What Parents' can do to help at home

Some parents are very concerned if their child has attended a primary school where language lessons have not been available. This is not a cause for concern for us, because generally, after a few weeks, most pupils find themselves at a similar level. However, we felt that many parents would like to be able to help their child at home, and we hope that the attached list of websites proves useful.                                   

www.languagesonline.org.uk        This site has been set up by Andrew Balaam (Royal Grammar School,
High Wycombe); he has generously made available all sorts of interactive activities at various levels –just the job for practising a number of points of grammar in either French or Spanish.

http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/ARTFL/forms_unrest/FR-ENG.html     This is a good,straightforward online French dictionary.  Please don’t use online translation sites: there are too many variables for this to be a safe bet and it’s more than likely the pupil will be found out! 

www.teachingideas.co.uk/foreignlanguages/contents.htm    Lots of good ideas here if you know some French and would like to help your children.

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/french/  Such a lot here – and it is SO accessible and attractive.  Don’t be put off by the GCSE label: there’s plenty here which is totally relevant and helpful to the Key Stage 3 curriculum.  Also look at the Spanish version.

www.linguascope.com/      We subscribe to this site here at Blessed George Napier. Pupils can access the website at school but they are also provided with a password in order that they can work independently. We sometimes set homework from the site. Try the “free preview” to see the scope of what’s available.

www.alienlanguage.co.uk       Learning the names of parts of the body: this is really good fun.

www.realfrench.net/      Another subscription site (£20 for a year for individuals) but lots of practice/games etc.. 

www.atantot.com   Interactive site for French, German and Spanish

www.maisondequartier.com/     A wonderful site to learn vocabulary

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryfrench   Activities for KS2 but also good for early KS3

www.zut.org.uk – exercises and activities on all topics and grammar  

www.languageswork.org.uk – CILT (National Centre for Languages) site with games, advice and cultural information