French Department
The French department is an old department. In the past, the numbers opting to learn were quite few but today, there are many candidates especially in S.6. Performance has been improving year by year due to the recruitment of high achievers to sit for O-level and A-level exams. In the past, French language was taken to be a subject of the Arts candidates in A-level but today, science students opt for the language and their results are usually good.
In O-level, candidates sit for three papers; a French oral exam which is very essential is paper 1, Paper 2 involves grammar and reading comprehension, Paper 3 involves writing expression.
In A-level, there are 4 papers; paper 1, French oral examination which involves the testing of students to express themselves freely in French, paper 2 involves grammar and reading comprehension, paper 3 is French literature and Francophone literature, paper 4 is composition and translation.
Senior 2 students do all the subjects but at the end of S.2, they do optional subjects of their choice. Today, additional mathematics can be combined with French. Entrepreneurship can also be studied together with French. There has been research in the French department regarding the eligibility of continuous assessment. This involves the compilation of all the tests that a candidate has done in the course of studying i.e. S.3 and S.4 which results are sent to the Uganda National Examinations Board. A percentage is calculated usually; continuous assessment takes 30% of the final assessment.
There are 2 major events; the francophone day is celebrated every year. There is also a French day of 14 th July to celebrate the fall of the Bastille.
There are many students opting to learn French. In S.1 B & C, there are about 160 students. But boys are more than girls. In Senior two, there are about 120 students learning French. In S.3, there are about 50 semi-candidates. In S.4, there are usually above 40, in fact the number in S.4 was very big in 2003; 70 candidates, the highest ever. In S.5, the number is quite big – 24, but girls this time are more than boys, in the year 2008. In S.6, there are 17 candidates of which only 3 are girls. The number of girls opting to learn French fluctuates a lot. Some girls take Biology as one of their principal subjects and therefore can not study French, say PCB combination.
All the teachers in the French department are very well trained. In fact, there are 20 teachers currently and can handle both O-level and A-level. They have had in-service training both in Uganda and France.
Today, there are even audio-visual facilities which are very motivating and recently, the department acquired a computer which is used jointly with the German department. As regards textbooks, there is a small problem especially grammar books for A-level.
There is a French club where debates are organised, at times, there are trips to neighbouring schools. Teachers act as animators and patrons. Students are elected to fill the various posts.
Tsau James Abraham
Teacher of French language, Kings’ College Buddo.
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