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Introduction

Introduction:

  • To encourage and develop the ability the use of target language
    effectively for communication.
  • To promote active learning with both students and teachers in
    roles, acting out real life situations relevant to both age and interests
    of students.
  • To develop language genuinely needed to perform any task; offering
    an insight into the culture and civilisation of target language
    countries.
  • To provide enjoyment and to stimulate awareness of languages.
  • To encourage positive attitudes to foreigners and foreign languages
    as well as respect and understanding of foreign culture and civilisation
    to counteract prejudice.
  • To enable learners to communicate effectively in everyday
    situations involving either foreign visitors in this country or themselves
    visiting a foreign country.
  • To make a provision for trips abroad in the early stages of
    learning.
  • To provide students with enough opportunities to experience
    success, enjoyment and feeling of acquiring a sound and satisfactory
    linguistic knowledge.

Our expectations

Our intention is to provide carefully structured activities and appropriate authentic material designed for both foundation and higher level of achievement in all Attainment Targets. We aim to offer a balanced variety of work and material allowing students to move with enthusiasm from comprehension to creation of their own utterances and written work in the target language. Thus, in all lessons, we aim to cater for all the abilities through the planning of activities which are aimed to suit students’ different learning styles and develop the four auricular skills.

Schemes of Work are regularly reviewed and are designed to include curricular and cross-curricular developments, in order to improve students’ language-learning skills and to provide them with strategies which aim to boost their performance. Literacy and Numeracy, as well as PSCHE orientations, are fundamental parts of our Schemes of Work as are regular activities developing strategies to improve listening and reading. Activities which require students to apply logic and make connections, activities to develop anticipation skills in exam contexts and ongoing opportunities for pair work and regular peer assessment are built in to every stage of learning.

KS3

 

In Key Stage 3 all students study French for three years. Languages are
taught in mixed ability groupings throughout KS3.

It is our aim that by the end of their third year students will have become proficient in speaking, writing, reading and listening to French, will be competent in three tenses and a broad range of topics and vocabulary, giving them a firm foundation for embarking on a GCSE course. 

In accordance with the new languages curriculum, students will have the opportunity to practise dictation and translation tasks, as well as working with authentic French materials and selected examples of literature. Students will have practice of ‘read aloud’ style tasks and role play tasks in preparation for GCSE requirements.

Year 7

Autumn term 1 La rentrée (describing yourself and others)
Autumn term 2 En classe (school)
Spring term 1 Mon temps libre (free time and hobbies)
Spring term 2 Ma vie de famille (home and family)
Summer term 1 En ville (town and local area)
Summer term 2 Revision of all topics

Year 8

Autumn term 1 Vive les vacances! (holidays)
Autumn term 2 J’adore les fêtes (festivals, celebrations and school trips)
Spring term 1 A loisir (leisure activities)
Spring term 2 Le monde est petit (home and routines)
Summer term 1 Le sport en direct (sports)
Summer term 2 Revision of all topics

 

Year 9

Autumn term 1

Mon monde à moi (all about me)

Autumn term 2

Projets d’avenir (future plans and ambitions)

 

Spring term 1

Ma vie en musique (then and now)

Spring term 2

Le meilleur des mondes (environment)

Summer term 1

Le monde francophone (the francophone world)

Summer term 2

Revision of all topics and preparing for GCSE.

 

KS4

 

 

All students follow a course of study in GCSE French. Classes are taught in groups which prepare students specifically for foundation or higher-level tier of the Pearson Edexcel exam board. During the course, students will further develop and practise the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing within topics of My Personal World, Media and Technology, Studying and my Future, Lifestyle and Wellbeing, Travel and Tourism and My Neighbourhood. The department is committed to ensuring that every languages student achieves their potential and understands how a languages qualification can be of benefit in their future career.

The assessment will be of linear approach with all four skills
assessed separately. At the end of year 11 all students will have to undertake
their listening, speaking, reading and writing exams, with the ability tier
being the same for each skill. Students will undertake a ‘mock’
examination in December and in February. Mock exam results are used amongst other assessments as a basis for decisions on level of entry for the terminal examination. Mock exam papers are marked according to the Pearson Edexcel examination board mark schemes and therefore give an accurate indication of grades achieved.

Themes and topics questions across all four language skills are set in common contexts, addressing a range of relevant contemporary and cultural themes. They are organised into themes, each broken down into topics and sub-topics.

The thematic contexts are:

My Personal World

Media and Technology                                                             

Studying and my Future                                                                                                    

Lifestyle and Wellbeing

Travel and Tourism                                              

My neighbourhood

 Year 10 French

Autumn term 1 Tu as du temps à perdre? (hobbies - TV, sports, online)

 
Autumn term 2 Mon clan, mon tribu (family and friends)

 
Spring term 1 Ma vie scolaire (school)

 
Spring term 2 En pleine forme (healthy living and lifestyle)

 
Summer term 1 Mon petit monde à moi (town and local area)

 
Summer term 2

Mon petit monde à moi (town and local area)

Revision of Year 10 modules

 

Year 11 French

Autumn term 1 Notre planète (environment)

 
Autumn term 2

Notre planète (environment)

Mes projets d’avenir (future plans)

 
Spring term 1 Mes projets d’avenir (future plans)

 
Spring term 2 Numéro vacances (holidays)

 
Summer term 1 Preparing for the exams

 

 

How will I be assessed?

 

Course Content

Theme 1

My personal world

Theme 2

Lifestyle and well being

Theme 3

My neighbourhood

Theme 4

Media and technology

Theme 5

Studying and my future

Theme 6

Travel and tourism

Assessment

There are four exams at the end of the course, in Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. Each exam is worth

25% of your overall grade.

