Newcastle University

French

This subject is offered by the School of Modern Languages.

Subject summary

French language provision in the School of Modern Languages combines practical language study and communication skills with the study of French culture, giving you the opportunity to undertake a wide range of optional modules.

You study French to a high level of expertise in courses specially designed to prepare you for the year abroad and for subsequent employment. Language courses are taught in French using a communicative approach, but you will also get a thorough, interactive grammar course in years 1 and 2, and learn Liaison Interpreting in your final year.

If you are a Combined Studies student you are expected to spend one third of your time on French language study.

Apart form the language modules, our options cover aspects of language, culture and society in modern and contemporary France. You can choose from a wide range of subjects such as film, history, society, linguistics and language acquisition, modern literature, Francophone writing, popular culture, visual art. There are also themed courses such as the History and Culture of Paris or Occupation and Resistance 1940-45.

Your intercalating year will be spent abroad in a French-speaking country. When you return to Newcastle, in Stage 3 you continue to study French language and optional non-language modules, and you can also choose to write a dissertation on an approved topic.

Pre-requisites

You can study French either from scratch, post-GCSE or post-A level (or equivalent) standards.

Further information

Please note that a maximum of two language subjects can be taken together and only one of these can be at beginners’ level.
From 2012 entry onwards no more than one Modern Language can be continued past Stage 1.

Examples of French modules offered

Intercalating year
Students taking a language as a subject must spend an entire academic year abroad in a country where their chosen language is spoken between Stages 2 and 3. This shall be their Intercalating Stage. While abroad they shall take the following modules: SML3004 Personal Learning Record (100 credits) SML3005 Intercalary Project (20 credits) or SML3006 Study Abroad (20 credits).