French
Why study French?
French is an official language in 29 countries, and is spoken as a first language in France, Quebec (Canada), Belgium, Switzerland, and Monaco, and as a second language in many north, west and central African countries. There are 500 million speakers of French worldwide, placing it as the fourth most spoken language on earth. French is a sought-after language, which is important in commerce, diplomacy and in the sphere of culture. French is an ideal complement to both Arts and Science subjects. Like other modern languages, when you study French, you are gaining not just an academic qualification but an invaluable life skill and its study expands our world-view, making an important contribution to tolerance and understanding of other cultures and perspectives.
What will I study in Year 10?
My studies - detailing subjects currently studied, motivation for those choices, successful and perhaps less successful outcomes from a personal point of view.
Life at school - describing the Farlington campus, the structure of the school day, views on school rules, activities at lunchtime and after school, problems and pressures which may occur, and suggested solutions.
Travel & tourism - parts of France already visited and destinations of interest for the future in French-speaking territories and worldwide; air travel and the inflight experience; accommodation preferences; sightseeing and must-do activities; weather; holiday problems encountered and their effect on the experience.
Free-time activities - describing the value of music, sport, television, cinema, online content, food at home and eating out.
Festivals - discovering culture across the French-speaking world, from Bastille Day celebrations to the Dunkirk Carnival.
Education post-16 - expressing intentions for subject choices, anticipating the differences and challenges of Sixth Form life, the value of a university education and possible university destinations and fields of study.
Career ambitions - identifying various employment sectors, specific career paths, and the value of working overseas.
Personal ambitions - exploring attitudes to money, the nature of success in general, achievable goals and more idealistic ambitions.
What will I study in Year 11?
Home, town, neighbourhood, region - considering entertainment, transport, green spaces, shopping facilities, and sense of community.
Celebrity culture - looking at reality TV and the influence of celebrities in today’s society.
Global issues - exploring climate change, air quality, plastic in the ocean, war, global economy and animal extinction.
Personal profile - talking about physical characteristics and personality traits, strengths and areas to work on.
Family life - understanding different types of families, and describing your own family, who you get on with best, and thinking about the value of friendship.
Future relationships - identifying the qualities of a partner, thoughts on marriage and other types of partnerships, and having children.
Technology - examining the role of social media, online friendships, advantages and dangers of the internet society, and our future world.
How will I be assessed?
In Year 10, there will be regular testing using past papers and this will be both electronic and on paper. In Year 11 we will largely use paper for testing, as this is the method currently used by Examination Boards.
The GCSE itself will be assessed by means of four components all worth 25% of the final grade:
Listening - a 35 or 45 minute exam responding to slow, native speaker recordings including multiple-choice options and answers in English or non-verbally, and a dictation of short sentences.
Speaking - a 7-9 or 10-12 minute individual oral, taken in advance just after the Easter holidays in Year 11, consisting of taking part in a role play, reading aloud a short passage, a short general conversation, and describing and responding to a photocard.
Reading - 45 or 50 minute exam responding to written extracts, including multiple-choice answers and written answers in English, and a short translation from French into English.
Writing:
For Foundation candidates, a 70 minute exam: writing five sentences in response to a photo, writing a short passage (50 words) in response to five compulsory bullet points, five short grammar tasks, some sentences to translate from English into French, and a structured writing task (90 words) in response to three bullet points.
For Higher candidates, a 75 minute exam:
a translation from English into French,
a structured writing task (90 words) in response to three bullet points, and a structured writing task (150 words) in response to two bullet points.There is a choice of questions at both tiers.
The length of each exam will depend on whether you choose the Foundation or Higher tier. Note that all components must be taken at the same tier.
The examination board is AQA and the specification number is 8652. You can see the full specification here.
What else should I know?
At least two years of secondary French is a prerequisite for this course, because we build on the language skills and vocabulary learned in Key Stage 3.
Like Key Stage 3, our GCSE is delivered entirely using electronic resources. These are a bespoke mixture of educational and authentic texts and audio.
There is lots of great video content, including carefully curated YouTube clips.
Interactivity is provided through Linguascope, moving on from the Beginners section to the Intermediate section. Kahoot, Blooket, Quizlet and Google Forms are also used.
Your Personal Response Question will be prepared electronically using an eeBook under controlled conditions, but with the help of an an online dictionary, electronic verb tables and our unique Farlington scaffolding, to cover a variety of opinions and experiences.
If you have any queries about this curriculum, please contact: M Josselin Guédes-Wright, Head of French, on jgw@farlingtonschool.com