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French Revision

Grammar, phonics and exam skills for the reformed 2026 spec, tier by tier.

AQA GCSE French (8652) is the reformed specification, first examined in June 2026. It is tiered: students sit all four papers at either Foundation (grades 1-5) or Higher (grades 4-9). The four papers - Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing - are equally weighted at 25% each, and the new spec adds a prescribed vocabulary list, a defined tiered grammar list, phonics (sound-symbol correspondences) tested through dictation and reading aloud, and translation in both directions.

Because a language is learned through patterns rather than facts, these lessons are grammar-led: every tense and structure - the present, the perfect with avoir and etre, the imperfect, the future, the conditional and more - gets its own worked lesson with full conjugation tables and glossed examples. Alongside the grammar sit three phonics lessons (sounds, accents and nasals, liaison and silent letters), a lesson for each exam paper, translation technique, and topic-vocabulary lessons for all nine themes.

Higher-tier grammar (the future and conditional tenses, the passive voice and advanced pronouns like y and en) is clearly badged so Foundation students know what they can skip. Work through a grammar point, turn it into a quiz or flashcards, and ask the built-in tutor whenever a conjugation, accent or liaison stops making sense.

Lessons

Getting started and exam skills

9

Grammar: the building blocks

9

Grammar: verbs and tenses

10

Grammar: Higher tier

5

Theme 1: People and lifestyle

3

Theme 3: Communication and the world

3

Frequently asked questions

By four equally weighted papers, each worth 25%: Listening (with a dictation section), Speaking (a non-exam assessment with a role-play, reading-aloud task and photo-card discussion), Reading (with translation into English), and Writing (with translation into French). Students sit all four at one tier.

Foundation targets grades 1-5 and Higher grades 4-9. Higher students must know everything on the Foundation grammar and vocabulary lists plus extra Higher-only content, such as the future and conditional tenses, the passive voice and the pronouns y and en. These lessons badge the Higher-only grammar so you know what applies to you.

The reformed 8652 spec introduced a prescribed vocabulary list, a defined tiered grammar list, assessed phonics (through dictation in Listening and reading aloud in Speaking) and translation in both directions. It replaced the old 90/150-word essay tasks with more structured writing. These lessons teach the current 2026 format.

Master the core grammar and high-frequency vocabulary, then practise each exam skill. Learn verb conjugations and accents until they are automatic, build topic vocabulary you can adapt in Speaking and Writing, and rehearse dictation and reading aloud, since phonics - liaison, nasals and silent letters - is now directly assessed.

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