WJEC GCSE French tutors

The Made-for-Wales qualification is WJEC GCSE French, with entry codes 3830QS for English-medium assessment and 3830CS for Welsh-medium assessment. It is untiered: there is no Foundation or Higher entry for this course. It uses A*–G grades, and all assessments take place in the final year. The older WJEC French qualification had its final full assessment in summer 2026, so a resource carrying the WJEC name may still describe a different assessment.

Ask the school for the course code and exam year before choosing revision materials. This also helps a tutor decide whether to work on current exam tasks, rebuild missing language knowledge or support a specific legacy resit. Eduqas discontinued its separate GCSE (9–1) French qualification, with final assessment in summer 2025. Its older resources should not determine preparation for the new Wales course.

For the new course, preparation needs to cover spoken communication, understanding language and writing responses. The units below show where those skills are assessed. A learner who knows vocabulary on a flashcard may still need help recognising it in speech or choosing it in a sentence.

The assessment objectives cover understanding and responding to spoken language (AO1), written language (AO2), and knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and sound–spelling patterns (AO3). Use them to identify the difficulty: hearing a message, understanding a text, or forming the French accurately.

Reading aloud, role play and responding in conversation call for different practice. A fluent rehearsed presentation does not show whether a learner can respond when a question changes.

In this original practice exchange, Tu aimes voyager ? means “Do you like travelling?” A short answer is Oui, j’aime voyager en train — “Yes, I like travelling by train.” Extend the thought with parce que c’est confortable — “because it is comfortable” — so the answer gives a reason.

Now change the question to Et l’année dernière ? — “And last year?” Repeating the opinion misses the change of time. J’ai visité Paris avec ma famille — “I visited Paris with my family” — supplies a past event. A useful next practice step is to change one detail, then try the exchange without the written answer. Swap roles too: the role-play task includes a question the learner must ask.

For reading aloud, practise a short passage with model audio, mark difficult sound–spelling patterns and read it again. Keep response practice separate too: accurate pronunciation and answering the actual question are both useful targets.

Here is an original practice sentence: Normalement, je joue au foot le samedi, mais hier j’ai regardé un film. It means “Normally, I play football on Saturdays, but yesterday I watched a film.”

If the question asks what the speaker did yesterday, “played football” is the wrong answer even though foot is familiar. Normalement sets up the usual routine; mais introduces a contrast; hier moves the account to yesterday. The answer is “watched a film”. The verb changes from je joue (“I play”) to j’ai regardé (“I watched”).

Try it first as a reading task. Then have the tutor read it aloud without showing the text, and explain which words establish the answer. A later version can change the activity while keeping the same contrast, to check understanding of the sentence rather than memory of this answer.

This helps distinguish two different problems: not knowing a word, and knowing the words but connecting them to the wrong time or person. Each calls for different practice.

In this constructed example, a learner writes Hier, je joue au foot while trying to say “Yesterday, I played football.” Hier means “yesterday”, but je joue means “I play”. For the intended completed action, the correction is Hier, j’ai joué au foot.

The perfect tense here needs both j’ai and joué: the helping verb and the past participle. Changing only the time word leaves the verb problem untouched. A fuller answer might be Hier, j’ai joué au foot. C’était amusant parce que j’aime le sport — “Yesterday, I played football. It was fun because I like sport.” The opinion adds information while the first sentence still clearly reports the past event.

For a follow-up, translate “Yesterday, I watched a film”, using regarder (“to watch”). Then check against Hier, j’ai regardé un film. The sign of progress is choosing the structure with a different verb without copying the original sentence.

For exam writing, practise planning what to communicate and checking verb forms afterwards. Longer answers are useful when they develop a clear message; extra sentences do not repair a repeated tense error.

For the reading-and-writing non-examination assessment, the centre chooses a literary work, such as a short story, graphic novel, film script or novel. Preparation should connect understanding of the work with the French needed to describe and explain a response.

A made-up practice scene says Samira donne son repas à son ami — “Samira gives her meal to her friend.” Simply writing Samira est généreuse — “Samira is generous” — states a judgement. Adding parce qu’elle aide son ami — “because she helps her friend” — connects it to what she does. This is a starting sentence for explaining a character, not a complete assessment answer.

In separate practice, choose a relevant detail from a text, form a judgement and explain how that detail supports it. Ask the school which work it has selected so the preparation fits what the learner is studying.

Keep ordinary practice separate from assessed work. During controlled preparation of the Unit 1 presentation, a tutor must not correct or improve the draft. The Unit 2 response is completed under supervision without resources or assistance. Tuition should develop the skills beforehand, following the school’s assessment instructions.

Use WJEC’s current specification, sample assessments and guidance for the Made-for-Wales course. Its broad themes cover leisure and wellbeing, travel, and study and work. Practise vocabulary in short exchanges and sentences within those themes, then revisit it through listening and reading.

Check the edition of a vocabulary list against the exam year. WJEC says the grammar and vocabulary additions in its June 2026 specification can appear in assessments from summer 2028. For Unit 4 Question 6, its September 2026 newsletter clarifies that the suggested prompts are optional. Practise developing relevant ideas rather than treating those prompts as compulsory bullet points.

For learners considering progression to AS or A level, GCSE French provides a foundation for further study. Discuss the next course with the school and explain this longer-term aim when agreeing tuition priorities.

Latimer offers one-to-one tuition with an online-first approach. Each tutor sets their own hourly rate, shown on their profile, and lessons are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. Compare the rate alongside course experience and ask what preparation, practice tasks or feedback the tutor includes.

Microsoft Teams is the default lesson platform; another platform can be agreed with the tutor. For French, check that speech and shared audio are clear, and have a way to show written work. In-person lessons require an individual arrangement.

Agree lesson times and cancellation or rescheduling terms before paid lessons begin.