Ashbourne’s thriving Language Faculty has a fantastic team of enthusiastic and expert teachers. We encourage our students to immerse themselves in the language so they can quickly build their confidence and fluency. We use a wide range of materials and take our students’ needs and interests into consideration in order to help them engage in the themes we cover.
Students are invited to join Ashbourne’s lunchtime French Club to practise speaking and have the opportunity to visit the local Institut français (French cultural centre), which offers a great selection of films, arts, theatre and talks.
Why study French at GCSE?
France has an extensive network of cultural centres around the world that offer french language courses helping to make it one of the most widely spoken languages. It is one of the official languages used at the United Nations and European Union institutions as well as many other inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations worldwide. French companies operating across the world provide jobs in a wide range of fields including industry, media, sport and tourism, for example.
Learning French not only develops your communication and thinking skills it broadens your perspective and gives you the chance to explore a different culture. You will also find it easier to go on to learn other latin-based Romance Languages like Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
Which syllabus do we follow?
Ashbourne follows the Edexcel specification for GCSE French (higher tier)
What is covered in this course?
The five themes covered in this course are: Identity and culture; Local area, holiday and travel; School; Future aspirations, study and work; and International and global. These themes are explored in the context of the four language skills – speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Students explore a wide range of issues relating to Identity and culture in France and worldwide.
Who teaches this course?
Benvinda Alves
Maîtrise Lettres et Civilisations Étrangères, journalistic translation (University of Nanterre, Paris); PGCE, French, Spanish and Portuguese (University of North London)
Benvinda joined Ashbourne in July 2016. She is an experienced teacher who has taught French in a variety of establishments including King’s College and the London School of Economics. She is an avid learner of languages, and very keen runner.
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