Parent Zone
You do not need to speak the language to help your child learn it.
Most parents want to help with French or Spanish and have no idea where to start. These guides are written by a languages teacher and teacher trainer, in plain English, for people who have not opened a French book since 1997.
This is what your child works from
| Who | Verb | The rest |
|---|---|---|
| Je I | joue au play | foot le samedi football on Saturdays |
| Mon frère My brother | fait du does | vélo avec moi cycling with me |
| On We | va au go to the | parc quand il fait beau park when it is sunny |
If it looks unfamiliar, that is because teaching has changed
Your child probably does not have the vocabulary list you had. Many schools now build from whole phrases rather than isolated words, because phrases are easier to remember and come out of the mouth in one piece.
You can use it without speaking a word of French. The English sits underneath every box. Ask your child to read a line to you and check it against the translation.
How to revise vocabulary
Why copying words out does almost nothing, and the ten-minute routine that works instead. Includes how to test your child when you cannot pronounce a word yourself.
How speaking exams work
What actually happens in a GCSE speaking exam, what the three tasks are, how long it lasts, who marks it, and how to help a nervous child prepare.
Ten ways to help your child
Ten specific things you can do this term, from the two-minute car test to what to say when your child announces they are dropping languages.
The biggest predictor of progress in languages is not talent. It is whether a child comes back to the same words often enough for them to stick.
Why this page exists
Parents evenings follow a pattern. A parent says they would love to help with French, but they did German, or they did nothing, or they did French thirty years ago and can only remember how to order a coffee. They then say something that is almost always untrue: that they are not much use.
You are more use than you think. That is a habit problem, not a language problem, and habits are a parent's home ground.
Everything here is free. Nothing needs a login. If you want to know what your child's teacher is likely to be doing in class, and why, these pages will tell you that too.
Ask your child to show you their vocabulary list or knowledge organiser. Do not test them yet. Just look at it together and ask which five words they find hardest. Those five are the ones worth coming back to tomorrow.
Who writes these
Jonathan Mumford is a teacher of French and Spanish and a lecturer in teacher education. He has been a head of languages, a GCSE examiner, and national lead for languages on the National Tutoring Programme. He trains language teachers and writes classroom resources used in schools across the UK.
These guides describe what good language teaching actually looks like, so that what you do at home pulls in the same direction as what happens in the classroom.