The French department at Eltham College is popular, flourishing and successful. Alongside its strong academic track record, it also aims to enthuse its students and foster in them a life-long enthusiasm for this elegant, important language. There are 220 million French speakers worldwide, a number that is set to increase to over 700 million by 2050. In a world in which the professional job market is fiercely competitive, French competes strongly with English as a main language of international business, finance and politics.
Studying the French language and cultures throughout the francophone world is a rich and rewarding experience. Opting to study French with us opens up an understanding and appreciation of this very vibrant society that is also our closest neighbour: contemporary francophone culture, social issues, politics, film, literature and history. In spite of the ubiquitous Eurostar adverts, we do tend to forget that France is just a two-hour train journey away. You certainly do not need to study French to survive in Paris for example, but it is deeply satisfying and rewarding to understand quirky adverts on the métro, not feel thrown by the array of possibilities on a French menu, and simply go to see a film.
We aim make learning French a fun, stimulating and positive experience, which will guide our students right from Year 7 through to A-level, to communicate effectively and with confidence. We want to equip them with the skills to adapt their lexical and grammatical knowledge to communicate independently, whilst also developing a rigorous understanding of the techniques that lead to success in examinations. We hope our students will develop into astute linguists, whose understanding and appreciation of other cultures helps shape their understanding of the world and themselves.
