French

Our French Language courses strive to meet the needs of our students who have diverse language experiences and aspirations.

Language A Programme

Our “Advanced French Language” programme is in direct response to French speaking families who are increasingly seeking an international education in English for their children whilst maintaining their studies of French language and literacy. We offer the French Advanced Language course from Early Years to IGCSE (16 years old).

As this course is challenging, it is available for those who meet the following criteria:

• The language is the child’s mother-tongue.
• One or both parents are speakers of the language.
• The child has previously attended a school in the language; including attending a bi-lingual school.
• The child has spent several years living in the country, where the language is spoken.
• The child is gifted and talented and has an extremely high level of skill in the language.

In Primary (Year 1 to Year 6), the course follows the objectives of the French curriculum (CNED), with specific emphasis on reading, writing and grammar.

In Secondary (Year 7 to Year 11), students have the opportunity to sit their IGCSE as an early entry candidate. Following from that, our teachers follow the “DELF scolaire B1/B2” so that students can be reintegrated into a Francophone education system in the future.

As reading literature is an essential cultural link with learning a language, our students are expected to read several books per year - we work closely with Culture & Co to ensure that students read interesting and age-related novels, comics etc.

Our teachers support each student’s progress by providing opportunities to obtain early qualifications in ICGSE Second Language.

Language B programme

Our students are lucky to be exposed to French from a very young age. We teach from Nursery to the IB Diploma. Research has shown that learning a new language may contribute to the development of the brain, particularly in the areas of memory, speech and sensory processing and it can also contribute to a child’s self-esteem. We are very proud of being able to teach students across all phases of the school. Students learn to develop their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills on a range of different topics linked to the UK curriculum.

From Year 9 to Year 11, the content of the course is consistent with the IGCSE curriculum. As an IB school, for Year 12 and Year 13, students can choose between three levels of French for their IB Diploma Programme: Ab Initio (beginners), Standard Level (intermediate) and Higher Level (Advanced) courses.

Cultural links

In 2018 we launched our annual school visit to France and Switzerland where we visit a bilingual Nord Anglia School. Being able to practice the language in a real life context is an amazing experience for our students and the trip overall is certainly an adventure.

As we know that France has an incredible culinary culture, our Year 10 students have the privilege of going to “Le Bistro des Arts” in the Marina to learn how to cook some traditional French dishes with the chefs whilst practicing their language skills.

Each year, the whole school is involved in the celebration of « La journée de la francophonie ». It is a special day as we celebrate every country that speaks French in the world. Furthermore, as our French speaking community is rich here at NAS Dubai, it is a day where the community gets together and our teachers run activities about the Francophonie. It is truly a magical day each year.