French
Modern Foreign Languages are core subjects at Coopers’ which means that every pupil studies a foreign language up to GCSE. French, German and Spanish are taught from Year 7 to Year 13, i.e. complete beginners to near enough fluency at Advanced level.
We have diversified our languages curriculum so that all languages are taught equally and no language is given greater weight than the others. In Year 7 two or three forms study each language. In Year 8 all pupils start a second foreign language with which they continue to the end of Year 9 and we play through the permutations of first and second language combinations. Pupils may choose their first or second language for GCSE or may continue with both languages.
Modern Foreign Languages are mostly taught in our own block, the Prisca Coborn block, with 6 classrooms of which one is a computer room which also serves as a language laboratory. Every classroom has an interactive whiteboard and a projector so ICT can be used whenever needed.
English is currently the international lingua franca but when communicating with people in their own language you gain a different perspective. Modern Languages make any student more marketable, both in terms of higher education and employment. France, our closest neighbour on mainland Europe and the 3rd largest economy in the EU, is important both in terms of culture and as the 2nd lingua franca of Europe. French is one of the most asked for languages in surveys among employers.
Course description
Our KS3 course is partly based on the Dynamo textbooks by Pearson and is accessible to learners of a range of abilities promoting a good level of proficiency in the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
What will you study?
Year 1
You will cover these topics:
Introducing yourself, school, spare time and family.
You will learn these structures:
French pronunciation, verb endings in the present tense, gender, adjectives and adjectival agreement, near future, opinions and how to ask questions.
Year 2
You will cover these topics:
Holidays, festivals and food, online activities/TV/films.
You will consolidate the grammar you covered
in the 1st year and also learn these structures:
Past tense (passé composé and imparfait), near future, opinions, connectives, reflexive verbs, vouloir (to want) and on peut (one can).
Year 3
You will cover these topics:
After-school activities, describing your friends, celebrations, jobs, future plans, healthy living and environmental issues.
You will consolidate all the grammar you covered in Years 1 and 2 and become more confident using it. You will also learn these structures:
Using all 3 tenses, modal verbs, pour + infinitive, simple future, comparatives and conditional.
To be successful in this subject students will need to be good at and enjoy:
- Learning about other cultures
- Reflecting on your own learning and adapt strategies
- Communicating in a foreign language
- Spotting patterns and regularities
Progression routes & career opportunities
All Modern Languages on offer combine readily with virtually all subjects available within the sixth form. In the past, language students have pursued a wide and eclectic range of complementary subjects. Suffice it to say, it is extremely rare to find a selection of disciplines that would not be beneficially augmented by knowledge of a foreign language.
Homework/extended learning
- Additional reading and listening
- Vocabulary acquisition
- Grammar revision
- Writing
- Web-based interactive exercises supporting all 4 skills
Additional information
Pupils learning French as their first foreign language will be invited to go on a study trip at the end of year 8 which, in past years, included visiting Paris and Disneyland.
