• Half Term: 5 lessons, 1 story, 1 song, 1
finger rhyme