French

Languages are part of the cultural richness of our society and the world in which we live and work. Learning a language contributes to mutual understanding, a sense of global citizenship and personal fulfilment. Our students learn to appreciate different countries, cultures, communities and people. By making comparisons, they gain insight into their own culture and society. The ability to understand and communicate in another language is a lifelong skill for education, employment and leisure in this country and throughout the world. Language skills are valued, not only by companies operating in overseas markets, but also by those dealing with visitors to the UK. Sectors such as retail, tourism, financial services, fashion, media and sport all recognise the value of being able to communicate with customers in their own language.

Learning languages gives our students opportunities to develop their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills and to express themselves with increasing confidence, independence and creativity. The development of communication skills, together with understanding of the structure of language, lay the foundations for future study of other languages and support the development of literacy skills.

Our vision of Modern Foreign Languages at St. Benedict’s is to:

·         enable all students to achieve their full potential

·         cultivate an awareness and tolerance of different cultures

·         develop language learning skills through a variety of activities

·         encourage confident communication in a foreign language

·         develop and reinforce valuable study skills and independent learning

·         foster personal and social development

·         provide a good basis for learning further languages and career opportunities

·         develop the ability to apply language skills in other curriculum areas e.g. problem-solving, logical thinking

We are fortunate to have a French Language Assistant working in the department to help students build confidence in the spoken language.

We use Active Learn interactive classroom resources for French and all our students have access to an online version of their textbook to help them with home learning tasks and revision. We also have subscriptions to online language websites such as Linguascope to help our students learn vocabulary and practise a range of language skills.

We take part in the local and regional rounds of the ‘Have Your Say’ competition and we organise a residential trip to the Opal Coast in France for our Year 9 students.

Students follow the Dynamo course in Years 7-9. The topic coverage at KS3 focuses largely on the student’s experience of the world: family, friends, leisure activities, holidays and school. Each unit of work from Dynamo has a formal summative assessment and in addition, listening, reading, speaking and writing skills are assessed throughout the key stage. Translation and extended writing tasks are incorporated into the different units which are also identified for detailed feedback. Spelling tests, grammar exercises and some reading and listening tasks are examples of where peer and self-assessment can be used.

To consolidate learning, home learning is set once a fortnight and details plus any resources needed are uploaded on to Classcharts. It includes a wide variety of activities such as vocabulary learning, Active Learn tasks and reading or writing exercises. At Key Stage 3, students are expected to spend between 30 and 45 minutes on their set home learning.

During the summer term of Year 9, students begin a transitional period leading up to their GCSE course. They revise basic grammar and vocabulary and learn new exam skills, such as describing a picture.

Following the transitional period in the summer term of Year 9, students begin their French GCSE course and further enhance their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Our exam board for GCSE is AQA.

A large number of our students study French at KS4 and they have 5 hours of French a fortnight. The 4 skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) are all equally weighted: 25% each.

At GCSE, topics are dealt with in greater depth and additional topics, such as protection of the environment, the world of work, social issues and world citizenship are introduced.

Students follow the AQA Studio course book. Each topic delivered has an end of unit test which receives detailed written feedback. Mock exams in listening, reading and writing are held in Years 10 and 11, with a full mock speaking exam in Year 11. Our course includes spelling tests for key vocabulary and core structures, reading and listening comprehensions, grammatical exercises, practice exam questions using mark schemes and model answers, alongside a wide range of home learning tasks.

Year 10 students have the opportunity to take part in our Language Leader programme, learning to teach French to Year 7 students. This helps them build confidence with the language, work as part of a team and gain an insight into the skills needed to teach new language items.

We use Pearson Active Learn and Active Books plus AQA Exampro to provide students with lots of practice in exam style tasks

 One hour home learning is set per week.

USEFUL ONLINE INFORMATION/ONLINE RESOURCES

https://.pearsonactivelearn.com

https://quizlet.com/

https://www.linguascope.com/

https://fr.duolingo.com/

GCSE TEXTBOOKS

STUDIO GCSE

AQA GCSE French Higher by Clive Bell, Anneli McLachlan, Gill Ramage

ISBN 978-1-4469-2719-9

AQA GCSE French Foundation by Clive Bell, Anneli McLachlan, Gill Ramage

ISBN 978-1-292-11775-1

What can parents/carers do to support at home?

Even if you don’t speak a word of French you can help your children if you:

·         Check home learning set on ClassCharts and make sure they can log in to Active Learn and Active Books

·         Test them on the meanings of French words when they have to learn vocab or grammar

·         For longer pieces of writing, ask them to talk you through the plan of their work in English before they start – to make them think about the structure of what they write

·         If they are doing reading or listening, get them to summarise what the text/extract is about

·         Ask them what certain words mean – how spontaneously can they answer you?

·         For GCSE tasks, ask them to show you where they have included the elements required by the mark scheme to get the grade they are aiming for.

·         If they are preparing a GCSE speaking exam – listen to them for 10 minutes 2-3 times a day so they become confident in their topics.