 

 

French is 100% terminal examination based. The skills of listening,
speaking, reading and writing are assessed and each is worth 25% of the
terminal grade.

Qualification: GCSE French

Examination Board: Edexcel

 

Assessment overview

Each paper is available at Foundation tier or Higher tier. Students are entered for a single tier only across all 4 papers.

 

Paper 1: Speaking in French

Foundation tier: 7-9 minutes plus 15 minutes’ preparation time (50 marks) Higher tier: 10-12 minutes plus 15 minutes’ preparation time (50 marks) 

25% of the qualification

 

Task 1: Read aloud (12 marks) Read aloud a short text and undertake a short, prepared interaction relating to the text. In the read aloud task itself students will be assessed on their pronunciation and in the short interaction that follows students will be assessed on their communication.

Task 2: Role play (10 marks) Undertake a transactional role play.

 

Task 3: Picture task (12 marks) with conversation (16 marks) Students select their thematic context for Task 3 in advance of the assessment.

 

Paper 2: Listening and understanding in French

Foundation tier: 45 minutes, including 5 minutes reading time (50 marks) Higher tier: 60 minutes, including 5 minutes reading time (50 marks) 

25% of the qualification

 

Section A: Listening (40 marks) Students respond to multiple-choice, multiple-response and short-answer open response questions.

All questions are set in English and students produce all responses in English.

 

Section B: Dictation (10 marks) Students are assessed on their ability to transcribe spoken French into written French.

 

Paper 3: Reading and understanding in French

Foundation tier: 45 minutes (50 marks) 

Higher tier: 60 minutes (50 marks) 

25% of the qualification

 

Section A: Reading and Understanding (40 marks) Students respond to multiple-choice, multiple-response and short-answer open response questions based on these texts. All questions are set in English and students produce all responses in English.

Section B: Translation into English (10 marks) Students translate a passage from French into English, with instructions in English.

 

Paper 4: Writing in French

Foundation tier: 1 hour 15 minutes (50 marks) 

Higher tier: 1 hour 20 minutes (50 marks) 

25% of the qualification

 

Foundation Tier

Question 1: picture-based task (8 marks)

Question 2: one of two open-response questions, set in formal context (14 marks)

Question 3: one of two open-response questions, set in informal context (18 marks)

Question 4: translation into French (10 marks)

 

Higher Tier

Question 1: one of two open-response questions, set in informal context (18 marks)

Question 2: one of two open-response questions, set in formal context (22 marks)

Question 3: translation into French (10 marks)

GCSE Results 2022

Congratulations to the Year 11 students on achieving 61% grades 9-4 in French

GCSE Results 2023

Congratulations to the Year 11 students on achieving 47.9% grades 9-4.

GCSE Results 2024

 

 

GCSE Results 2024: 

Congratulations to the Year 11 students on achieving 41.7% grades 9-4.

How will I be assessed?

French is 100% terminal examination based. The skills of listening,
speaking, reading and writing are assessed and each is worth 25% of the
terminal grade.

Qualification: GCSE French

Examination Board: Edexcel

Code: 2FR01

 

Assessment overview

Each paper is available at Foundation tier or Higher tier. Students are entered for a single tier only across all 4 papers.

Paper 1: Listening and understanding in French

Foundation tier: 35 minutes including 5 minutes reading time; 50 marks

Higher tier: 45 minutes including 5 minutes reading time; 50 marks

25% of the total
qualification

 

Paper 2: Speaking in French

Foundation tier: 7–9 minutes plus 12 minutes preparation time; 70 marks

Higher tier: 10–12 minutes plus 12 minutes preparation time; 70 marks

25% of the total
qualification

There are three tasks which
must be conducted in the following order:

Task 1 – a role play based on one topic that is allocated by Edexcel examination board.

Task 2 – questions based on a picture stimulus based on one topic that is
allocated by Edexcel examination board.

Task 3 – conversation based on two themes. The first theme is based on the
topic chosen by the student in advance of the assessment. The second theme is
allocated by Edexcel examination board. The assessments are conducted by teachers in one session within a prescribed assessment period.

 

Paper 3: Reading and understanding in French

Foundation tier: 45 minutes; 50 marks

Higher tier: 1 hour; 50 marks

25% of the total
qualification

 

Paper 4: Writing in French

Foundation tier: 1 hour 10 minutes; 60 marks

Higher tier: 1 hour 20 minutes; 60 marks

25% of the total
qualification

Why study a language?

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world”

If we were to adopt a motto for the department, it would most certainly be the above. This sums up the message that we try to convey to our students when they visit our department.

As well as promoting the study of languages, the Language Department at Abbs Cross also aims to teach the importance and benefits of having multi-lingual skills in today’s world, whether at home or abroad.

When you learn another language, you are able to get a real cultural insight and understanding.

In today’s global economy, knowing another language really gives you a competitive edge when applying for a job.

Educational research shows that results in English and Maths are higher for students who study a foreign language.

We want to encourage our students to widen their horizons through language learning and overseas travel, to become global thinkers and help them understand their important role as citizens in an international, multi-lingual world.

We hope that through language study, students will develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and how other people think.

The subjects are delivered by specialists with four members of the department. The focus of the Modern Foreign Languages team is to develop the ability of our students to communicate successfully and effectively in the target language. We also put great emphasis on independent learning and achieving excellence; therefore, it is the ability of students to express themselves linguistically, resorting to different methods, which will be assessed in all parts of the course and eventually at GCSE.

Extra Curricular

 

Extra Curricular

 

KS4 French bespoke interventions sessions to practise exam technique and boost skills

 

KS4 GCSE revision

 

KS4 residential trip to Paris

 

KS3 language club

 

KS3 language exchange club

Useful Links

KS3

 

KS4