French is taught in all of our associated Primary Schools and pupils study French in the Broad General Education (BGE) up to and including S3 at St Aidan’s High School. Pupils then have the choice whether to study for National Qualifications in French at National 4 or 5 or beyond at Higher or Advanced Higher.

National 4 & 5 French

National 4 and National 5 Modern develop literacy skills by giving learners opportunities to read, listen, talk and write in a modern language and to reflect on how this relates to English. These courses enable learners to understand and use the modern language, to apply their knowledge of a modern language in real life contexts including that of Employability.

National 4 is entirely internally assessed. There is an external examination at National 5 which comprises a Reading and Writing paper, plus a Listening paper. Talking is internally assessed and is worth 25% of the overall N5 grade.

The National 4 course is made up of three mandatory Units:

Modern Languages: Understanding Language (National 4). The purpose of this Unit is to provide learners with the opportunity to develop reading and listening skills in the modern language and to develop their knowledge of straightforward language in the contexts of society, learning, employability and culture.

Modern Languages: Using Language (National 4). The purpose of this Unit is to provide learners with the opportunity to develop the productive skills of talking and writing in the modern language, and to develop their knowledge of straightforward language in the contexts of society, learning, employability and culture.

Added Value Unit: Modern Languages: Assignment (National 4). The purpose of this Added Value Unit is to provide learners with the opportunity to apply their language skills to investigate a chosen topic in a familiar context in the modern language. Pupils are required to read, research, present and talk in the Modern Language in order to achieve the National 4 Added Value Unit.

The National 5 course is made up of two mandatory Units:

Modern Languages: Using Language (National 5)

The purpose of this Unit is to provide learners with the opportunity to develop talking skills in the modern language, and to develop their knowledge and understanding of detailed language in the contexts of society, learning, employability, and culture.

The second piece of assessment in National 5 is a piece of writing in the modern language in which pupils are expected to write on one of three contexts in 120-200 words. This is a piece of work completed in school and sent to SQA for assessment. It is externally assessed.

Click here for further information about National 5 Modern Languages.

FRENCH RESOURCES

Pupils are recommended to have a bilingual dictionary for use at home to assist in the completion of any homework.

Pupils are advised to use the on-line dictionary site www.wordreference.com as this is reliable.

Click here to access the Past papers.