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WHY STUDY FRENCH?
Languages are all around us; they are used in so many situations whether at work,
on holiday or just casually in day-to-day life - we live in a multilingual global society.
Studying French gives you the tools to share your views in a responsive and fun
environment and allows you to explore diverse and interesting subjects including
music, film and technology to gain a greater understanding of contemporary
culture abroad. With the assurance of skilled, friendly teachers you will be able to
communicate effectively and acquire an interest in another country.
COURSE CONTENT AND ASSESSMENT DETAILS
French A Level builds upon your existing knowledge gained at GCSE, giving you a
sound understanding of using your language in a variety of contexts and situations -
at home, abroad, with friends or in the workplace. The emphasis of the A Level in
French course focuses on improving communication through different means as well
as being able to use French in a variety of situations. It develops your key skills and
most importantly encourages you to fall in love with learning languages.
The aim of the A Level French course is to help you to develop an interest in
speaking a foreign language, to gain awareness of the need to speak a different
language, to appreciate the nature and diversity of different cultures and people
and to acquire knowledge, skills and understanding for practical use, further study
and employment.
The A Level course has four main elements:
• Aspects of current trends in French-speaking society
• Aspects of current issues in French-speaking society
• Artistic culture in the French-speaking world
• Aspects of political life in French-speaking society
The course is linear and students will sit three exams:
Paper 1: Listening, Reading and Translation
• Comprehension of the language is assessed in this paper
• Written exam: 2 hours 30 minutes
• 50% of A Level
Paper 2: Writing
• A written piece on a text and a film or two texts from the list set in the specification
• Grammar is also assessed in the writing paper
• Written exam: 2 hours
• 20% of A Level
Paper 3: Speaking
• Students undertake and discuss an individual research project in the
Speaking assessment
• One of the four sub-themes will also be discussed
• Oral exam: 21–23 minutes (including 5 minutes preparation time)
• 30% of A Level
Studying a Language at A Level
prepares you for the critical and
imaginative aspects of a degree or
career. Many universities seek the
skills you show with a qualification in
a Modern Language. An A Level in
French is regarded highly by
businesses and having a language
to A Level standard can increase
your salary from 8 to 20% and gives
you a head start on other potential
employees especially to any
company who does international
business. Therefore studying French
A Level helps you to contend in
today’s competitive job market.
Jobs in fields such as: journalism,
the media, business, international
relations, education and travel
recognise the level of achievement
in learning French, and of course,
opportunities to work abroad
are abundant!
