This course has been proof read by Monique Hodgeson, a French native speaker. Its author would like to thank Monique for all her patience, help and invaluable advice and suggestions.

Thanks to Paul Griffiths, Headmaster of St Clere's School, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex and his Language Department and the pupils who trialed an early draft of the course in 2001 and for all their helpful comments.

Thanks to Joan Godfrey for all her work in trialing an early draft and for all her feed back when she was Head of Languages at St Clere's School.

Thanks to Debbie Davies, Head of Languages at Mexborough High School, Doncaster, South Yorkshire for her enthusiastic response to the samples and for her ideas on how the scheme could used in her school

Thanks to Gemma Langridge (a GCSE student in 2001) who proof read the final draft of the scheme. Her youthful opinion was much appreciated.

Comments on the french4schools verb based course made by teachers, pupils and parents.

A teacher's comments

I found the content stimulating; there is plenty to challenge pupils. The material is clearly explained and logically developed. This course has the advantage of being very different from the majority of GCSE material. It definitely fills a gap. I found the examples of sketches and situations had a different feel from the usual coursebook fare; they include an element of drama without descending into the unbelievably corny. The angle of approach is radical. ·The way it developed a whole range of communicative phrases from an in-depth study of être was admirable.

Pupils' Comments

It's better than a textbook.
I wish we had this course at our school.
This course uses a really effective technique to help structure sentences. Instead of just supplying different vocabulary, it teaches you the different ways to start and structure sentences. I found I could use the different blocks of sentences and combine them with other vocabulary that I had learnt. This is really good as it means that I can now feel confident when speaking French, and instead of just knowing a lot of words by themselves, I know how to use all these words together, in proper grammatical sentences. This has enabled me to hold a proper conversation in French using past, present and future tenses with confidence.
The verb-based course has filled in a lot of gaps that are not covered in school. It is more than a normal French course because it gives you confidence. I have learned to put together impressive French.
I studied French at school for 5 years and in the run up to my French mocks I found Jenny Gardner's verb based course very helpful. I used the booklets for revision and found verb structures very helpful in the exam. The booklets give practice and the 'important verb section' was particularly useful for refreshing my memory on verbs that I would otherwise have forgotten. The booklets explained and simplified French for me, so I felt more in control of the language before and during the exam.

A parent's comments

I wanted to say how pleased I was with the effectiveness of your teaching for my daughter. When her school predicted a failure, so close to the exam, I thought there was probably nothing we could do. Your coaching not only gave her confidence but the knowledge she needed to achieve a pass. We were also encouraged by the fact that she enjoyed your innovative approach to teaching.

Your teaching has had a lasting benefit - on a recent trip to France she was skilled enough to order food and drink in local shops and restaurants.