French

Head of Department: Mr Tanner

 

Department Background
 French is a large and thriving department at Latymer. We have a dedicated and talented team of teachers who are committed to the idea that language learning should enable the student to use the language creatively and spontaneously.  Students enjoy French, gaining excellent exam results, and a large number choose to study French A level.

We use a wide range of teaching techniques and materials to keep our students engaged and challenged. Typical activities include paired speaking activities, games to practise vocabulary and grammar, dictation to practise listening and reading skills, and filming performances of sketches students have written. Students use phonics to develop their pronunciation, listening and spelling skills. Students study authentic resources - French films, Bandes Dessinés (comic books) and literature, giving them an excellent grounding  

Students make good use of the department’s class-sets of iPod touch devices, which allow them to record their speaking work and immediately send it to their blog.

A level students benefit from the invaluable input of our secret weapon – our assistante Mme Heddle. A fully qualified teacher, she works with students in regular one-to-one lessons where they develop their conversation skills, but also any grammatical difficulties they might encounter.

Year 7 - 9
 Our year 7 and 8 curriculum is designed to be accessible to absolute beginners, whilst providing those who have previously studied French with a solid understanding of the grammatical structures that will allow them to manipulate the language in a meaningful and creative way. In year 7 students learn to ask questions, describe people, places and things and communicate basic personal information, mostly in the present tense.

Year 8 is an acceleration – students learn to use past and future tenses, and gain confidence in producing longer and increasingly complex sentences.

Year 9 prepares students for GCSE, with introduction of the future simple and imperfect tenses, along with more complex descriptions and techniques to avoid repetition.
Year 10 - 11
 Our curriculum in year 10 follows the Edexcel GCSE specification. Students expand their vocabulary and grammatical knowledge and become more autonomous learners. They begin to discuss topics in more detail, giving detailed descriptions and narrating events. Reading and listening are examined at the end of year 11, and students sit controlled assessments in speaking and writing throughout the course – these allow a lot of creativity, and all students are able to do produce something unique.
 Sixth Form
 We have excellent uptake to our A Level Course, with 2 classes running in both year 12 and year 13.

AS – Students learn to discuss serious social issues such as Educaton, Drugs, and the Environment in depth. They develop their critical faculties, and learn to challenge and refute established ideas. They are introduced to the study of French history, literature and film. They consolidate their grammatical knowledge, and learn to use more sophisticated structures like the subjunctive mood.

Year 12 students also play a vital role as French subject mentors for younger pupils.

A2 – Students debate complex and controversial topics such as euthanasia and the abortion. They also study aspects of French culture and politics, developing their ideas on topics such as the social unrest in the suburbs and the recent banning of the Islamic veil in public places. They read literature, including short stories by Maupassant. They also– La Haine -  Kassovitz’s violent masterpiece of cinema about the Parisian suburbs.

All A level students benefit from the invaluable input of our secret weapon – our assistante Mme Heddle. A fully qualified teacher, she works with students in regular one-to-one lessons where they develop their conversation skills, but also any grammatical difficulties they might encounter.
 Activities
 Trips:
Year 9 trip to the Europa Centre
Year 10 annual Exchange with Tours
Year 12 annual Exchange with Toulouse
Extra-Curricular
Year 11 weekly French Debating Club
Sixth Form French weekly Debating Society
Oxbridge enrichment lessons in Year 13
Recent Highlights
 The 2010-11 trip to Toulouse was our first for this exchange, and was an outstanding success. A particularly unusual highlight was the guided visit of the notorious Raynerie Housing estate, which  has helped students to understand the cultural setting of La Haine this year.

Our performance in last Years competitive French Debates at Henrietta Barnett school was also excellent, although we failed to win for the second year running. Years 12 and 13 are in  intensive training to redress the balance this year.