To truly succeed at and enjoy French, it is best to revisit topics little but often. Vocabulary (what words mean) and grammar (the rules of a language) can seem overwhelming if revisited all at the same time, for instance, just before a set of exams. Further to this, the level of French that the boys achieve here at Pilgrims', is, on average, approximately two years ahead of the national curve, in terms of modern language education.

The French Department has developed a user-friendly and accessible tool called ‘French Links’, (pdf document attached) for boys who wish to:

• Revise vocabulary or grammar online
• Revisit a recently-studied topic independently
• Revisit vocabulary and grammatical rules that were covered in previous terms, or even previous academic years
• Take a look ahead to future topics, to embed an elementary understanding of what is going to be explored in class
• Ensure they fully understand a concept or topic with the aid of those at home
• See what has been covered in previous terms, especially if they are new to the school

Please do encourage your sons to engage with this document, which will feature on Google Classroom and as part of all revision materials, henceforth, during examination periods. For the vocabulary topics, this will require your son to have created a free username for Quizlet, and to have requested to join the different Quizlet classrooms, listed at the top of the document.

It’s so important for students of a language to feel in control of their own learning. To that end, I hope that this proves useful to you and your sons. Bonne chance !

Dave Power
Head of French