French

Year 7

Topics covered in year 7 are:

• Family
• Likes and dislikes
• School
• Free time activities
• Sports

There is plenty of learning time dedicated to each topic, so that students are fully able to understand the new grammar, skills and vocabulary that they have learnt before moving on. The online homework platform ActiveLearn is used to further reinforce the skills students have learned in class, as well as the regular setting of vocabulary learning for vocab tests.

Each topic builds upon the skills of recognising and producing phonics, dictionary usage, applying reading and listening strategies, conducting conversations, and developing literacy skills such as expressing opinions with justifications, describing people and places in detail, and using topic appropriate adjectives. Throughout the year students will take part in activities such as conducting surveys, singing, and writing short texts and letters.

Some of the grammar taught includes using intensifiers and connectives, expressing opinions, and using more complex structures.  Students will learn how to use definite and indefinite articles, possessive adjectives, negatives, and present tense verb paradigms of both regular and irregular verbs. Some students will also be able to use conditional structures to develop their writing and speaking.

Year 8

Topics covered in year 8 are:

• Animals
• Where you live
• French celebrations
• Ordering food and drink
• Going out
• Holidays

Each topic will build upon the skills of conducting conversations, developing literacy skills such as expressing opinions with justifications, learning how to form verb tenses, describing pictures, and taking part in roleplays.  Throughout the year students will also conduct surveys, write emails and letters, and plan events and trips in town. They will continue to use the online homework platform ActiveLearn to support their learning, as well as completing regular vocab tests and retrieval exercises in class.

The main grammar focus is an introduction to the past and future tenses, agreement of prepositions, modal verbs, use of partitive articles, forming more complex negative forms, and using simple and more complex adjectives with correct word order.

Year 9

Topics covered in year 9 are:

• Festivals
• Food shopping
• TV and cinema
• Hobbies
• Daily routine
• Directions
• Health
• Study of a film
• Social media and relationships

Each topic will build on the skills of taking part in conversations, listening and reading GCSE level texts, and creating different forms of texts such as poetry, narratives, articles, and reviews. The use of homework platforms such as ActiveLearn and Kerboodle will reinforce their learning, as will the regular setting of vocab tests and completion of retrieval activities.

Grammar this year will extend upon the tenses taught in year 8 to include all subject pronouns, as well as introducing infinitive formations, reflexive verbs, forming questions, and using two or more tenses simultaneously. The course includes the study of modal verbs to give advice and use the imperative voice, all negative forms, conditional + infinitive phrases, compound verbs, and use of past participles as adjectives. By the end of the year students will have a firm grounding in the necessary skills and knowledge needed for the GCSE French course.

Year 10 and 11

Students will be taught the AQA GCSE French programme of study. The scheme of learning is designed for students to exercise all skills necessary for end of course examinations: speaking, writing, listening, and reading. They will regularly practise key exam skills such as roleplays, describing a photo, listening and reading strategies, and successfully writing using a range of tenses and complex structures.

The topics studied over the two years are family and relationships, social media and technology, leisure, sports and hobbies, home and local environment, social issues and poverty, travel and tourism, and education and employment.  Students have access to a wealth of resources such as conversation booklets, study guides, and many other resources from Kerboodle available to them online for independent study tasks and revision. At the end of the course they will sit separate exams in reading, listening, writing, and speaking.

Year 12 and 13

Students study AQA A Level French. During the two year course students will work on topics such as French-speaking society, artistic culture, music, current social issues, diversity, and politics.  The course includes studies of the novels No et moi, written by Delphine de Vigan, and L’Étranger, by Albert Camus. Students will also undertake an Independent Research Project on a topic of their choice related to France or Francophone countries and cultures. They will have access to the online platform Kerboodle throughout the course, which includes a digital copy of the textbook as well as many resources for independent study and revision. At the end of the two years they will sit three exams: a listening, reading and writing exam, a writing exam on the two books, and a speaking exam. In the speaking exam they will discuss a stimulus card related to one of the topics studied over the course, as well as give a presentation on their Independent Research Project, which will then form the basis for the final discussion.

Year 7, 8 and 9 students are tested upon all skills throughout term time and will sit 3 summative assessments per year.  Skills tested are writing tasks of various lengths and on all topics studied, listening, reading and translation, and speaking about a photo-card, during a role play or as part of a conversation. 

Years 10 and 11 complete formative light-touch assessments throughout the year, and 3 summative assessments to monitor progress.  The Year 10 end of year mock in term 6 forms part of these summative assessments as does the Year 11 mock in term 3.  Year 11 sit three separate AQA GCSE papers during the exam season a Speaking, a Listening and reading paper, and finally a Writing paper.  All 4 skills are tested in formative assessments within each topics and are summatively tested in mock exams; 

Years 12 and 13: Students are assessed through timed class and homework essays throughout the two year courses. Students complete Speaking assessment in class on a 1/1 basis with the main teacher.  The summative examinations, in which all 4 skills are tested happen during Mock examinations twice yearly.  The final assessment at A Level consists of a Listening and Reading paper, the Writing paper includes two essays.   For the Speaking component, students will partake in two conversations, a short one on a themes listed above, and then will make a presentation on the IRP, the basis for the second conversation.

French is a very practical subject that lends itself well to a variety of jobs and career pathways; this is because it involves learning about communication in various forms, countries, societies and cultures.  Linguists also learn to identify, understand and empathise with interlocutors.  Students of French learn to present themselves and any information they wish to convey in an eloquent but task specific manner.

• Aeronautic industry such as air-controller and technician
• Human Resources
• Lawyer
• Politician
• Ecoligist
• Heritage worker
• Antique dealer
• Advertising & Marketing Manager
• Insurer & Banker
• Scientific researcher
• Logistician
• Travel and Tourism entrepreneur
• Fashion Industry entrepreneur & critique