SUBJECT AIM
Cambridge IGCSE French encourages learners to be confident, responsible and reflective by; using new and familiar structures and vocabulary to communicate with others in everyday situations; seeking opportunities to use and develop their language skills; considering how to communicate different ideas and attitudes innovatively; applying language to a variety of situations engaged and by developing learning strategies which help them to express their ideas and their understanding of other cultures.
WHAT YOU WILL STUDY
The course will cover a wide range of topics in the four key skills of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. The subject content is organised in five broad topic areas:
- Everyday activities
- Personal and social life
- The world around us
- The world of work
- The international world
These provide contexts for the acquisition of vocabulary and the study of grammar and structures. The study of these topic areas enables students to gain an insight into countries and communities where French is spoken.
HOW WILL YOU BE ASSESSED
IGCSE French (grades A*- G) | Paper 1 Listening | Paper 2 Reading | Paper 3 Speaking | Paper 4 Writing |
25% weighting 40 marks 50 min approx. | 25% weighting 45 marks 1 hour | 25% weighting 40 marks 10 min approx. | 25% weighting 45 marks 1 hour |
WHAT THIS SUBJECT CAN LEAD TO
- Translator, interpreter, blogger, teacher, journalist, reporter, product localisation manager, field researcher, liaison officer, tour guide, podcaster, sales associate, motivational speaker, flight attendant, private tutor…
- Support your appreciation and the importance of Modern Languages in society, employment and study.
Please click on the arrow for a detailed breakdown:
| Unit / Block of work | Key Episodes / Questions | Additional Detail | Length of time. | Possible Symbol? | Learner Attribute(s) |
| UNIT 1: Introducing yourself | Introduce yourself | The definite article | 4 lessons | House | Inquirer Comminicator |
| 1.1a- Where I live | Describe where you live | Personal pronouns | |||
| 1.1b- What’s your house like? | Describe your accommodation | Preposition of place | |||
| 1.1c- At home, I… | Describe what you do in each room | Personal pronouns and regular verbs in “er” | |||
| 1.1d- In my bedroom there is …… | Describe the rooms of your house in detail | Regular -ER verbs | |||
| 1.2: My school | Time and timetable | Days and time | 4 lessons | School, book | Thinker Knowledgeable |
| 1.2a- Time and subjects | Describe a school day | Reflexive verbs | |||
| 1.2b- My school Day | Describe your school | Preposition of place | |||
| 1.2c- My school | Compare British / French school systems | Irregular verbs | |||
| 1.2d- French schools | |||||
| 1.3: My eating habits | Describe what you eat at breakfast / lunch and diner | Indefinite articles | 4 lessons | Food | Open-minded |
| 1.3a- Meals | Compare different type of French food | Irregular adjectives | |||
| 1.3b- International Cuisine | Identify what makes a balanced diet | Superlatives | |||
| 1.3c- Balanced diet | Partitive article | ||||
| 1.4: My body and my health | Parts of the body | Frequency adverbs | 4 lessons | First Aid symbol | Communicator |
| 1.4a- I am hurt | Say what hurts you | Expressions with “être” and “avoir” | |||
| 1.4b- At the doctor | Explain your symptoms | “à” + the definite article / “depuis” + present tense | |||
| 1.4c- How to stay healthy | Explain how you keep fit and healthy | Negatives and quantifiers | |||
| 1.4d- A healthy life | Explain how to follow a healthy lifestyle | Irregular verbs in the present | |||
| UNIT 2: My family, my friends, at home & abroad | Describe your family in details | Emphatic pronouns | 4 lessons | Family tree | Caring |
| 2.1a- My family | Physical desciption | “Avoir” to give the age | |||
| 2.1b- What does your family look like? | Describe people’s personality | Possessive adjectives | |||
| 2.1c- What are their personalities? | Describe family relationships | Irregular adjectives | |||
| 2.1d- Personal relationships | Reflexive verbs | ||||
| 2.2: Life at home | What are your hobbies? | “Aimer / préférer” + infinitive | 4 lessons | Board game | Balanced |
