French

Why study A Level French?

You will enjoy it! In addition to developing your fluency in French, you will study a range of interesting topics which will give you a great understanding of the French-speaking world, its people, culture and history.

French is spoken on every continent in the world and has around 200 million speakers - a true global language! It is an official language in 29 countries including; France, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Senegal, which opens up the job market for you. In our 21st century global economy, your future will be greatly enhanced by knowledge of a foreign language and according to The Independent, can even be ‘extremely lucrative’ for your career opportunities. 

How will I be assessed?

There are three exams at A Level, all taken in the summer of Year 13:

• Paper 1: A Listening, Reading and Writing test
• Paper 2: A Written exam based on the film and book studied
• Paper 3: An Oral exam, including questions based around an independent research project

In the Listening exam you have individual control of the material and can pause, repeat etc as you wish.

Entry requirements

• Students should have achieved at least a strong Grade 6 at GCSE

What skills will I gain from studying French?

There are so many cognitive benefits to being able to speak more than one language including; improved memory and decision making, as well as increased literacy skills.

Universities and employers value an A Level in a language because of the impressive range of transferable skills you develop. According to various research studies, these include:

• Interpersonal 
• Problem solving
• Communication 
• Multi-tasking
• Confidence 
• Enhanced productivity
• Intercultural understanding and awareness

Where can French lead?

Good language skills open the door to an array of exciting opportunities and careers. A survey of employers by the Confederation of British Industries (CBI) and Pearson found that almost two thirds of businesses say foreign language skills are important among their employees, particularly in helping build relations with clients, customers and suppliers.

Languages can be combined with almost any other subject at university; from Sciences to Journalism, Law to Accountancy and Engineering to Marketing. Many graduate application forms include a separate section for language ability, showing how much employers value languages.

Staff

The following members of staff form the Modern Foreign Languages department at King Edwards: