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Bonjour for Beginners: Grade 9 Open French

August 16, 2023

A girl holding a camera in front of Canadian Parliament buildings in Ottawa

Bonjour! Who’s ready to learn another language this year?? Whether this is your first encounter with French or you’ve had some previous experience, the FSF1O course is sure to teach you something valuable and interesting.

Many students looking to earn the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) can feel anxious over the thought of having to fulfill their compulsory French requirement. With the de-streaming process currently underway in the Ontario curriculum, the removal of FSF1P (Grade 9 Applied French) left some students scrambling to catch up in the academic course. International students registering from countries where French is not an official language have also previously been ineligible to enrol in Grade 9 French since they were unable to complete the mandatory prerequisite of 600 hours of French instruction. But no more! FSF1O is here to save the day!

Designed to meet the OSSD French credit requirement, the FSF1O course is ideal for students who do not meet the prerequisite for FSF1D, whether they have some gaps in their previous French education, are picking up French for the first time, or simply don’t quite feel confident enough in their academic French skills. There is no prerequisite for Grade 9 Open French, so it’s available for every high school student to take! Crafted intentionally as a beginner level French course, FSF1O provides a natural learning experience with each unit building upon the last. Where the FSF1D course is written entirely in French, FSF1O has plenty of English instruction throughout to help you along the way.

View the full FSF1O course description here.

Wondering what types of things you’ll learn in this course? Let’s take a sneak peek at some of the unit topics you can expect.

  • Unit 1 is all about your day-to-day surroundings. You’ll practice the French alphabet and learn the number system, while also learning how to speak and interact with others in the language.
  • Unit 2 takes you to the world outside where you’ll investigate things like the weather and environment by picking up key phrases about time, dates, animals, energy, and climate.
  • It’s time to travel in unit 3! Get ready to plan a trip in Canada with your newfound knowledge of airport terminology, travel instructions, and Canadian destinations.
  • We’ll help you explore some of Canada’s French traditions and festivals in unit 4. Come discover events like the Solstice Festival and Carassauga Festival while learning all about Franco-Ontarian traditions from the comfort of your own home.

This course will help you develop your listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills with its focus on practical French for everyday use. That’s why we have you analyze texts and pieces of media that you would come across in your regular life, such as emails, text messages, brochures, posters, news articles, and much more. Plus, you’re sure to ace the beautiful French pronunciation with more than 700 handy audio recordings!

Take some time to check out the FSF1O course outline and feel free to ask us any questions you may have about this exciting, new course offering at Virtual High School! À bientôt!


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