| 2.2a- Relaxing at home | Describe what you do to relax at home | Complex opinions | |||
| 2.2b- Tidy your room! | Describe the chores | “tu” vs “vous” | |||
| 2.2c- Welcome home | Describe visits and visitors | Imperatives | |||
| 2.3: Leisure, entertainment and invitations | Outdoor activities with friends | “Jouer à” vs “jouer de” | 4 lessons | Invitation | Reflective |
| 2.3a- My free time | Describe your hobbies | Near future | |||
| 2.3b- Do you want to go out? | Describe your activities | Verbs followed by infinitives | |||
| 2.3c- My leisure | Talking about past activities | Simple future | |||
| 2.4: Eating out | French restaurants | Partitive articles | 4 lessons | Fork, Knife and a dish | Communicator |
| 2.4a- I’d like an ice cream | Order what you want in a cafe / restaurant | Indefinite articles | |||
| 2.4b- At the restaurant | Learn how to order food in a restaurant | Conditional tense | |||
| 2.4c- I like italian food | Describe different cuisines | Superlatives | |||
| 2.5: Special occasions | Describe a special ocassion | Past tense of regular verbs | 4 lessons | Party hat | Risk-taker |
| 2.5a- Celebration days | Invite to a party | Past tense of the irregular verbs | |||
| 2.5b- Celebrating with friends | Describe a party between friends | Past participle agreements | |||
| 2.5c- A special occasion | Describe an event | “Après avoir / après être” | |||
| 2.6: Going on holidays | Destinations | More on the past tense | 4 lessons | Passport | Open-minded |
| 2.6a- What type of holidays? | Describe different types of holidays | Adverbs | |||
| 2.6b- What do you do on holiday? | Explain what you do during the holidays | Simple future | |||
| 2.6c- Holidays plans | Describe your future holidays | ||||
| 2.7: Friends and family abroad | Describe people living abroad | Adjectives | 4 lessons | Family and plane | Risk-taker |
| 2.7a- My family live abroad | Describe a visit to your family living abroad | Differences between “tu” and vous” | |||
| 2.7b- I’m visiting my family abroad | Describe what you did during the visit | Imperfect tense | |||
| 2.7c- I visited my family overseas | Keeping in contact with family | ||||
| UNIT 3: Home town and geographical surroundings | Leisure in town and countryside | Connectives | 4 lessons | Town | Knowledgeable |
| 3.1a- I am going to town | Describe the buildings and facilities in town | Complex sentences | |||
| 3.1b- Town vs countryside | Describe different places | Quantifiers | |||
| 3.1c- I hate my town | Advantages and inconvenients in town and countryside | ||||
| 3.2: Shopping | Going, buying and paying at the shops | Question words | 4 lessons | Shopping bag | Communicator |
| 3.2a- What are we buying? | Describe what you buy at the supermarket | Cardinal numbers | |||
| 3.2b- Let’s go shopping | Describe in details what you would like to buy | Demonstrative adjectives/pronouns | |||
| 3.2c- Let’s buy gifts | Giving opinion on clothes | Possessive adjectives | |||
| 3.2d- Does it suit me? | |||||
| 3.3: Public services | Change or withdraw money from the bank | Direct and indirect object pronouns | 4 lessons | Bank | Reflective |
| 3.3a- Let’s talk money | Describe means of communication | Cardinal numbers above 100 | |||
| 3.3b- Let’s keep in touch! | Explain to security your lost item | Relative pronouns | |||
| 3.3c- Lost items | Finding a lost item | ||||
| 3.4: Natural environment | How to take care of the environment | Present participle with “en” | 4 lessons | Globe | Thinker Principled |
| 3.4a- The environment and I | Describe how you improve your environment | “Falloir”+ infinitive | |||
| 3.4b- We love national parks | Describe the role and importance of national parks | ||||
| 3.4c- Our environment is in danger | Understand the issues and find some solutions | ||||
| 3.5: Weather | Describe the weather | Asking and giving directions | 4 lessons | Rainbow | Principled Reflective |
| 3.5a- What’s the weather like? | Describe weather forecast | Constructions with “quand” | |||
| 3.5b- Weather forecast | Describe the consequences of climate changes | Expressions introducing the subjunctive | |||
| 3.5c- Climate change | Say what weather you like | ||||
