This course is designed for students with little or no prior knowledge of the French language. The first two year of French aims to provide the students with basic communication skills in French, the ability to read and understand a limited type of text and skills to write simply but creatively both conversational and narrative compositions. Priority is given to listening and speaking activities, reinforced by reading and writing. Grammar is used in context before being made explicit in grammatical terminology. The course also introduces the student to French speaking countries and their culture. Then the course expands on each of the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing developed in grades 8 and 9, with a continuing emphasis on using language in interesting, meaningful ways. It completes the introduction to the essential grammatical structures and tenses of French as well as to basic vocabulary. The reading program serves to reinforce the structures and vocabulary as well as to develop comprehension skills. The student would be able to understand long sentences which consist of recombination of learned elements in a limited number of content areas. The course also aims to familiarize the students with aspects of French culture.