French - GCSE - Year 10

How and when will I study French?

French is taught for five hours per fortnight throughout the two -year GCSE course, which builds on prior language skills developed in Key Stage 3. For this reason, prior study of French is a prerequisite for success on this course, as you learn to develop the themes outlined below. All resources are electronic and are a carefully curated combination of educational and authentic sources, as well as bespoke content. Students will need to actively participate in class to improve all four language skills and - crucially - be prepared to spend time regularly consolidating new vocabulary, structures and phrases between lessons, which will be uploaded to Google Classroom. If you don't have it already, we strongly encourage downloading Google Classroom on mobile phones or other devices you may have at home.

The Gatwick School also subscribes to Linguascope for great, interactive activities. For access, click on the fish icon above. Login details for students are available from MFL staff.

Along with English, Maths, Science, Geography or History, a language is essential to achieving English Baccalaureate status. Therefore, GCSE French is a qualification very much worth achieving.

What will I study?

Theme 1: People and lifestyle

Identity & Relationships with others

Considering identity in various terms such as ethnicity, gender, nationality, sexuality, and religion
Talking about physical characteristics and personality traits and how you have changed since you were younger
Describing your own family, including who you get on best with and why
The nature and importance of friendship
Attitudes to marriage in modern society

Healthy Living & Lifestyle

- Healthy eating and a balanced diet
- Keeping fit
- Habits to avoid
- Attitudes to alcohol, smoking, vaping and drugs

Education & Work

Describing The Gatwick School and saying what you think of it.
Talking about the subjects you study for GCSE and your reasons for choosing these
Talking about the best lesson you had yesterday and the reason for this, as well as a lesson you liked less and why
Identify pressures and problems that exist in school
Describing a school trip you have been on and whether it was a worthwhile experience
What and where you would like to study after you leave school
Your views on whether a university education matters for future success
What kind of career you would like to pursue in the future and what your plan B might be if things don't quite work out as planned
Your ambitions for later in life, whether personally or professionally

Theme 2: Popular culture

Free Time Activities

What type of music you prefer and to what extent music is important in your life
Talking about the last film that you saw in terms of venue, genre, setting, protagonists and key themes.
Describing your favourite type of food and what you ate the last time you went out for a meal
What sports you currently do and any you might have tried in the past

Customs, Festivals & Celebrations

French social customs that might surprise you
Celebrating Christmas & New Year in France
La Fête Nationale or Bastille Day - fireworks on 14 July
Cannes Film Festival
Tour de France
Fête de la Musique
Nice Carneval
Fête des Gens qu'on aime

Celebrity Culture

Favourite celebrities of British youth today
Research top French celebrities
The influence of influencers on young people and society
Wealth and other privileges of fame
Privacy and the downside of celebrity
Whether or not you would like to be famous
Discuss to what extent financial success matters to you or whether there are other aspects of life that matter more

All themes are studied periodically throughout the year (See how that works below).

Theme 3: Communication and the world around us

Travel & Tourism including places of interest

Talking about any places in France or French-speaking countries or other countries you might already have visited
Your views on 'stay-cations' and tourism in the UK.
Your travel arrangements on a previous holiday, whether that be by air, sea or land, and how the journey was
Holiday accommodation, whether hotel, apartment, villa or camping, and what you thought of it
The kind of things you like to see and do when you are on holiday
Any problems you might have experienced on holiday
What the weather was like whilst you were away
What countries you would like to visit when you are older.

Media & Technology

You and social media
You and your mobile phone
The benefits and downside of technology
Artificial intelligence and the future

The environment and where people live

Describing the area you live in and what you think about it
Your views on living in a big city, the countryside or on the coast.
Your opinion on the biggest social or environmental problems in your area
What you identify as the most serious current environmental problem and your views on measures that should be taken

Video content

Video is a very important component of our bespoke course, includes carefully curated YouTube clips that provide exposure to authentic material covering French and other French-speaking countries. This is key to our wider educational goals of challenging students and teaching French for the real world.

What else should I know?

- Your Personal Response Questions will be prepared electronically in class under controlled conditions, but with the help of an online dictionary, electronic verb tables and our bespoke scaffolding, to cover a variety of opinions and experiences.
- There is a separate eeBook for PRQ Assignments, as well as new eeBooks for classwork and grammar.
- To be successful, it is essential to be able to describe events in the present, past and future time frames, link sentences using conjunctions, be able to extend ideas, express opinions and give reasons for your views.
- French is a phonetic language, which means that it is pronounced how it is spelt - once you know the rules of course! That is a big advantage when it comes to spelling, which of course matters in writing assessments.
- On this course, you will improve your French accent and intonation and develop more confidence in your ability to communicate in this language. This does mean that you will be required to speak not only individually with the teacher but also with and in front of others.

Independent Learning

As a GCSE student, you will most certainly need to learn outside of lesson time some prepared material that you construct in class in order to achieve a pass grade, defined as grade 4 and above. This will be one or more of the following.

Complete any new PRQ assignment for which there was no time in class or for which you were absent.
Consolidate new vocabulary from the material studied or use The Gatwick School Linguascope account. You can still use the beginners section for vocabulary building but you should also now be looking at the intermediate section too, particularly the introductory dialogues
Review grammar notes and verbs and verb endings.
Read, listen or watch any French material specified by your teacher.

Note: there is never any week that you do not have homework in French. You should be doing at least one of the above regardless and must take some responsibility for your own learning at this level.

Note that the use of Google Translate and other translation packages and AI is not allowed in lessons or for any work done at home, other than when specific permission is given by the teacher for checking PRQs.

How will I be assessed?

In Year 10, there will be regular testing each term and this will be entirely electronic using locked Chromebooks in strict exam conditions. We will start off in the Autumn term with initial diagnostic tests in both listening and reading to give you an indication of your current comprehension of French.
Early in the Spring term there will be further eAssessments in both listening and reading, plus some speaking and writing test practices based on PRQ assignments completed to date.
In the Summer you will sit full Mock papers (electronically) in both Listening and Reading at either Foundation or Higher tier, depending on your attainment so far. This will give you an accurate GCSE grade for where you are currently in term of receptive language skills. At the end of the term, you will do further speaking and writing practices based on additional PRQs but this time you will also practise describing photo cards and responding to role play prompts.

For your information, the actual GCSE next year will be assessed by means of four components, all worth 25% of the final grade. This chart summarises how this brand new GCSE is structured.
The Examination Board is AQA and the specification number is 8652. You can see the full specification here.

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