La Jolie Ronde French Scheme of Work for years 5 and 6

content and design

Design and navigation

The interactive whiteboard CD-ROM contains very useful flash files that can be easily loaded, navigated and used by teachers and children. They are well-designed and intuitive to use; containing images, text, activities that can be undertaken by clicking and dragging. We entered text of our own using the utilities of the SMART Board and created masks and stencils to undertake some of the suggested activities. I am impressed with how the music and the presentation of the graphics are very ‘modern’.

Curriculum coverage

There is no doubt that the curriculum coverage provided by the scheme is excellent. I found there was more content than I needed and can perhaps point to my wish to use everything to explain my slower pace through the lessons. The active nature of the teaching and learning necessary for the introduction and development of foreign language learning has prompted me to use a very active teaching style with many gestures and an (embarrassingly) over-the-top presentation style. I mention this because I feel that the real strength of the scheme is the way in which it supports this approach very fully and encourages the use of games and activities through ideas in the planning sections and very useful, easily accessed resources on the CD-ROMs. The classroom learning assistant has been very busy making not only the suggested cards, but also sets of her own design. My planning has been time-consuming but this is more to do with the newness of the subject I am presenting. There is no doubt that I would have spent a great deal more time planning had I not had the ready resources of the scheme.

Planning

The scheme has been written in accordance with the Key Stage 2 framework and is therefore very good on coverage of all that needs to be covered. Due to timetabling and curriculum time allocations I was able only to present two lessons per week. I therefore used the plans as they are so that I knew I was covering everything that I should.