Students study French for a variety of reasons:
- French is spoken by more than 220 million people over 5 continents
- It is the second most widely learned language after English and the sixth most widely spoken in the world. Along with English, it is the only language taught in every country of the world.
- Over 40% of the English language comes directly from French so students can easily learn and understand French
- It is the language of culture: cooking, fashion, theatre, visual arts, dance and theatre
- It is a language for travel, higher education, international relations and business.
- It’s fun to learn and an absolute pleasure to speak and listen to! It is the most beautiful language in the world!
- Finally, our results are top class, with over 40% on average of Senior Cycle students achieving an ‘A’ grade in the Leaving Certificate.
For more information about studying French, click on the link below:
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/french-foreign-policy/francophony/promoting-french-around-the-world-7721/article/10-good-reasons-for-learning
French at Mount Anville
Students studying French start as beginners in first year and go right through to sixth year. The approach is always to study what’s relevant in the language so that if they go to a French-speaking country they should be able to communicate effectively, understand what they are reading and hearing and develop these skills as the years go by.
Our aim is also to encourage them to develop an appreciation of French culture and of language learning in general. We use a communicative approach to language teaching, with lessons conducted largely in French, supported by careful study and practice of grammar and vocabulary. We aim to develop the skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing through a wide range of activities including: class oral work, pair work, group work, acting out dialogues, vocabulary learning, oral and written grammar drills, listening to and watching recorded material, songs, playing language games, dictation, using interactive computer resources and writing a wide variety of materials. All classes are mixed-ability as this is best practice and our results attest that students perform better in this context.
Debating
A team of senior students get to take part in the Alliance Française inter-schools debating competition each year. The debates are always lively and interesting and the girls’ performance in French always shows a marked improvement. We prepare and practise the debates in class to ensure whole-class involvement.
Film Club and Library Resources
French films are shown regularly by the French Club during lunch time. The library holds a large collection of French DVDs as well as a wealth of material such as novels, audio books and magazines to encourage learning autonomy and bring language learning outside the classroom.
Resources
All French classrooms are fitted with data-projectors and whiteboards and contain a wide variety of resources to make language learning as enjoyable and effective as possible. Teachers differentiate to cater for the range of needs and ability within the classrooms
The Language laboratory
Mount Anville is unique in its provision of a 30 booth laboratory, which allows students to practise their listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. We use authentic material and online resources to enhance classwork and maximise opportunities for differentiation. The students love it! This link is an example of a website we use for Senior Cycle French: http://apprendre.tv5monde.com/
1st Year French Breakfast!