Language Changes in the French GCSE Examination That Students and Teachers Need to Know
French GCSE pupils will no longer be taught ‘je m’appelle’
Traditional textbook phrases ditched in favour of more modern vocabulary
Stock phrases are no longer being taught to GCSE language pupils.
Traditional textbook sayings are being replaced in language lessons by more modern terminology.
Lesson plans will abandon the classic discussion of imaginary holidays in favour of a focus on useful phrases designed to help students achieve a functional command of their language of choice.
Commonly used “high-frequency” words will become more central to learning.
In French, these terms include “politique” and “amour”, meaning politics and love. Terms frequently used in Spanish include vida and maravilloso, meaning life and wonderful. In German, examples include wirklichkeit and handel, meaning reality and trade.
And teachers will be focusing on helping teenagers be flexible in the language, rather than capable of regurgitating complicated but formulaic dialogue from textbooks.
Updated French teaching materials will see students use “je suis” instead of “je m’appelle”, so they can tell the listener more about themselves than just their name.
And memorising long vocabulary lists of animals that students are unlikely to own, such as snakes and parrots, will no longer be a central part of the curriculum.
The new materials have been produced by the Oak National Academy, the Government-backed curriculum and teaching resource provider.
Alice Harrison, the head of modern foreign languages at Oak National Academy, said: “Pupils learn high-frequency, practical vocabulary that allows them to express what they want to say in real situations.
“We’ve focused on giving pupils the foundations they really need – the most useful, high-impact vocabulary.”
Approach aligns with new GCSEs
The new approach aligns with the revised modern languages GCSEs in England, which pupils will sit for the first time next year.
Headteachers have been warning for years that Britain risks becoming a “monolingual society” amid a steep decline in modern language degrees.
Languages have not been compulsory at GCSE since New Labour introduced changes in 2004.
The number of teenagers sitting French GCSE has slumped by a fifth since 2014, while German entries have fallen by around 45 per cent.
Around 128,000 pupils received French GCSE results this summer – down 1.9 per cent from the previous year. In 2003, that figure stood at 331,000. There were 32,430 German entries this summer, down 7.6 per cent.