French KS4
Years 10 and 11
French is optional at GCSE, which is the only qualification we offer at KS4.
The most important thing to remember is that anything from years 7-11 could come up on a GCSE French examination paper. We follow the WJEC specification which can be seen on the website: (http://www.wjec.co.uk/uploads/publications/4470.pdf).
In Year 10 pupils study the following areas:
- Basic Introduction, including revision of numbers, days, months, telling the time and dictionary usage.
- Self, family friends and relationships
- Travel and holidays (including perfect tense & ideal holiday)
- The weather and the seasons
- School, education and future plans
- Home town
- Directions
- Shopping & fashion
- Part-time jobs and pocket money
In Year 11 pupils cover the remaining elements of the specification, which include:
- Free time and the media
- Pollution and recycling
- Home life
- Meals & healthy living
- Illness & accidents
- Social Issues
- Technology
- Life in countries wither French is spoken
Although there is no coursework for GCSE French, pupils have to complete several ‘controlled assessments’ for writing and speaking which make up 60 % of the total marks. These are taken in class, under exam conditions. Pupils have two weeks from the date on which they are given the title, to prepare for the task and sit it. In Year 10 pupils sit two writing assessments (one after Christmas and one after Easter) and one speaking assessment (end of June). In Year 11 there are two assessments (one writing and one speaking) before Christmas. Pupils sit exams in listening and reading (20 % each of the total GCSE). Both papers are tiered and can be retaken once. So in June of Year 10, pupils will sit a foundation listening and reading paper (grades C-G). Based on their performance, they will then resit it in Year 11, or do the higher tier instead (grades A*-D).
Pupils can best support their children by ensuring that they have a quiet place to work. Pupils may not have homework every lesson but there is always new vocabulary that they need to learn. When pupils are preparing for the speaking assessments, they need to record themselves speaking French, so a mobile phone with recording facilities, or computer, would be useful, but not essential. There are often BBC revision programmes on the television, or good websites that may be of use, such as: (http://www.zut.org.uk/index.html) or (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/french/).
