Theme 3: Communication and the world around us: Travel and tourism, including places of interest, Media and technology, The environment and where people live (Higher).

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infoWhy this? Builds real-world relevance: Environmental issues and where we live are topical, motivating contexts that engage pupils and promote cultural awareness and responsible citizenship. Consolidates and extends core grammar: Pupils apply high-frequency structures (present, perfect, near future, modal verbs, verbs + infinitive, si/quand) in meaningful contexts, strengthening accuracy and fluency. Expands functional vocabulary: Daily eco-actions, global issues, housing, town amenities—useful lexis for GCSE-style tasks and authentic communication. Develops opinion and justification skills: Strong focus on giving views with reasons and balancing advantages/disadvantages—central to higher-mark GCSE responses. Interleaves phonics: Targeted sounds (a/à; h) support pronunciation, listening discrimination and spelling. Higher level

scheduleWhy now? Spiral curriculum: Revisits and deepens previously taught grammar (present, perfect, imperfect; modal verbs; verbs + à/de + infinitive) while adding nuance (avant de, pour/sans + infinitive, infinitives as nouns). Assessment readiness: Aligns with upcoming tests/revisions and composite grammar practice, ensuring pupils can handle mixed-tense narrative, description, and opinion tasks across skills. Cultural capital: Cannes mini-topic broadens cultural knowledge, supporting authentic listening/reading strategies and exam-style cultural items. Higher level

The imperfect tense describes repeated or background actions in the past, often meaning “used to” or “was/were doing”.
The imperfect forms of être are j’étais, tu étais, il/elle/on était, nous étions, vous étiez, ils/elles étaient.
The imperfect forms of avoir are j’avais, tu avais, il/elle/on avait, nous avions, vous aviez, ils/elles avaient.
The imperfect forms of faire are je faisais, tu faisais, il/elle/on faisait, nous faisions, vous faisiez, ils/elles faisaient.
French adjectives usually agree with the noun they describe by adding -e for feminine singular, -s for masculine plural, and -es for feminine plural.
The near future is formed with the present tense of aller plus an infinitive, for example je vais voyager means “I am going to travel”.
The simple future is formed with an infinitive stem plus future endings such as -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont, for example je voyagerai means “I will travel”.
En is used with many feminine countries and with transport expressions such as en France, en voiture, en avion and en train.
The perfect tense describes completed past actions, while the imperfect tense describes background details such as weather, age, feelings or what something was like.
Pour plus an infinitive means “in order to”, and sans plus an infinitive means “without”, for example pour visiter and sans payer.
The passive voice in French is formed with être plus a past participle which agrees with the subject, for example les maisons sont construites means “the houses are built”.
The pronoun y can replace a place introduced by à or dans, and the pronoun en can replace a noun phrase introduced by de or a quantity.
Modal verbs such as pouvoir, vouloir and devoir are followed by an infinitive, for example je peux visiter means “I can visit”.
In the perfect tense, common modal and related verbs include j’ai pu meaning “I was able to”, j’ai voulu meaning “I wanted to”, j’ai dû meaning “I had to”, and j’ai su meaning “I knew/found out”.
French negatives include ne … pas for “not”, ne … jamais for “never”, ne … rien for “nothing”, ne … personne for “nobody”, ne … ni … ni for “neither … nor”, and ne … que for “only”.
The imperative is used to give commands or advice, using forms such as fais attention, ne clique pas and ne partageons pas.
Après avoir plus a past participle means “after having done”, while après être plus a past participle is used with verbs that take être in the perfect tense.
Je voudrais plus an infinitive means “I would like to”, for example je voudrais planter des arbres means “I would like to plant trees”.
Partitive articles mean “some” or “any”: du is masculine, de la is feminine, de l’ is used before a vowel sound, and des is plural.
The conditional of regular -er verbs is formed from the infinitive plus endings such as -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient, for example j’habiterais means “I would live”.

rocket_launchYou must be able to

Describe where someone used to live by using the imperfect tense of être, avoir and faire with details about age, weather, family, location and local life.
Describe gap year plans by combining the near future and simple future with accurate destination, accommodation, transport and activity phrases.
Narrate a recent holiday by using the perfect tense for completed activities and the imperfect tense for background details such as weather and accommodation.
Discuss internet and technology use across past, present and future time frames, using frequency phrases, opinions, reasons, advantages and disadvantages.
Give opinions about social media, blogs, celebrities or influencers by using modal verbs in the perfect tense and negative structures such as personne ne and rien ne.
Give online safety advice by using the imperative accurately and by explaining risks with après avoir or après être plus a past participle.
Describe environmental problems and solutions by using phrases such as on coupe trop d’arbres, je voudrais, partitive articles and a range of negative structures.
Describe and compare a real town, home or local area with an ideal one by using modal verbs, the conditional, si or quand clauses, and reasons.
Refer to plural indirect objects by placing nous, vous or leur before the conjugated verb, for example je leur parle means “I speak to them”.
Pronounce and recognise key sound-spelling links in this unit, including è/ê/ai, au/eau/ô, nasal sounds such as en/an/on/in, h muet, and -ill- or -ille.

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