| 3.6: Finding your way | Understand the given information | Prepositions “au / à la / aux / à l’…” | 4 lessons | Road | Communicator |
| 3.6a- Finding your way | Explain where buildings are situated | Reflexive verbs | |||
| 3.6b- Excuse me, where is…? | Understand more complex instructions | Demonstrative adjectives | |||
| 3.6c- Could you give more details? | Give directions | ||||
| 3.7: Travel and transport | Describe the different means of transportation | “Venir de” in the imperfect and present tense | 4 lessons | Train, metro, bus | Inquirer |
| 3.7a- How we get about? | Describe advantages and disadvantages of means of transportation | Prepositions “en” or “à” | |||
| 3.7b- Are we going on foot or by bus? | “Venir de” + infinitive | ||||
| 3.7c- Getting around town | Describe your way in town |
| Unit / Block of work | Key Episodes / Questions | Additional Detail | Length of time. | Possible Symbol? | Learner Attribute(s) |
| UNIT 4: Studying and working | The French secondary school system | Negation | 4 lessons | School | Inquirer |
| 4.1a- French schools | High School | Cardinal numbers | Communicator | ||
| 4.1b- The secondary French system | Sixth Form | The imperfect tense | |||
| 4.1c- Memories from Primary school | Describing your Primary school | Possessive pronouns | |||
| Teachers, students and facilities | |||||
| 4.2 Further Education and training | Describing what you want to do after high school | Disjoint pronouns | 4 lessons | Degree | Balanced |
| 4.2a- Options after high school | Describing future academic plans | The conditional tense | Thinker | ||
| 4.2b- My future plans | French University system and degrees | ||||
| 4.3 Future career plans | Talking about different jobs | Negation | 4 lessons | Job | Risk taker |
| 4.3a- Jobs | How to choose the right job? | The conditional perfect tense | Caring | ||
| 4.3b- My future job | Pros and cons of jobs | ||||
| 4.4 Employement | Talking about a gap year | Time phrases | 4 lessons | Travel | Open-minded |
| 4.4a- My gap year | Part-time jobs | Quand + future tense | Knowledgeable | ||
| 4.4b- Applying for a job | Writing a cover letter | ||||
| Applying for a job | |||||
| 4.5 Communication and technology at work | Talking about communication in the workplace | Coordinating tenses | 6 lessons | Phone | Communicator |
| 4.5a- On the phone | ICT in the workplace | Question words | Reflective | ||
| 4.5b- ICT in the workplace | Making a phone call | Telling the time | |||
| 4.5c- My job interview | Taking part into a job interview | Après avoir / être | |||
| UNIT 5: The international perspective | Describing various modes of transport | The imperfect tense | 4 lessons | Transport | Principled |
| 5.1a- International travel | Organised and group holidays | The passive voice | Communicator | ||
| 5.1b- Modes of transport | Ways of travelling | ||||
| 5.1c- Group holiday | |||||
| 5.2 Weather on holiday | Talking about the weather | The pluperfect tense | 4 lessons | Weather | Inquirer |
| 5.2a- What is the weather like? | Climate in different regions | Thinker | |||
| 5.2b- Disastrous holidays | Talking about the consequences of the weather | ||||
| 5.3 Festivals and faith | Talking about celebrations and religious festivals | The comparative of adverbs | 6 lessons | Party | Reflective |
| 5.3a- Celebrations and different faiths | Describing a family celebration | Prepositions | Open-minded | ||
| 5.3b- A family celebration | Comparing a French family celebration with the rest of the world | The comparative of adjectives | |||
| The superlative of adjectives | |||||
| 5.4 International menus | Recipes from around the world | Indefinite pronouns | 4 lessons | Food | Balanced |
| 5.4a- Recipes from other countries | Describing foreign dishes | Indefinite adjectives | Caring | ||
| 5.4b- How do people eat abroad? | Comparing foreign dishes with French cuisine | ||||
| 5.5 Environmental problems | Talking about environmental issues | Depuis + present | 4 lessons | Recycling | Knowledgeable |
| 5.5a- Ecological problems | Solutions to ecological problems | Depuis + imperfect | Thinker | ||
| 5.5b- Canada: Environmental solutions | Talking about governemental actions to protect the environment | Verbs + prepositions/infinitives |