GCSE PREP French Class
✨ At a Glance: Why Choose Us?
- Expert tuition aligned with AQA’s new 2026 GCSE French specification
- Focused support for secondary school students of all abilities
- Small group classes and personalised 1-to-1 tuition available
- Flexible scheduling – Friday evenings & custom groups by request
- Based in Amersham, Buckinghamshire – lessons available in person or online
- “My daughter’s confidence has soared, and her predicted grade went from a 5 to an 8!” — Parent, Year 11
GCSE French Themes & Topics
People and lifestyle
Communication and the World Around Us
People and lifestyle
- Topic 1: Identity and relationships with others
- Topic 2: Healthy living and lifestyle
- Topic 3: Education and work
Popular Culture
Communication and the World Around Us
People and lifestyle
- Topic 1: Free-time activities
- Topic 2: Customs, festivals, and celebrations
- Topic 3: Celebrity culture
Communication and the World Around Us
Communication and the World Around Us
Communication and the World Around Us
- Topic 1: Travel and tourism, including places of interest
- Topic 2: Media and technology
- Topic 3: The environment and where people live
Ready to enrol?
What are the 4 GCSE French Assessment Objectives?
Paper 1: AQA GCSE French Listening
Paper 1: AQA GCSE French Listening
Paper 1: AQA GCSE French Listening
What's assessed ?
- Understanding and responding to spoken extracts comprising the defined vocabulary and grammar for each tier.
- Dictation of short, spoken extracts
How it's assessed?
- Written exam: 35 minutes (Foundation tier), 45 minutes (Higher tier)
- 40 marks (Foundation tier), 50 marks (Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
- Recording controlled by the
What's assessed ?
- Understanding and responding to spoken extracts comprising the defined vocabulary and grammar for each tier.
- Dictation of short, spoken extracts
How it's assessed?
- Written exam: 35 minutes (Foundation tier), 45 minutes (Higher tier)
- 40 marks (Foundation tier), 50 marks (Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
- Recording controlled by the invigilator with built-in repetitions and pauses.
- Each exam includes 5 minutes’ reading time at the start of the question paper before the listening material is played and 2 minutes at the end of the recording for students to check their work.
Questions?
- Section A – listening comprehension questions in English, to be answered in English or non-verbally (32 marks at Foundation tier and 40 marks at Higher tier)
- Section B – dictation where students transcribe short sentences, including a small number of words from outside the prescribed vocabulary list (8 marks at Foundation tier and 10 marks at Higher tier)
Paper 2: AQA GCSE French Speaking
Paper 1: AQA GCSE French Listening
Paper 1: AQA GCSE French Listening
What's assessed?
- Speaking using clear and comprehensible language to undertake a Role-play
- Carry out a Reading aloud task
- Talk about visual stimuli
How it's assessed?
- Non-exam assessment (NEA)
- 7–9 minutes (Foundation tier) + 15 minutes' supervised preparation time
- 10–12 minutes (Higher tier) + 15 minutes' supervised preparation time
- 50 ma
What's assessed?
- Speaking using clear and comprehensible language to undertake a Role-play
- Carry out a Reading aloud task
- Talk about visual stimuli
How it's assessed?
- Non-exam assessment (NEA)
- 7–9 minutes (Foundation tier) + 15 minutes' supervised preparation time
- 10–12 minutes (Higher tier) + 15 minutes' supervised preparation time
- 50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
Questions?
The format is the same at Foundation tier and Higher tier, but with different stimulus materials for the Role-play and the Reading aloud task. For the Photo card task, the same photos are used at both tiers.
- Role-play – 10 marks (recommended to last between 1 and 1.5 minutes at both tiers)
- Reading aloud task and short conversation – 15 marks (recommended to last in total between 2 and 2.5 minutes at Foundation tier and between 3 and 3.5 minutes at Higher tier)
- Reading aloud task: minimum 35 words of text at Foundation tier and 50 words at Higher tier
- Short unprepared conversation
- Photo card discussion – 25 marks (recommended to last between 4 and 5 minutes in total at Foundation tier, and between 6 and 7 minutes in total at Higher tier)
- Response to the content of the photos on the card (recommended to last approximately 1 minute at Foundation tier and approximately 1.5 minutes at Higher tier)
- Unprepared conversation (recommended to last between 3 and 4 minutes at Foundation tier and between 4.5 and 5.5 minutes at Higher tier)
Paper 3: AQA GCSE French Reading
What's assessed?
- Understanding and responding to written texts which focus predominantly on the vocabulary and grammar at each tier
- Inferring plausible meanings of single words when they are embedded in written sentences
- Translating from French into English
How it's assessed ?
- Written exam: 45 minutes (Foundation tier), 1 hour (Higher tier
What's assessed?
- Understanding and responding to written texts which focus predominantly on the vocabulary and grammar at each tier
- Inferring plausible meanings of single words when they are embedded in written sentences
- Translating from French into English
How it's assessed ?
- Written exam: 45 minutes (Foundation tier), 1 hour (Higher tier)
- 50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
Questions?
- Section A – reading comprehension questions in English, to be answered in English or nonverbally (40 marks)
- Section B – translation from French into English, minimum of 35 words at Foundation tier and 50 words at Higher tier (10 marks)
Paper 4: AQA GCSE French Writing
What's assessed?
- Writing text in the language in a lexically and grammatically accurate way in response to simple and familiar stimuli
- Translating from English into French
How it's assessed?
- Written exam: 1 hour 10 minutes (Foundation tier), 1 hour 15 minutes (Higher tier)
- 50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
What's assessed?
- Writing text in the language in a lexically and grammatically accurate way in response to simple and familiar stimuli
- Translating from English into French
How it's assessed?
- Written exam: 1 hour 10 minutes (Foundation tier), 1 hour 15 minutes (Higher tier)
- 50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
Questions?
Foundation tier
- Question 1 – student produces five short sentences in response to a photo (10 marks)
- Question 2 – student produces a short piece of writing in response to five compulsory bullet points, approximately 50 words in total (10 marks)
- Question 3 – student completes five short grammar tasks (5 marks)
- Question 4 – translation of sentences from English into French, minimum 35 words in total (10 marks)
- Question 5 (overlap question) – student produces a piece of writing in response to three compulsory bullet points, approximately 90 words in total. There is a choice from two questions (15 marks)
Higher tier
- Question 1 – translation of sentences from English into French, minimum 50 words in total (10 marks)
- Question 2 (overlap question) – student produces a piece of writing in response to three compulsory bullet points, approximately 90 words in total. There is a choice from two questions (15 marks)
- Question 3 – open-ended writing task (student responds to two bullets, producing approximately 150 words in total). There is a choice from two questions (25 marks)
Want to start your own French class?
It’s easy to get started! Whether you're looking for private lessons, a small group, or something tailored to your community or workplace, we’ll help make it happen.
📞 Call us on 07862 294 119
📧 Or email contact@belingualfr.co.uk
Let’s build a French learning experience that works for you!
