French OR GERMAN 

GCSE French or German

Exam board: AQA or Edexcel 

Aims and content of the course

GCSE French or German  provide academic qualifications intended to develop your ability to communicate with native speakers in both speech and writing. Studying French or German broadens your horizons, encourages you to step beyond familiar situations and develop new ways of seeing the world. It also broadens cultural knowledge of France or Germany and French/German speaking countries and communities. You will learn skills for immediate use and also skills to prepare you for further language study in higher education or employment. 

There is a new GCSE course being introduced from 2024.  Year 8 will be the first year to study this new course in French or German (dependent on current language of study), with the first GCSE exams taking place in 2026. 

This is what we know about the Edexcel course so far: 

• It reflects and represents diverse student experiences with relatable, real-world content

• It assesses all students in a clear, straightforward and accessible way, focusing on their learned language skills

• It provides a qualification structure that teachers have helped develop and prefer to use

• It includes thematic context that brings language learning to life. 

What topics will I study?

You will study both familiar and new topics, known as Thematic contexts: 

My personal world

Lifestyle and wellbeing

My neighbourhood

Media and technology

Studying and my future

Travel and tourism

There are many key skills that employers look for and these are all skills that can be developed through learning French or German! Examples of these are: communication skills, team working skills, interpersonal skills, presentation skills, problem solving skills, organisational skills and good learning strategies, amongst others. Many employers look for school leavers with language skills and some university places require a language GCSE. 

French or German GCSE could open many career paths for you. Here are some examples of jobs and industries in which you could use your language skills: 

• • Game translator 

  • Technology

  • Travel and tourism

  • Banking

  • Fashion

  • Charity administration

  • HR 

  • Journalism 

  • Teaching 

  • Marketing 

  • Sales 

  • IT 

  • Administrative roles. 

An article about what happens to the brain when you learn a language. 

• • France!https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/04/what-happens-to-the-brain-language-learning