French

At the Bridge Education Centre, we offer our pupils the opportunity to learn one or two foreign languages (French or Spanish). In addition to the government’s recommendation for all pupils to endeavour to learn a language, colleges and employers also appreciate candidates with a good grade in a language, at least.

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Languages Programmes of study:

The Department of Education prescribed national curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils:

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- understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources

- speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and   asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation

- can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt

- discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

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Attainment targets:

By the end of Key Stage 3 (Years 7, 8 and 9), pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the programme of study. In this programme, pupils are taught grammar, vocabulary and linguistic competence in four skills: listening, speaking, reading and

writing.

GCSE French (Key stage 4) specification and how it works:

At the beginning of Key Stage 4 (years 10 and 11), pupils are given the opportunity to recap and practise important grammar and vocabulary from Key Stage 3 (Years 7, 8, and 9).

The GCSE French specification is divided into three main subject areas or three broad themes:

 Identity and Culture

 Local, national, international and global areas of interest

 Current and future study and employment

Each subject area is divided into sub-themes or topics to study during the course and the end of course exam is divided into four language skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing. Each skill carries 25% of the final exam and the qualification.

Resources:

The centre is fully equipped with resources, toolkits and revision guides including - Linguascope, a revision tool for 6 languages, - GCSE revision booklets and guides, - dictionaries, - laptops and - headphones. We also have an online site called ‘Memrise’ which is used to memorise and to learn key vocabularies and topics as well as language skills. Finally, our pupils are entered for their final exams with the relevant and the most appropriate exam boards which follow conscientiously the Department of Education specification and that support our efforts at the centre.