French - Year 9

How and when will I study French?

Following the introduction of French in Year 7 at The Gatwick School last year, our students now have a choice of modern foreign language going forwards. This means that from Year 8, students now invest their entire language allocation of 5 hours per fortnight on one of these languages. Students are allocated a language based on a combination of factors including student preference, progression in Year 7, the language studied in the primary phase which usually varies, and future intentions regarding language study.

The course is taught through electronic media and is based on engaging and authentic material, including great video clips and real French text. It is supplemented by Scaffolding for Productive Language, which is bespoke, editable content enlivened by great images, and our colourful and imaginative content is uploaded to Google Classroom daily, so that students can review it at home. If you don't have it already, we strongly encourage downloading Google Classroom on mobile phones or other devices you may have. The Gatwick School also subscribes to Linguascope for great interactive activities. Click on the fish icon above. Login details for students are available from MFL staff.

L’école: cool ou nul ? / School: Cool or uncool?

Views on school subjects
Describing The Gatwick School
The history and purpose of the French education system
Life at primary, middle and high school in France
Teachers and typical things they say
Students and typical things they do
Life as a boarder in a lycée
Contrasting the school experience in France and Quebec in Canada

🇫🇷 You will reach this waypoint point by October

Qui est le coupable ? - Whodunit?

Suspects in a car theft - identify the culprit from the police interrogation videos,
Crime au château - a theatrical ‘whodunit’ which features storytelling, and explores descriptions, motivations and past tenses.
This is re-enacted and may be recorded as an audio or video play.

🇫🇷 You will reach this waypoint point by December

Independent Learning

You will definitely need to do some independent learning outside of lesson time each week, in order to ensure your success in French. This will be one or more of the following.

Learn a new Personal Response Question
Consolidate new vocabulary from a specified vocabulary list or use The Gatwick School Linguascope account.
Review a grammar note
Review lesson slide(s) uploaded on Google Classroom
Complete any activity you were unable to finish in class or for which you were absent
Read, listen or watch any French material specified by your teacher

Note: there is never any week that you do not have independent learning in French. You should be doing at least one of the above regardless.

Bienvenue à bord / Welcome on board!

Authentic airline vocabulary
Getting ready to travel
Careers at the airport and elsewhere
Qualities of cabin crew and pilots
Describing uniforms and other clothes
Phases of flight
Air France safety advice
Re-creation of a flight from Paris to Nice

🇫🇷 You will reach this waypoint point by March

On va à la pharmacie ? - Shall we go to the chemist?

Learn the parts of the body
Explain that something hurts
Familiarise yourself with the contents of a first aid kit
Role play what to say if you have to go to the chemist

🇫🇷 You will reach this waypoint point by July

What else should I know?

At least one year's knowledge of secondary French is expected at this stage, as it can be rather challenging to catch up otherwise.
The use of an online dictionary such as wordreference.com is permitted and dictionary skills are taught to students. Verb tables for French can be found on verbix.com.
The use of Google Translate and other translation packages and AI is not allowed in lessons. You are here to actually learn the language, not to let software do the work for you.
You will do your work in an eeBook (electronic evidence book) rather than a traditional exercise book. This is permanently shared with your teacher who will review it and make comments electronically as applicable. You will have one eeBook for classwork and another one for grammar notes.
You will need to be prepared to write reflections on your progress when asked to by your teacher.

How will I be assessed?

In class, you will always get plenty of feedback from your teacher as you go along. Listening and reading activities are self-marked with teacher guidance, whereas as developmental advice on speaking and writing is by the teacher. You will be expected to be able to show that you have learnt your Personal Responses Questions informally in lessons at this stage.

More formal testing (recorded in the teacher's eGradeBook) is done online using locked, school-managed Chromebooks in strict test conditions. The assessment types are as follows:

eVocab tests

These are very quick to do but will give you and your teacher a good indication of how well you are taking in new vocabulary. They take place several times a year, according to the topic, and as they are entirely computer-based, you will get your results right away.

eChallenges

These are different from eVocab tests in that they are about applying words in a context, rather than just knowing how to translate a word. That's why they are a challenge. You can expect to have at least three per year in Year 9. You will also get your results right away for this kind of assessment.

eListening

This is a test in which the teacher plays some short, French audio recordings twice each, and you answer from a range of five multiple choice answers. There is also a transcription section in which the teacher reads out a sentence in French and you type out what you hear. Spelling and accents do not have to be totally accurate when testing this skill. Your results will be released via email later, following teacher review.

eReading

This is another type of short eAssessment, in which you have to answer from a range of multiple choice answers related to very short texts. There is also a translation sentence, in which you need to translate a sentence from French into English. Your results will be released via email later, following teacher review.

eSpeaking

Most weeks you will complete at least one Personal Response Question or PRQ, in which you will devise an answer using a range of quality, scaffolded material. Twice a year you will be told 4 of these questions in advance that you need to learn carefully, as these will be included in your eSpeaking test.

You will be asked 3 of these in a random order. In addition, you must also ask the teacher a question related to the topic, which you can prepare in advance. Finally you will also need to read an unseen sentence out aloud. You will do your eSpeaking via video link from another room to the classroom to give you some privacy and your teacher will talk to you using headphones.

eWriting

For many, this is the most challenging of the four language skills. However it is also based on the same material and you are asked to type out the same four PRQ responses you have revised for your speaking. In this eAssessment, correct spelling and placement of accents do carry weight. There is also a translation sentence in which you have to translate a sentence from English into French. Your results will be released via email later, following teacher marking.

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