Understanding French

   I have made serious efforts to improve my French, spending five years bent over grammar books and reading only French novels as well as attending classes at my local U3A. Has it worked?

  Oh yes! When watching Nick Robinson's excellent programme "Them and Us" on our historic relationship with the E. U. I understood the French speakers perfectly - provided they were over 75 years of age at the time we first joined them!

French GCSE

I love French and have spent three years brushing up my ancient "A" level. This has come in handy to help my granddaughter with her GCSE. But that syllabus! So boring - assuming all teenagers want to learn how to say they play at basketball. No literature, no encouragement to write or speak about interesting topics. All in the name of relevance, I assume.