Subject Leaders and Teachers:

Senior Cycle: Ms Maud Halferty:  mhalferty@st-andrews.ie and 

                               Ms Severine Reneaud:  sreneaud@st-andrews.ie

Junior Cycle: Ms Catherine Jennings:  cjennings@st-andrews.ie       

French Teacher's Name	Contact
Ms Brennan	bbrennan@st-andrews.ie
Ms Breton-Higgins	ebreton@st-andrews.ie
Ms Geraghty	mgeraghty@st-andrews.ie
Ms Keane	nkeane@st-andrews.ie
Ms McArdle	kmcardle@st-andrews.ie
Ms Zakrzewska	gzakrzewska@st-andrews.ie

Introduction

Course aims

Teachers' sites

There are many reasons for studying a language and, irrespective of whether it is Icelandic or Swahili, the reasons are pretty much the same from one language to the next: it gives you an idea of how people live; it makes travelling abroad more interesting; it opens new windows on the world; it gives you access to a new world of music and literature. So why study French in particular?  Here are a few reasons:

The French are very clever. They have made the most significant contributions to modern life: the metric system, French fries, Braille, croissants, pasteurisation, French roast coffee, pancakes, scuba equipment and mayonnaise.  

 

France has everything you could possibly want for the perfect holiday.   It’s got Paris for museums, the Alps for skiing, the Côte d’Azur for swimming and the Atlantic coast for surfing, all conveniently located in the one country.

 

 French is a relatively easy language to learn because you know a lot of French words already: café, baguette, chauffeur, bureau, restaurant, sabotage and mayonnaise to name just a few.   All you need to do is add a few verbs and the occasional adjective.

If you can speak some French, you’ll never look a fool in an expensive restaurant: Bisque de homard, lait à l'estragon? Easy! Lobster soup with tarragon milk, of course!

 

The French are friendly, especially towards the Irish. They’ve even named a street for us in Paris – rue des Irlandais. And don’t forget how they tried to help out Wolfe Tone back in 1798.

 

France has a thriving film industry that has produced some of cinema’s greatest masterpieces: Jean de Florette, Les enfants du Paradis and Les bronzés font du ski.

 

Speaking French means you can add the following artists to your iPod: Edith Piaf, MC Solaar, Bénabar, Anaïs and BB Brunes.

And finally, the best reason for learning French: so that you can understand the songs of Jacques Brel.