What do I need to know or be able to do before taking this course? A Level French is a facilitating subject when it comes to choosing a university degree i.e. universities value studying a language at A Level. You will need to feel confident at this level in the four language skills of Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. You should have a solid grasp of the grammar covered in the GCSE. You must also have some knowledge and understanding of the culture and way of life of the target-language country. You need to be interested in developing this understanding and in exploring in much more depth the topic areas that you will have covered at GCSE as well as being open-minded about studying politics, culture, literature and film. You must be an independent, self-regulating learner; you will need to be proactive in seeking out and learning new language, as well as researching how our topics relate to French and francophone society. What will I learn on this course? The A Level course will build on and extend the foundation provided by the GCSE to enable you to express well-argued and thoughtful responses to questions on a variety of social and cultural topics. You will develop your fluency in spoken French through weekly small group sessions with the French Language Assistant. You will also study a work of French literature and a French film in Y13. Y12 The evolution of the family Cyber society Volunteering and charity work French cultural heritage Contemporary French music French and francophone cinema Y13 Social diversity Marginalisation Crime and punishment Young people and political engagement Protests and strikes Immigration Study of a novel Study of a film Individual Research Project (IRP) What skills will I develop by doing this course? This course will enable you to develop some key skills, which will be essential to you whatever you go on to do afterwards. The key skills you can develop during this course are: • Listening skills: you will listen to and understand contemporary spoken language and answer questions on passages from a range of sources such as news videos, reports, interviews, discussions and films. • Reading skills:you will read, understand and extract information from written passages in the target language that are taken from authentic sources such as magazines and newspapers articles and books. • Speaking and debating skills: you will discuss a variety of topics in the target language and express your opinions providing evidence for your arguments. You will prepare presentations in French on a range of topics. • Writing skills: you will learn how to write essays and to hold a line of argument in French. You will learn all of the appropriate grammar, words and phrases to express your ideas successfully. • Translation skills: you will increase your translation skills from English to French and vice versa. • Summary skills: you will practise your summary skills by selecting information in texts in reading and listening tasks and by manipulating grammar.This will equip you to process information quickly, to identify the key ideas, and to relay these clearly and concisely. • Research skills: beyond your Individual Research Project (IRP) in Y13, you will be asked to do research on different topics and to present your findings throughout the 2-year course. • Analytical skills: you will analyse and extract conclusions from different texts, images and graphs. • Collaborative skills: you will be paired up with other students and asked to work in groups to practise your linguistic skills and to provide solutions to problems. • Study skills: beyond homework, responding to feedback, target setting, revision skills and organisational skills, you will also complete independent learning tasks that will deepen into those areas where you need further practice. What kind of student is this course suitable for? This course will appeal to students who have an interest in: • Developing further their current linguistic skills in French • Exploring cultural and political aspects of French-speaking countries • Analysing a variety of topics, a book, a film and a topic of their choice in French (IRP) What could I go on to do at the end of my course? Students with A Level French have access to a wide range of possible career and higher education opportunities. These may include but are not limited to • Degrees specialised in languages such as Linguistics, Translation or Literature Studies. • Degrees in another subject with an Erasmus year at a European university. • Doing a joint-honours degree combining a modern language with another subject – these can be subjects such as History, English Literature, which complement the skill-set of a Languages degree, or they can be a contrasting subject such as Chemistry, Economics or Business. Having a language at Advanced Level will improve your employability, in particular with companies which have international branches.