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Rising Stars

Euro Stars Primary French

My pigeon hole in school seems to be permanently bursting with promotional CDs encouraging

me to part with sums of money to aid primary subjects, although the reality is few are an

absolutely can’t live without it. We are often tempted to buy software that will sit on our

networks and be used by few and ignored by most. However, amidst the jungle of software,

every now and again a company bring a piece of software out that is simply ‘right’. Rising

Stars have just done that in their software Euro Stars Primary French.

Are you are one of many schools still deciding which software to buy to support MFL, and who

want something dynamic, modern and in reality that will support the teacher a great deal

because your teachers are non-specialists? Then I suggest this is the perfect software for

your school.

Euro Stars’ Primary French is a new language resource designed for the non-specialist teacher

in mind (although I would recommend that specialists use it too). It fits the core KS2

objectives and is broken down into short activities that make it manageable and perfect to

teach through the interactive whiteboard. It’s well set out, easy to use and the children find

it exciting.

Getting started

The class start with a short animation that familiarises children (and perhaps teachers too)

with the language that will be used during the unit and is brought to life by native French

speakers, which I felt was a really positive aspect of this software. The children and I have

evaluated it — the animation was fun and very easy to follow and the speed of the dialogue

was clear in order to learn.

Wordbank flashcards

These help the class to practise (and revise) vocabulary in the unit. There is an option to hide

part of the word or phrase which will help with assessment. I wouldn’t just use these through

the whiteboard but would print them off and give them out as puzzle activities for

pairs/groups to discuss. In addition, they could be printed and used on displays.

Storyboard

This activity works through photos stories, which can be personalised by uploading your own

photos of your class and school. Accompanied by audio, your class can secure correct

pronunciation and it can be paused too. I have thought that this autumn, I might secure the

language used in the storyboards by using drama, inviting the children to take images and then

upload the results into storyboard.

Activities to follow

There are six other types of activities which appear in different combinations in each unit to

stimulate children. The children in my class who evaluated the programme stated their

favourite was the ‘dancemat’ (mine too), because it made it seem like a game they would play

on their game console. The full set of the six activities are:

Dancemat, drag and drop, quiz, linking lines, sequencing and fill the blanks. The activities are

perfect for moving away from the interactive whiteboard to individuals using classroom

laptops.

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Record and playback Here the class are presented with opportunities to listen to questions, record responses and

playback. It is so simple to use and the children loved to hear themselves at the end and what

they have learnt. There are a few giggles to start with and that’s ok as there is the retry

button when this happens. However, at the end of it all, the children loved listening to their

voices.

Translation bank

This facility is very useful, a really comprehensive audio wordbank so you can practise first in

private! The best thing here is that it is not only English to French, but also French to English

to.

Songs and rhymes

A nice way to finish the session or at any time during your lesson if you should choose to, and

I was pleased to see one of my old favourites, ‘au clair de la lune’.

In addition to the above, there are photocopyables in the teacher’s book to help you get

started on supporting each unit with your class. For managing the software and how to get

the best out of your software, there is a pdf for you to follow.

Assessment

The assessment facility is intended for informal, summative assessment purposes. All you

have to do is select the unit, click go and a test will appear in the same style they will have

become used to during the unit activities. Each test provides 10-20 questions. There is a

facility to assign tests to specific pupils, and to keep your data ‘up-to-date’, there is a report

facility.

All in all, I feel it is perfect for primary French. However, I felt perhaps I was becoming a

little too enthusiastic (it has been known when I fall in love with software), so I passed it onto

a colleague who speaks less French than I and is a little less confident when delivering French

lessons. In her words, ‘I could teach French from this, I really could, and enjoy it too’.

Don’t just take my word for it, sample some of the software and view some sample pages by

logging onto www.risingstars-uk.com/eurostars

This really is teaching French at its best!

Katy Thompson

ICT Manager

Hampshire ICT Lead Professional

Oakridge Junior School