French

Syllabus: Edexcel Pearson

1- Why study French?

• To be inspired and have an appreciation of the language, literature, film and culture of the French-speaking world.
• Learn fundamental and interesting aspects of the French culture and communities.
• To develop an advanced level knowledge and understanding of the French language.
• To learn to be more spontaneous in the language building of the understanding developed at KS4
• To be prepared for higher education and enhance your employability profile.

2 - What will you study?

Year 12

• Theme 1: change in French society (family structures, education, work, strikes and gender equality).
• Start of the study of the film “Intouchables” by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano.
• Theme 2: artistic culture and political culture ib the French-speaking world (music, media, freedom of speech, festivals and traditions).
• Preparing the Independent Research Project for the speaking assessment.

Year 13

• Theme 3: Immigration, social issues and multiculturalism. (positive impact of immigration on French society, marginalisation of minorities, the rise of the Far-right party).
• Start of the study of the novel “No et Moi” by Delphine de Vigan.
• Theme 4: Occupation and Résistance (Second World War, occupied France, the Vichy régime, women of the résistance).
• Revisions of topics, review and writing practice on the film and the book.

3 - How will you be assessed?

Paper 1: Listening, reading and translation (64 marks)  1 hr 45 min (listening 45min - 24 marks, reading 45min – 28 marks, translation to English 2 hrs 30 min – 12 marks).

Paper 2: Writing response to works and translation (120 marks) 2 hours 40 minutes: Section A (translation to French) 30min – 20 marks. Section B (written response to the book studied in class) 65min – 50 marks. Section C (written response to the film studied in class) 65min – 50 marks.

Speaking assessment: April/May – 21 to 23 minutes (72 marks). Task 1: Stimulus card (discussion on a theme studied in class.)  Task 2: discussion based on candidate’s independent research project.

4 - What skills will you develop?

An advanced level knowledge and understanding of the French language.

To be more spontaneous in the language building of the understanding developed at KS4

To be prepared for higher education and enhance your employability profile.

5 - What makes a good French student?

Someone who is interested in French-speaking culture and is confident to try and take part in conversations in French. To be spontaneous and take on their curiosity beyond the classroom (reading French texts, listening to podcasts, learning from articles, discovering pop songs, etc). Have a passion for languages and linguistics.

6 - Where can French lead?

• Study of languages at university
• Marketing
• PR studies
• Interpreting schools
• Subtitling
• Tourism
• Journalism
• Teaching
• And many other careers