by Samantha Libraty
Beginning next year, the French honors sequence will be revised to include a fourth year honors course to precede French 5 Advanced Placement language, according to world language department head Nancy Marrinucci.
French 4 Honors will be a class primarily for juniors, who will take it after finishing French 3 Honors at the end of their sophomore year. In the 2013-2014 school year, French AP Language will shift from a course intended for juniors to one for seniors. That year, the advanced literature course, which is currently offered to seniors, will be eliminated.
“This change will allow students an additional year to prepare for the advanced work of the AP language course as well as the AP exam itself, aligning the sequence with the honors/AP sequence in the other languages we offer,” Marrinucci said.
The revision was initiated because the College Board cut the AP French Literature exam two years ago and the AP French exam was revised, Marrinucci said.
“At the time that the College Board eliminated the French AP Literature exam, due to student interest, we deemed it important to continue to offer an advanced honors level literature course senior year, which thus kept our sequence intact,” she said.
Although the French Literature course will be eliminated, the new French curricula will incorporate several original French literary works, Marrinucci said.
Current freshmen and sophomores who take French 3 Honors will not be affected, she commented.
“However, we have six juniors who are currently taking French 3 Honors. Those students will continue on to take French 4 Honors next year,” she said. “If they are interested in taking the French AP Language exam in May, we are committed to offering them additional support to prepare them,” Marrinucci said.