The focus of the French programme is to develop the ability to use the language effectively for purposes of practical communication at a level appropriate to age, ability and experience, students develop a basis of the language skills and attitudes required for leisure, work and further studies. Students will also gain insights into the culture and civilisation of those countries where the language is spoken. Students reflect on how they learn, think and make connections to life experiences.

Students’ competency in French is assessed through a variety of formative and summative assessments, including classroom observations,  performance tasks, self-evaluations and peer assessments. At the end of each unit, students are assessed on the four language competencies: reading, writing, listening and speaking. The format for these assessments can be audio, visual or written.

Grade 6

Students are introduced to the French-speaking world—both language and culture—and further develop their competencies. Students will learn to talk about and describe: 

• themselves,  family  members,  friends  and  others 

• school life

• where they live 

• hobbies, pastimes, sports and other leisure activities 

• food, drink and healthy eating 

• holidays and festivals  preferences and how to express and justify opinions

Grade 7

Students have the opportunity to build on previous knowledge of French and to further develop their language skills. They are also introduced to new verbs and tenses, which enable them to have genuine casual conversations. They have opportunities to engage in a large variety of listening and oral activities. Units are based on recurring everyday topics and themes, and include: 

• town and city life 

• self, family and others 

• school life in France

• home life 

• French cuisine, cafés and restaurants 

• travel plans 

• physical  appearance  and  fashion 

• leisure activities 

Students build on their basic knowledge of grammatical structures and learn a variety of new irregular verbs, reflexive verbs, the past tense, the imperative,  adjectives,  and pronouns.  Cultural activities are integrated within each unit and help deepen students’ knowledge about French speaking countries,  their products,  practices and perspectives.

Grade 8

Deepening language skills through a spiraling curriculum, students will revisit some previously-studied topics, grammatical structures and vocabulary while learning new content and acquiring new skills. Language is learned and practised in a communicative and interactive environment  based  on  the  following  topics: 

• self, friends and family 

• holiday and travel (including weather, places of interest, accommodation  and  services) 

• leisure  and  free-time  activities 

• school life and future plans 

• urban and  rural  environments 

• healthy  lifestyles  and  fitness

Through these topics, students will be able to exchange information, describe people, places and situations, make recommendations, give reasons, discuss problems, ask for advice and pose a variety and range of questions.

Students will learn to use different present, past and future tenses, make comparisons, use a range of pronouns and adverbs, and use different forms of the negative.

To deepen students’ knowledge and understanding about life in French-speaking countries,  Francophone cultural components are integrated into the  units  studied.