French

Lower School Curriculum

Year 7 and 8

French is studied alongside Spanish in Years 7 and 8 and it builds up the foundations needed to progress in the language to GCSE level. Throughout the two years, pupils embark in a stimulating course through speaking, listening, reading and writing activities and very importantly cultural knowledge of France and other French speaking countries.

Topics studied in year 7 include:

• Who I am
• School
• Family and friends
• House, home and daily routine
• Free time
• My town

Topics studied in year 8 include:

• Local traditions
• Holidays
• Technology
• Fashion

Year 9

Year 9 provides an opportunity to overview the 12 themes assessed by the exam board at GCSE level. Students will learn the skills needed for the exams in year 11 as well as studying the foundation content of the specification. Students will need to produce extended written and spoken language pieces as well as understanding long reading and listening passages based on the basic language introduced for each topic. At the same time, they will have to translate long simple texts into French/Spanish and English. The topics studied include Me, family and friends; Technology in everyday life; Free-time activities; Customs and festivals, home, town, neighbourhood and region; Social issues; Global issues; Travel and tourism; Life at school and jobs, career choices and ambitions.

After three years, students are prepared to make the decision about the GCSE language path they want to follow.

GCSE Curriculum

Exam Board: Eduqas

 Year 10 and 11

The GCSE in French will enable students to further develop their ability to communicate confidently and coherently with native speakers in speech and writing, conveying what they want to say as well as listen to and understand in a number of informal situations.

The GCSE course is centred around three themes and students are expected to understand and give information and opinions on these themes, both relating to their own personal experiences and those of others, including those of French speakers from around the world.

Themes studied in year 10 are:

1. Identity and culture
2. Local and national areas of interest.

Themes studied in year 11 are:

1. International and global areas of interest
2. Current and future study and employment

Students sit four, equally weighted, exams in speaking, listening, reading and writing in order to gain their overall GCSE grade.  As per the current specification, there is an element of translation both from French to English and vice versa.

To view A-Level course content, please click here.