French ab Initio is a two-year course which will provide students with the necessary skills and intercultural understanding to enable them to communicate successfully in an environment where the language studied is spoken. Offered at SL only, language ab initio is a language acquisition course designed for students with no previous experience in – or very little exposure to – the target language.
French ab initio students develop their receptive, productive and interactive skills while learning to communicate in the target language in familiar and unfamiliar contexts. Students develop the ability to communicate through the study of language, themes and texts.
There are five prescribed themes:
- Identities
- Experiences
- Human ingenuity
- Social organisation
- Sharing the planet.
They will be assessed regularly on the 4 equally weighted skills of Speaking / Reading / Writing and Listening.
Please click on the arrow for a detailed breakdown:
| Unit / Block of work | Key Episodes / Questions | Additional details | Length of time. | Possible Symbol? | Learner Attribute(s) |
| Unit 1 – IDENTITY | French speaking countries | Text type: personal letter / email | 12 lessons | family, clock,flag | Knowledgeable |
| Personnal attributes | Daily routine | The present tense of regular -ER, -IR and -RE verbs | Thinker | ||
| relationships | Personal identification | Adjective agreements | |||
| Family relationships | Articles, genders and number | ||||
| Character | Reflexive verbs | ||||
| Daily routine | Possesive adjectives | ||||
| Pets | Verbs être and avoir | ||||
| Telling the time | Negation ne…pas | ||||
| Days, months | Question words | ||||
| Colours | Near future aller + infinitive | ||||
| Clothes | |||||
| Unit 2 – SHARING THE PLANET | Prepositions | 6 lessons | globe, world map | Open minded | |
| Physical geography | Countries | To and at | Reflective | ||
| Nationalities and Languages | Adjective agreements | ||||
| Geographical features | Irregular verbs present tense: “faire, aller, prendre” | ||||
| Weather and climate | Genders and numbers | ||||
| Unit 3 – SOCIAL ORGANISATION | School subjects | Text type: formal email / formal letter / diary | 15 lessons | School, timetable | Inquirer |
| Education | Opinions | Opinion verbs followed by infinitives | Communicator | ||
| Types of school | Conditionnal tense | ||||
| Facilities | Adjective agreements | ||||
| French school system | Faire vs jouer | ||||
| Physical description of teachers | Partitive article du/de la/de l’/des | ||||
| Extra-curricular activities | Modal verbs | ||||
| Timetable | Relative pronouns | ||||
| Ideal school | |||||
| Unit 4 – EXPERIENCES | Leisure | Text type: blog | 9 lessons | Sport, TV, music | Open minded |
| Leisure and entertainement | Sports | Relative pronouns | Balanced | ||
| Television | Depuis | ||||
| Music, radio | Verbs + prepositions | ||||
| Cinema | Perfect tense with avoir | ||||
| Newspapers, magazines | Perfect tense with être | ||||
| Perfect tense of reflexive verbs | |||||
| Unit 5 – SOCIAL ORGANISATION | Rooms and types of housing | Text type: Invitation | 9 lessons | house, party | Open minded |
| Home | Home life | Irregular adjectives | Reflective | ||
| Household chores | Possesive adjectives | ||||
| Invitations | Possesive pronouns | ||||
| Celebrations | Position of adjectives | ||||
| Relationships with family and neighbours | Prepositions | ||||
| Unit 6 – SOCIAL ORGANISATION | Description of my town | Prepositions à / en + transport | 6 lessons | Shop, bus, currency | Risk taker |
| My neighbourhood | Types of shops | Irregular past participles | Caring | ||
| Buying clothes | Imperative | ||||
| Customer service | Adverbs of intensity | ||||
| Purschase | Numbers | ||||
| Payment | |||||
| Public transport | |||||
| Bank | |||||
| Post office | |||||
| Directions | |||||
| Unit 7 – EXPERIENCES | Types of holidays | Text type: Brochure | 5 lessons | Plane, sun, sea | Thinker |
| Holiday and celebrations | Countries | Perfect tense revision | Caring | ||
| Transports | Comparative | ||||
| Holiday accomodations | Superlative | ||||
| Holiday activities | Simple future tense | ||||
| Local celebrations and festivals | Simple future tense – irregular verbs | ||||
| Weather predictions | |||||
| Physical geography | |||||
| Types of landscapes | |||||
| Unit 8 | Weather phrases | Masculine and feminine endings | 6 lessons | Weather | Inquirer |
| Climate and weather | Current weather conditions | Immediate future tense revision | Reflexive | ||
| SHARING THE PLANET | Natural catastrophes | Simple future tense revision | |||
| Climate | |||||
