French

Learning French at Wycombe Abbey means solving great grammatical mysteries and discovering new cultural grounds.  If this sounds a little bit like a great adventure, it is because the final destination is always within reach but offers suitable challenges in order to make it exciting. 

 In UIII, all pupils have three lessons a week and are set in three divisions.  Division one does its first foray into fiction reading (Le Petit Nicolas).  Having conquered basic linguistic rules, LIV pupils build on their new territory by enhancing their vocabulary range as well as their understanding of verb tenses.  Reading fiction is an integral part of the pupils’ lives, it provides them with the appropriate passports for continuing their journey.  Thus, la Comtesse de Segur and Marcel Ayme’s tales provide legroom for discussions and research.  In UIV, new regions are annexed, including the important area of opinions and arguments.  The following L5, division 1 should be ready to embark on their GCSE exams, having obtained all necessary visas and authorisations.  The rest travel along a more scenic route taking in the new landscapes and uncovering fresh structures in order to take their GCSE exam at the end of the U5.

To listen to the GCSE revision podcast made by some UV girls click below

At this stage, the students have the option to continue on their journey in order to reach the highest peaks of AS and A2.  This will require specific high altitude training and many arduous exercises but, more than anything else, it requires enthusiasm for the language and the culture.  A determined  traveller who embarks on this course will find the experience fulfilling and life-enhancing.  Bon voyage!

The Head of French Miss Landsmann says: “Every year brings interesting developments and ideas.  We have the latest facilities, enabling teachers and pupils to see things which would otherwise be left hidden.  Girls have a genuine passion for communication and working with them is a priviledge.”

Pour ne citer qu’une élève de première: “Apprendre le français ici veut dire garder l’esprit ouvert et aimer débattre de problèmes fondamentaux avec les autres.”

A quote from Metroland by Julian Barnes...

“We were, you may have guessed, mostly doing French. We cared for its language because it sounds were plosive and precise; and we cared for its literature largely for its combativeness. French writers were always fighting one another – defending and purifying the language, ousting slang words, writing prescriptive dictionaries, getting arrested, being prosecuted for obscenity, being aggressively Parnassian, scrabbling for seats in the Académie, intriguing for literacy prizes, getting exiled. The idea of the sophisticated tough attracted us greatly. Montherlant and Camus were both goal-keepers; a Paris-Match photo of Henri de going up for a high ball, which I had sellotaped inside my locker, was a venerated as Geoff Glass's signed portrait of June Ritchie in A Kind of Loving.

There didn't seem to be any sophisticated toughs in our English course. There certainly weren't any goalkeepers. Johnson was tough, but hardly swish enough for us; after all, he hadn't even got across the Channel until he was nearly dead. Blokes like Yeats, though, were the other way round; swish, but always fugging around with fairies and stuff. How would they both react if all the reds in the world turned to brown? One would hardly notice it had happened; the other would be blinded by the shock”