Teaching A-Level French For The First Time

Course Code: T0120 £289.00

ABOUT THIS COURSE

This course is specifically designed for teachers new to teaching A-Level French with either the Pearson Edexcel or AQA specifications. It will ensure teachers are fully equipped to give students the best opportunity to maximise their potential grades. The sessions will offer fresh teaching approaches, practical strategies, and insights into the challenges of each specification, enabling teachers to plan with confidence.Participants will explore the structure of each exam board, key challenges, and the standards required for success. There will be a strong focus on practical classroom strategies, differentiation for a broad range of student abilities, and ways to build up students’ confidence and skills across listening, reading, writing, translation, and speaking.

BENEFITS OF ATTENDING

  • Gain practical teaching tips and strategies from an experienced A-Level French practitioner
  • Understand the differences and overlaps between AQA and Pearson Edexcel specifications
  • Take away clear approaches to teaching and assessing students at all ability levels
  • Explore methods to tackle common student challenges in receptive, productive, and spoken skills
  • Learn how to prepare students for success across all three papers, using real examples of student work
  • Access resources and classroom ideas to bring the specification themes, texts, and films to life

PROGRAMME

10.00am: Subject Content of the Specifications
  • Overview of both specifications: What’s involved in each A-Level course (Listening / Reading / Writing / Translation / Speaking)
  • Key similarities and differences between the exam boards
  • Identifying the challenge spots in each specification and how to structure teaching accordingly
  • Paper structures
10.40am: Break
11.00am: Teaching Approaches to Listening, Reading, Writing & Translation
  • Practical strategies to layer receptive skills (listening & reading)
  • Spotting distractors and dealing with challenging texts in both boards
  • Building accuracy in translation into English and French
  • Teaching grammar and vocabulary systematically to support writing and translation tasks
  • Developing open-response skills (AQA) vs managing translation accuracy (Edexcel)
  • Using unseen texts and higher-level structures (subjunctive, complex tenses)
12.00pm: Lunch
1.00pm: Assessing Pupils’ Readiness for Receptive Skills
  • Knowing when a student has reached the top bands
  • Approaches to supporting both weaker and stronger students
  • Methods to assess progress in listening and reading effectively
  • Planning classroom activities that mirror exam-style demands
2.00pm: Break
2.15pm: Tackling the Written Papers
  • Why the written papers are challenging and how to prepare students
  • Examining themes, texts, and films across both boards
  • AQA: answering thematic/character-based essay questions
  • Edexcel: justifying viewpoints in literary and film responses with translation
  • Differentiated approaches to build analytical and critical skills
  • Teaching translation into French with grammar accuracy (Edexcel) vs extended writing skills (AQA)
2.45pm: Teaching the Speaking Paper
  • Comparing approaches to the speaking exam in both boards
  • Teaching discussion skills across key themes
  • Supporting students in independent research projects (Edexcel) and Q&A interaction (AQA)
  • Making complex topics accessible while retaining sophistication
  • Key points for success in Paper 3 across both specifications
3.45pm: Depart  
A-Level - Code: T0120

Teaching A-Level French For The First Time

COURSE LEADER

Katherine Golding is a former Head of Department and current teacher of MFL of longstanding experience. She has successfully prepared students for GCSE (AQA), A-Level (Edexcel) and Pre-U examinations in French in current and previous iterations of the respective specifcations and holds the SSAT Diploma for Innovative Teaching. She currently teaches French
and German in mainstream comprehensive education in South Northants and is a marker for both Pearson and AQA. Students in her cohorts have enjoyed the highest percentage of Grades 4-9 in the MFL Department year on year and have gone on to study languages at Oxbridge and other Russell Group institutions. She has both current and historic experience and success in training both new teachers and PGCE students in the skills needed to teach both KS3 and GCSE classes effectively, promoting student uptake and achieving exam success.

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