French

Departmental Staff

  • Head of Department: Mrs S.Pélissou
  • Ms C.Bernard
  • Mrs A.Neeson

Information about French

The French Department offers pupils a wide program of study based on linguistic and cultural topics.
Students will avail of current resources both on line and in student text books. Pupils will have the opportunity to travel to France to sample first-hand the country and its culture.
Students who study the language at GCSE and A level, will have contact with a native speaker.

Curriculum

Key Stage 3 (Years 8,9 & 10)

Year 8

The pupils are introduced to the language through the following topics:

  • Myself and friends
  • Numbers, days and months
  • Colours
  • pets
  • School subjects
  • My family
  • Clothes
  • Weather
  • Grammar: verbs and adjectives

Year 9

  • Consolidation of year 8 material
  • My town and the environment
  • Time
  • School and school subjects
  • Food and Drink
  • Free time: Sport, leisure and music

Year 10

  • Town and environment
  • Countries and travel
  • Holidays and tourism
  • School
  • Activities at home
  • Events in the past tense
  • Food, drink and the French café culture
  • Restaurants
  • Appearances and physical descriptions
  • Cultural Project: French region/landmark or famous person

As the students progress through the three years the topics are covered in more detail as well as studying grammar in more detail.

 

Key Stage 4 (Years 11 & 12)

CCEA Examination
Two tiers of entry: Foundation (C- G grades) or higher (A*-D grades) Assessment through: 2 written papers – Listening and Reading
2 controlled assessments – Speaking and Writing

GCSE Contexts/Topics

1 The individual

  • Family/friends
  • Home
  • Environment
  • Health and lifestyle

2 The Citizenship

  • School issues
  • Travel and tourism
  • Environmental issues
  • Media and communications
  • Festivals and customs

3 Employability

  • School life
  • Part time jobs
  • Future plans

The 4 components are weighted in the following way:

  • UNIT 1: Spoken controlled assessments – (2 tasks) – 30%
  • UNIT 2: Written controlled assessments – (2tasks) – 30%
  • UNIT 3: Listening exam – 20
  • UNIT 4: Reading exam – 20%

Some of the topics have been covered at Key Stage 3 but are looked at in much more detail at GCSE level. Grammar is looked at in more detail at GCSE level as well.

 

A Level (Years 13 & 14)

AQA examination – 2 year linear course.
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The French A’ level exam is composed of the following core content:

  • Social Issues
  • Political and Artistic Culture
  • Grammar
  • Literary Texts and Film

The structure of the examination is as follows:

Paper 1: Listening, Reading and Writing(language) – 50% of A’ level
Paper 2: Writing (literature and grammar) – 20% of A’ level
Paper 3: Speaking – 25 minutes – 30% of A’level

A2 Level

As with AS Level, the course is made up from the same four components with a greater emphasis on grammar. The topics studyed include:

  • Environment  –  pollution, protection of the planet
  • Multicultural society  –  immigration, integration
  • Contemporary social problems  –  crime, criminality
  • Cultural topic  – literature aspect
 

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