French is a widely spoken Romance language that uses the same Roman alphabet as English. A subject such as VCE French can appear intimidating at first but when one has a good understanding of the expectations and is well prepared there is no need to worry! French at VCE level assesses three broad areas of competency: participation in interpersonal interactions, interpreting the language of other speakers and presenting ideas in French on a variety of topics and themes. Specifically, students are required to develop their skills in the five areas of listening, speaking, reading, writing and viewing in French whilst cultivating an understanding of the relationships between language and culture. 

At Year 10 level, students can prepare for VCE French by:

1. Working on their skills and knowledge to maintain an informal, personal interaction in French. This includes vocabulary to initiate an interaction and exchange information, using a range of question and answer forms, employing appropriate forms of address (i.e. the informal “you”) and knowledge of French idioms that do not have direct equivalents in English.
2. Practise interpreting information from French texts (in a written, spoken or audio-visual format) and responding to these texts in French and English. In order to do this, they should practice summarizing key ideas from texts, using appropriate written French depending on the text type (such as formal or informal registers) and practising responding to reading comprehension questions. 
3. Practice planning and drafting their own French texts, using dictionaries and online tools when required.