501 – FRENCH SYLLABUS GENERAL OBJECTIVES The objectives of teaching French in secondary schools are to: 1) equip learners with the basic communicative skills for effective communication where French is required; 2) give learners access to oral and written materials in French; 3) facilitate further studies in Francophone institutions; 4) promote global peace through the understanding and appreciation of the cultures of French-speaking peoples and through a more positive perception of foreign peoples and their cultures. 1.0.0 SKILLS 1.1.0 LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS These two skills should be developed side by side. Learners should be able to listen to a variety of oral materials in French and extract information from them. They should be able to communicate orally in real life situations and should articulate correctly. They should understand the meaning and functioning of prosody (intonation, rhythm, liaison, etc.) and use it in their speech. 1.2.0 READING SKILLS Learners should have been exposed to authentic documents from a variety of written sources such as comics, magazines, readers, newspapers, brochures, etc. 1.3.0 WRITING SKILLS Writing and reading skills both demand visual recognition and comprehension of words and structures. The two skills complement each other. 1.4.0 SPEECH ACTS AND GRAMMAR It is vital for any language learner to both master and correctly use grammatical structures. Since language is a vehicle of communication, grammatical structures and vocabulary should have been learnt within communicative situations. Speech acts and grammar constitute the content. 2.0.0 LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS 2.1.0 Specific Objectives By the end of the course, the learner should be able to: a) respond to instructions and to other varied stimuli; b) answer the telephone and convey oral messages; c) answer questions on everyday topics; d) manipulate in conversation the grammatical structures and vocabulary learned; e) ask for and give directions to places; f) express an opinion and give reasons; g) narrate experiences in different tenses; h) comment on oral information; i) talk about personal experiences using a wide range of vocabulary; j) dramatize real life situations (role-play); k) extract information from recorded audio-visual material; l) appreciate French spoken at varying speeds and in different registers (niveaux de langue); m) speak with reasonable fluency and accuracy of articulation, liaison and intonation on a variety of topics within their own experiences; n) express themselves orally using a wide range of vocabulary and grammatical structures. 2.2.0 READING SKILLS 2.2.1 Specific Objectives: … Read more
