Exam Board: AQA
Course Outline
If you dream of speaking a foreign language fluently and impressively and perhaps even working abroad, studying French will bring this ambition within your grasp and will equip you with a variety of unique skills that will be invaluable in the future. You will become a more knowledgeable and informed person and debates and discussions in the classroom will give you a broad perspective on a wide range of issues and topics. You will also gain in-depth knowledge of France and French-speaking countries.
To improve your listening and speaking skills, you will have regular access to interactive on-line resources.
Content
- Social issues and trends
- Political and artistic culture
- Grammar
- Works: Literary texts and films.
Assessment and Examinations
- Paper 1: Listening, reading, writing and translation; 50% of the qualification
- Paper 2: Essays on a film and a book; 20% of the qualification
- Paper 3: Speaking, individual research project; 30% of the qualification.
Future Prospects
You may choose to go on to study a language further at university. This is sought after in a variety of career sectors including finance, retail, banking, business, teaching and tourism. Companies value employees with language skills as the UK trades with over 200 countries worldwide, 60% of which are non-English-speaking. English may be the language of international business, but the ability to communicate in another language and to be aware of cultural differences is a tremendous asset. Your experience of travel and other cultures will benefit you personally as well as being attractive to future employers. Even if you do not choose to study a language in Higher Education, learning a language at A-level can develop a number of more general skills. Among these are communication skills, cultural knowledge and links with other subject areas. Foreign language study has been found to be associated with improvements in students’ creativity, self-concept, critical thinking abilities, memory, and listening skills. Mental flexibility is enhanced by the reasoning, problem-solving and analytical processes that are frequently used in learning a language.