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Course Overview

Stage 5

The Stage 5 Year 9 and 10 courses in French are based on a course produced by CLI with the accompanying textbook Arc en Ciel. Students have the flexibility to enter the course at different points depending on their prior experience. Students are expected to complete 33 weekly packages, including cassettes, per year. In addition, there a number of Internet based mini projects to complete on a fortnightly basis.

Fortnightly phone contact with their teacher allows the students to do their speaking skills practice and discuss any issues they might have in regard to the course work.

Stage 6

French Beginners

The French Beginners Course is a course originally produced for Distance Education and has recently been adapted to meet the demands of the new syllabus. The Preliminary course consists of 4 modules each containing 4 units of work and relevant CDs and 4 one-week review modules, to be completed after each module. The HSC course consists of 3 modules plus 3 one-week review modules. Following the completion of these modules there is additional material to help students prepare for the upcoming HSC examination.

Weekly to fortnightly phone contact with their teacher allows students to practice the speaking skills component of the course interactively, and also allows for more immediate support of students in their learning.

French Continuers

The French Continuers Course, Noir Sur Blanc, is a course originally produced for Distance Education. The Preliminary course consists of 4 modules each containing 4 units of work. The HSC consists of 5 modules each containing 4 units of work. There is a choice of CDs or cassettes to accompany the modules. On completion of the course there is additional material, which students can study to consolidate their learning.

The course is very comprehensive and aims to develop all four-skill areas. Additionally, material has been produced in each skill area to be completed simultaneously with each unit of work and consolidate the skills and to develop examination technique. Phone lessons are organised on a weekly or fortnightly basis. with the aim of developing the students’ conversational skills.

French Extension

The French Extension Course is a course produced solely for Distance Education. The course consists of 20 units of work with relevant cassettes. Students use materials adapted from the textbook Au Point as well as current source material from French newspapers, periodicals and the Internet. This allows students to practise and consolidate the four skill areas at the appropriate level. The course also provides a very comprehensive Film Study Booklet based on the prescribed film for study.

Weekly oral practice by telephone is organised to develop and enhance fluency and critical thinking ability.

Course Materials

The following is a list of learning materials which need to be purchased for the specified course. All prices are approximate.  If a course is not listed, the materials are provided by Open High School.

Textbooks

Stage 5/Year 9 - 200 hour course  (for beginning students only)

HSC Courses

French Extension

Novel : Jean de Florette, by Marcel Pagnol

$24 approx  -  purchase from Open High School

Dictionaries

Students should have a comprehensive language dictionary. We recommend the:

Oxford French Learner’s Dictionary

$30 approx

Stage 6 Syllabuses (From Board of Studies)

Click here to go to our Syllabus Downloads page - choose your language and then download the relevant syllabus.

National Anthem

Coat of Arms

Country Map

Country Overview

France is the third largest country in Europe, after Russia and Ukraine, and the fourth most populous. Officially the French Republic (République Française), the nation includes ten overseas possessions, most of them remnants of France?s former colonial empire. Paris is the nation?s capital and largest city.

Official Language Of

France, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Senegal, Haiti, Lebanon, Martinique, Vietnam, Central African Republic, Chad, Madagascar, Cameroon, Gabon

Total Number of Speakers

More than 175 million

Language Family

Indo-European

Writing System

Latin alphabet plus 5 diacritics and 2 ligatures

Language Overview

French is a Romance language spoken today by about 175 million people around the world. Descended from the Latin of the Roman Empire, along with languages such as Spanish, Italian, Romanian and Portuguese, its development was influenced by the native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul, and by the Germanic language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. It is an official language in 41 countries, most of which form what is called in French La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking nations. French as a foreign language is the second most frequently taught language in the world after English.