Teaching AQA A-Level French for the First Time

Course Code: T0120 £249.00

ABOUT THIS COURSE

This course is specifically designed for teachers new to teaching AQA A-Level French. 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 the specification, enabling teachers to plan with confidence. Participants will explore the structure, 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 AQA A-Level French practitioner
  • 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 exam papers, using real examples of student work
  • Access resources and classroom ideas to bring the specification themes, texts, and films to life

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

  • Teachers who are new to teaching AQA A-Level French, or teaching A-Level for the first time
  • Early Career Teachers and less experienced French teachers who want to build confidence in delivering the AQA specification effectively
  • Teachers returning to A-Level French teaching who want to refresh their understanding of the specification, assessment requirements and effective classroom practice

PROGRAMME

10.00am: Subject Content of the Specification
  • Overview of the specification: What’s involved in the AQA A-Level course
  • Identifying the challenge spots in the 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
  • 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
  • Answering thematic/character-based essay questions
  • Differentiated approaches to build analytical and critical skills
  • Teaching extended writing skills
2.45pm: Teaching the Speaking Paper
  • Approaches to the speaking exam
  • Teaching discussion skills across key themes
  • Supporting students in Q&A interaction
  • Making complex topics accessible while retaining sophistication
  • Key points for success in Paper 3
3.45pm: Depart
A-Level - Code: T0120

Teaching AQA A-Level French for the First Time

Katherine Golding

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, A-Level and Pre-U examinations in French in current and previous iterations of the respective specifications and holds the SSAT Diploma for Innovative Teaching. She currently teaches French and German in mainstream comprehensive education and is an exam marker for both AQA and Pearson. Students in her cohorts have enjoyed the highest percentage of Grades in the MFL Department year on year and have gone on to study languages at Oxbridge and other Russell Group institutions. She has current and historic experience and success in training practiced, new and PGCE teachers in the skills needed to teach KS3, GCSE and A-Level classes effectively, promoting student uptake and achieving exam success.

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Course Brochure