The study of a language other than English contributes to the overall education of students, most particularly in the area of communication, but also in the areas of cross-cultural understanding, intercultural learning, cognitive development, literacy and general knowledge. It provides access to the culture of communities which use the language and promotes understanding of different attitudes and values within the wider Australian community and beyond.
The ability to communicate in another language, in conjunction with other skills, may provide opportunities for employment in the fields of interpreting, social services, ethnic affairs, the tourism and hospitality industries, international relations, the arts, commerce, technology, science, education etc.
Learning a language is about learning skills that go beyond a language and that will make our learners the resourceful individuals, creative thinkers and global citizens who will shape the 21st Century.
In Year 11 there are three prescribed themes with their prescribed subtopics for study in VCE French:
Personal identity and lifestyles
Relationships
Aspirations, educations and careers
The francophone world
Historical perspectives
French cultural perspectives
Global and contemporary society
Communication and media
Technology and science
All the themes and topics are to be studied over the course of Units 1–4. It is not expected that all topics will require the same amount of study time and some may be more suited to Units 1 and 2 or to Units 3 and 4, depending on the learning program.
The themes, topics and subtopics are the vehicle through which the students will demonstrate achievement of the outcomes. Each outcome will correspond to an area of study, namely Interpersonal communication, Interpretive communication and Presentational communication.
Unit 1- Outcomes:
For this unit, students are required to demonstrate achievement of three outcomes.
Outcome 1: to establish and maintain an informal, personal, spoken interaction in French on a selected subtopic.
Outcome 2: to interpret information from two texts on the same subtopic presented in French, and respond in writing in French and in English.
Outcome 3: to present information, concepts and ideas in writing in French on the selected subtopic and for a specific audience and purpose.
Unit 2- Outcomes:
For this unit, students are required to demonstrate achievement of three outcomes.
Outcome 1: to respond in writing in French to spoken, written or visual texts presented in French.
Outcome 2: to analyse and use information from written, spoken or visual texts to produce an extended written response in French.
Outcome 3: to explain information, ideas and concepts orally in French to a specific audience about an aspect of culture within communities where French is spoken.
The award of satisfactory completion for a unit is based on a decision that the student has demonstrated achievement of the set outcomes specified for the unit. This decision will be based on the teacher’s assessment of the student’s overall performance on assessment tasks designated for the unit, to be completed in class under supervision.
Students will be assessed in a variety of ways which include a combination of the following:
Role-plays, interviews, conversations
Blogs, journal entries, podcasts
Articles, emails, reviews, brochures, reports
Letters (formal or informal), short stories
In addition, once a week a native speaker interacts with individual students. The aim of these sessions is to improve the students’ listening and conversation skills.
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