Sixth Form
French
French ‘A level’ is a demanding and rewarding course for those who have strong French language skills and desire to enhance and extend their knowledge of the French language, culture and history. Equally, you will learn about life in other countries and communities where French is spoken.
What will I learn on this course?
The course aims to build on language skills developed at GCSE and extend your knowledge of the societies in which French is spoken. You will develop your competence in reading, listening, speaking and writing. In class, you will be taught, predominantly, in French and will interact in French with your teachers but also with other students in the room.
A grade 7 minimum, in GCSE French, is required.
Uptake of modern languages has declined in recent years, which means graduates of foreign language degrees are now in demand across all sectors. The career opportunities for someone with a degree in French are therefore wide-reaching and plentiful.
As well as the chance to enter the business sector or charitable organisations in any of the 31 official French-speaking countries across the world (which include France, Canada, Madagascar, Belgium, Switzerland, Cameroon, Haiti and Monaco), a French degree can prepare you for a number of specialist linguistic careers.
A French degree is an excellent foundation to become a modern foreign languages teacher. If you earn a postgraduate teaching qualification such as a PGCE, you’ll be able to teach French in secondary schools, sixth form colleges, or primary schools as a specialist languages teacher.
For more flexibility in your working hours and location, you could become a French tutor, or if you’d like the chance to travel the world, you could teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL). You can do a TEFL qualification online or at many colleges, and your understanding of language acquisition and grammar will be a massive asset in this job.
J. K. Rowling author of the Harry Potter series studied a Bachelor’s in French and Classical Studies at the University of Exeter.If you have an interest in international affairs, or perhaps a history and French degree, you could become a diplomat. Alternatively, you could work in development and international aid, using your degree in French to communicate with colleagues and members of the public to provide charitable support in places of need.
You could even become a detective, entering the police force and using your linguistic talents to work on cases where French is involved. And those are just the beginning. French degree jobs can take you all over the world, communicating in French to work in journalism, sales, marketing, PR, logistics, business, banking, finance, accountancy, law, media, tourism, charity, diplomacy and security.
French is a global language that will benefit you when travelling the globe and open up many international employment opportunities, even if you only have a French degree online.
Speaking another language is not only rewarding but impressive and with the native country only being a hop, skip and a jump away over the English Channel, why not study French? Even if it’s part of an online French degree.
Many students also study French as part of a joint honours degree to create something like a History and French degree or a Law with French degree or an Economics and French degree and even combine the language with another language, like a French and Spanish degree.