| Unit 9 | Types of restaurants | Text type: Poster | 10 lessons | Food, plate | Communicator |
| Food and drinks | Types of meals | Partitive article du / de la / de l’ / des | Principled | ||
| IDENTITY | Reservations | Perfect tense revision | |||
| Menu orders | Negative in the perfect tense | ||||
| Recipes | Irregular past participles revision | ||||
| Diets | |||||
| Food preferences | |||||
| Local dishes and culinary traditions |
| Unit / Block of work | Key Episodes / Questions | Additional details | Length of time. | Possible Symbol? | Learner Attribute(s) |
| Unit 10 – HUMANE INGENUITY | Everyday technology | Adverbs in “-ment” | 15 lessons | Internet, cinema | Inquirer |
| Technology, entertainment | TV | Superlative revision | Open-minded | ||
| and media | Radio | Demonstratives | |||
| The internet pros and cons | Comparative of adverbs | ||||
| Film types | Adverbs of places | ||||
| Film reviews and rating | The passive | ||||
| Social networks | Direct and indirect speech | ||||
| Advertising | “Si” – if | ||||
| Unit 11 – IDENTITY | Health | The imperfect tense | 12 lessons | Doctor, food | Balanced |
| Health | Body parts | “Avoir” expressions | Caring | ||
| Illness | Modal verbs | ||||
| Physical well-being | “Venir de” + infinitive | ||||
| Diet | Imperfect vs Perfect tense | ||||
| At the doctor’s | |||||
| Accidents | |||||
| Nutrition | |||||
| Leisure and sports | |||||
| Unit 12 – SOCIAL ORGANISATION | Jobs | Connectors | 12 lessons | Job, diploma | Reflective |
| Workplace | Carreers | Simple future tense – revision | Risk taker | ||
| Working conditions | Conditional tense – revision | ||||
| Work experience | Relative pronouns – revision | ||||
| Qualifications and degrees | |||||
| Unemployement | |||||
| Applying for jobs | |||||
| Unit 13 – SHARING THE PLANET | Environmental challenges | Adverbs | 9 lessons | Globe | Thinker |
| Environment | Climate change | Imperative – revision | Communicator | ||
| Global warming | Reflexive verbs in the perfect tense – revison | ||||
| Natural resources | |||||
| Unit 14 – SHARING THE PLANET | Poverty | The passive voice | 6 lessons | Charity | Informed |
| Social and global issues | War | The past participle as an adjective | Principled | ||
| Volunteering | The subjunctive | ||||
| Charities |
IB1 – IB French Ab initio – Panorama | |||
Main Vocabulary Themes | Identities: Personal Attributes, Relationships Experiences: Daily Routine Personal identification Family relationships Character Daily routine, time
Social Organisation: Education Types of school Personnel Facilities Subjects Extra-curricular activities School calendar, dates
Experiences: Leisure & Entertainment Sports Hobbies Entertainment
Text types: Personal Letter Formal Letter Blog Diary
| Social Organisation: Home Accommodation Home life Household tasks invitations, celebrations
Social Organisation: My Neighbourhood Types of shops Buying clothes Customer services Purchases, payment Public transport Banks, post office Telephone E-mail, fax, internet
How we share the planet: – Physical Geography/ the World Countries Geographical features
Text types: Survey Article Social Media Posting/Chat room
| Experiences: Holidays & Celebrations Human Ingenuity: Transportation Means of transport Types of destination Holiday inquiries Facilities Reservations Celebrations and festivals in France
How we share the planet: Climate & Weather Current weather conditions Forecast Climate
Identities: Food & Drink (Eating Out) Types of restaurants Meals in a restaurant Reservations, menus, orders Recipes Diets, preferences Special dishes
Text types: Travel Guide Advertisement Poster Brochure Leaflet/Pamphlet
|
Main Assessment | Listening: 1 extract Reading: 1 text Writing: 1 Question, known text type Oral assessment: one picture to describe (3 prepared at home).
| Listening: 2 extracts Reading: 2 texts Writing: 1 Question w/choice of text types Oral assessment: 2 unseen pictures to describe (students pick one). | Listening: Full Paper Reading: Full Paper Writing: 2 Questions Oral assessment: 2 unseen pictures to describe (students pick one). |
Skills | Using a mark-scheme to identify opportunities for improvement (All skills, esp. Writing & Speaking in term 1) Researching unfamiliar cultures and systems, and presenting findings (French education system vs. others) | Analysing and identifying the key points of a visual stimulus (Oral Cards)
Combing and differentiating between fundamental linguistic concepts (Imperfect vs. Perfect tense)
| Comparing weather in the Middle East and European countries (Climate)
Comparing and contrasting cultural differences around the world (Celebrations, cultural holidays) |