This French video introduces teachers to the first unit of Year 5, focusing on developing pupils’ detective skills for tackling unknown vocabulary. Rather than translating word for word, children explore a non-fiction text, identifying features such as cognates, visual clues, and text type to help them infer meaning. The class works collaboratively to generate suggested subheadings, select key words for a shared word bank, and highlight interesting facts to share with peers.

This video is part of Kapow Primary’s French scheme – Vocabulary. It shows how to promote independent language strategies while making strong links with literacy and science. The activities encourage pupils to highlight, annotate, and take notes, while avoiding over-reliance on translation. By the end of the session, pupils will have built confidence in extracting meaning from text, contributed to a shared bank of useful vocabulary, and prepared for future creative tasks such as fact files and fantastic beast writing.

French, key stage 2, Year 5, Unit 1: French monster pets, Lesson 1: Beware the dragon!