Learning a modern foreign language is an essential skill in the 21st century. In the French department we find it an exciting and enjoyable challenge for all pupils. It stimulates their natural curiosity to know what everyday objects and actions are called in another language, it provides an intellectual challenge as they work on understanding grammatical structures and it helps to develop the social skill of being able to express themselves confidently. Through studying French and visiting France pupils are able to compare aspects of French culture with our own and develop an appreciation of cultural difference and variety. They will gain direct access to the ‘jewels’ of French culture – vibrant cinema, 19th century fiction, the lyrics of Piaf and Brel. Ultimately they develop communicative and analytical skills that are highly desirable across a broad range of careers.
In Year 7, students quickly learn the rules of pronunciation so that they can match sounds to letters and tackle new vocabulary effectively. Through the topics of Family, School, Free time, Home and Holidays they learn the concepts of gender, word order, using the present tense, expressing simple opinions and talking about the future. Year 8 continues with the introduction of the past tense and topics include Food, Health and Clothes. They make a conscious move towards increasing the complexity of their expression through greater use of connectives and new structures.
In Year 9 students continue to build the foundations of core knowledge with the imperfect and future tenses, focusing on comparing towns, life in 1900 and giving advice on healthy living. Assessment begins to prepare pupils for IGCSE where they will speak and write at length on topics already familiar from previous years as well as new subjects such as the Environment or New Technologies. They do extensive work to broaden their vocabulary, increase the complexity of their expression and boost oral confidence and fluency. At IGCSE we follow the Cambridge exam specification.