Local, national, international and global areas of interest: Home, town, neighbourhood and region

AQA

GCSE

Candidates must demonstrate the ability to describe, analyze, and evaluate their immediate environment, ranging from domestic settings to broader regional geography. Mastery requires the manipulation of complex grammatical structures to compare urban and rural lifestyles (la vie urbaine contre la vie rurale), analyze regional infrastructure, and discuss the cultural significance of specific French regions. Responses must transcend simple listing of amenities to include justified opinions on quality of life, social issues such as housing (la crise du logement), and the environmental impact of urbanization.

Objectives

Exam Tips

Pitfalls

Key Terms

Mark Points

What You Need to Demonstrate

Key skills and knowledge for this topic

Award marks for the accurate use of prepositions when describing location (e.g., 'dans le sud de', 'au bord de la mer')
Credit the use of complex structures such as 'ce qui me plaît, c'est...' or 'si j'avais le choix' to express justified opinions
Candidates must demonstrate accurate conjugation of high-frequency verbs (habiter, aller, être) across Past, Present, and Future time frames
Reward the inclusion of specific topic vocabulary (e.g., 'un quartier animé', 'les transports en commun', 'la pollution') over generic terms

Example Examiner Feedback

Real feedback patterns examiners use when marking

"You have listed facilities well; now add a qualitative adjective to describe them (e.g., 'un grand parc')"
"Your opinion is clear, but you must justify it using 'parce que' or 'car' to gain marks for development"
"Check your time frames: you used the present tense to describe a past visit to the town centre"
"Excellent use of the conditional tense ('j'aimerais habiter'); ensure the verb ending matches the subject"

Marking Points

Key points examiners look for in your answers

Award marks for the accurate use of prepositions when describing location (e.g., 'dans le sud de', 'au bord de la mer')
Credit the use of complex structures such as 'ce qui me plaît, c'est...' or 'si j'avais le choix' to express justified opinions
Candidates must demonstrate accurate conjugation of high-frequency verbs (habiter, aller, être) across Past, Present, and Future time frames
Reward the inclusion of specific topic vocabulary (e.g., 'un quartier animé', 'les transports en commun', 'la pollution') over generic terms

Examiner Tips

Expert advice for maximising your marks

💡In the 90-word and 150-word writing tasks, explicitly tick off the bullet points as you cover them to ensure content coverage marks
💡When describing your region, always include at least one opinion with a justification using connectives like 'puisque' or 'car' to access higher bands
💡Use the 'Palm Tree' method for the Photo Card: describe what is physically there, then link to a related past event and a future plan
💡For translation tasks, identify the tense of the English sentence first before attempting to translate into French

Common Mistakes

Pitfalls to avoid in your exam answers

Confusion between 'c'est' (it is) and 'il y a' (there is) when describing town facilities
Failure to apply correct adjectival agreement (gender and number) with nouns like 'ville' (feminine) or 'quartier' (masculine)
Incorrect use of prepositions with geographical names (e.g., using 'à' instead of 'en' for feminine countries, or 'au' for masculine)

Key Terminology

Essential terms to know

Likely Command Words

How questions on this topic are typically asked

Write

Describe

Mention

Explain

Translate

Answer

Ready to test yourself?

Practice questions tailored to this topic