Level Description

The nature of the learners

At this level, students are widening their social networks, experiences and communication repertoires in both their first language and French. They continue to need guidance and participate in structured, collaborative tasks that both recycle and extend language. Students are gaining greater independence and becoming more conscious of their peers and social context. They are gaining greater awareness of the world around them. Learners are noticing additional similarities and differences between French language and culture and their own.

French language learning and use

Learners’ communicative capabilities are stronger, and their pronunciation, intonation and phrasing are more confident and accurate. They control and access wider vocabulary resources and use a range of non-verbal strategies to support communication. Shared tasks develop social, cognitive and language skills and provide a context for purposeful language use. Focused attention to grammar, literacy skills development and exploration of cultural elements of communication are conducted at least in part in French. Learners use ICT to support their learning in increasingly independent and intentional ways, exchanging resources and information with each other and with young people in French-speaking communities, accessing music and media resources, and maintaining blogs and web pages. Oracy development at this level includes active listening to a range of input from different sources. Learners develop conversational and interactional skills such as initiating and sustaining conversation, using turn-taking protocols, and ‘reading’ language for cultural and contextual meaning. Individual and group oral presentation and performance skills are developed through researching and organising information, rehearsing and resourcing presentations, and selecting language appropriate for particular audiences. French is used increasingly for classroom interactions, routines and exchanges, for demonstrating understanding and for communicating simple information.

Contexts of interaction

Learners use French with each other and the teacher for an increasing range of purposes. They have some access to French speakers and cultural resources in wider contexts and communities through the use of ICT. Language development and use are typically incorporated into collaborative and interactive tasks, games and activities, and learners are supported to use French spontaneously when interacting with each other.

Texts and resources

Learners engage with a growing range of oral and written texts. They use cues and decoding strategies to assist comprehension and to make connections between contexts, ideas and language within and between texts. They create their own texts for a range of purposes and audiences, such as emails, dialogues, notes and letters, presentations and performances. With support they build cohesion into their spoken and written texts in terms of both content and expression. They write more accurately and fluently, extending their writing from simple phrases to more elaborated sentences and different types of text. They use modelled language and co-produce shared texts such as class stories, journals or captions for storyboards. They have some access to texts created for young French speakers, such as stories, cartoons, magazines, websites, music clips and television programs.

Features of French language use

Learners increase their range of French vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and textual knowledge. They are aware of the role of liaisons and accents and are familiar with frequent vowel–consonant combinations (-ille, -ette, -tion). They use present tense forms of regular -er, -ir and -re verbs, a small number of irregular verbs (être, avoir, aller, faire), and some reflexive verbs (se lever, s’habiller). They use plural forms of nouns and adjectives and some possessive adjectives. They move between statement and question forms and use simple negative constructions. They develop a metalanguage to describe patterns, rules and variations in language structures. Learners are building awareness of the relationship between language and culture, and exploring ideas relating to identity and communication. They question stereotypes, explore how attitudes are shaped by cultural perspectives, and consider their own cultural and communicative behaviours.

Level of support

While learners work more independently at this level, ongoing support, including modelling and scaffolding, is incorporated into task activity and focused language learning. Support includes provision of models, stimulus materials, and resources such as word charts, vocabulary lists, dictionaries and electronic reference resources.

The role of English

While the use of French in the classroom increases at this level, the use of English for discussion, reflection and explanation ensures the continued development of learners’ knowledge base and intercultural capability. The language of response around learning tasks depends on the nature of task demands. French is used for communicating in structured and supported tasks, and English for open-ended tasks that involve discussion and reflection and develop understanding of language and culture.

Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 6, students use written and spoken French for classroom interactions and transactions, and to exchange personal ideas, experiences and feelings. They ask and answer questions in complete sentences in familiar contexts (For example, Est-ce que je peux … ? Tu peux..… ?), using appropriate pronunciation, intonation and non-verbal communication strategies. They use appropriate forms of address for different audiences, such as tu forms with friends and family members, and vous for teachers and other adults or when more than one person is involved. They gather and compare information from a range of texts. They identify key points and supporting details when reading and listening, and interpret and translate short community texts such as signs or notices. They create connected texts such as descriptions, conversations and picture books, using structured models and processes of drafting and re-drafting. They convey information in different formats to suit specific audiences and contexts. Students use present tense verb forms, conjunctions and connectives (such as et, mais, parce que, plus tard, maintenant), positive and negative statements (such as j’ai trois amis, je n’ai plus d’amis), and adverbs such as très, aussi, beaucoup, un peu and lentement. They recognise and use with support verb forms such as le futur proche (je vais + l’infinitif) and le passé composé (j’ai + regular forms of past participle) as set phrases. They identify l’imparfait when reading (for example, c’était, il était). They use possessive pronouns and adjectives with modelling and support, and prepositions to mark time and place (such as avant, après, devant, derrière).

Students identify differences between spoken and written forms of French, comparing them with English and other known languages. They identify differences in commonly-used text types (for example, greetings, instructions and menus), commenting on differences in language features and text structures. They use metalanguage for language explanation (for example, formal and informal language, body language) and for reflecting on the experience of French language and culture learning. They identify relationships between parts of words (such as suffixes, prefixes) and stems of words (for example, préparer, préparation; le marché, le supermarché, l’hypermarché). Students make comparisons between French and their own language and culture, drawing from texts which relate to familiar routines and daily life (such as la vie scolaire, la famille, les courses, les loisirs, la cuisine). They explain to others French terms and expressions that reflect cultural practices (for example, bon appétit, bonne fête). They reflect on their own cultural identity in light of their experience of learning French, explaining how their ideas and ways of communicating are influenced by their membership of cultural groups.