Online GCSE French tutors
A tutor who gets your child speaking French every lesson, builds the vocabulary and grammar that exam tasks demand, and practises each of the four skills.
- Every tutor interviewed
- Live one-to-one lessons
- Weekly progress updates
About GCSE French
GCSE French is assessed on four skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing, each worth an equal share of the grade. Students sit the exams at the end of Year 11 and are entered at Foundation tier or Higher tier for the whole qualification at most boards.
The specifications for first exams from 2026 are built around a defined vocabulary list and set grammar. Students are expected to know that list well, and to use it accurately across all four skills, so regular vocabulary learning matters more than ever.
Speaking is the area families worry about most. Students have a role-play, a photo-based task and a conversation, and fluency comes from regular practice with a teacher. Writing needs accurate tenses, and listening needs training with different voices and speeds.
Exam boardsAQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR and WJEC Eduqas, Foundation and Higher tier, with listening, speaking, reading and writing each worth 25%.
What we cover
Identity and culture
Family, friends, technology, free time, festivals and customs in French-speaking countries.
Local area, holiday and travel
Describing where you live, planning trips and dealing with problems abroad.
School and future plans
Subjects, routines, jobs, and talking about what you want to do after Year 11.
Global issues
The environment, health, poverty and community, depending on the board’s themes.
Grammar and tenses
Present, past, future and conditional tenses, with agreement, pronouns and negatives.
Speaking tasks
Role-plays, describing photos and sustaining a general conversation with unprepared questions.
Translation
Translating short passages into and out of French, which tests vocabulary and accuracy.
How a Nerdely GCSE French tutor helps
Speaks French from the first lesson
One-to-one time means far more speaking practice than a class can offer.
Builds vocabulary in a routine
Regular quizzing on the board’s vocabulary list, with methods that make words stay.
Works on all four skills
Listening, reading, writing and speaking practice at the right tier for your child.
Shows progress clearly
Homework, short quizzes and a weekly test with scores and notes in your account.
How Nerdely works
Tell us what your child needs
Subject, level, exam board and the times that suit you. It takes a couple of minutes.
We find and interview a tutor
We shortlist tutors who teach that subject and level, interview them ourselves and match the right one.
Lessons are booked in
Live, one-to-one, 50-minute lessons in our online classroom, with video, chat and a shared whiteboard.
You see the progress
Homework, quizzes and weekly test scores in your account, plus a short report every month.
GCSE French tutoring questions
What is the difference between Foundation and Higher tier?
Foundation papers are shorter, with more accessible texts and tasks, and the top grade is lower. Higher papers cover longer, more complex language. Students are usually entered at one tier for all skills at most boards.
Can a tutor help with the speaking exam?
Yes, and it is one of the best reasons to have a tutor. Your child practises role-plays, photo descriptions and conversation questions, with feedback on pronunciation, accuracy and fluency.
My child struggles with vocabulary. What helps?
Short, daily practice beats long sessions. A tutor sets targeted lists from the exam vocabulary and uses spaced quizzes, so words move into long-term memory.
Does my child need to have a French tutor who is a native speaker?
Not necessarily. What matters is that the tutor speaks French well and knows the exam. We interview tutors ourselves and match for the board and tier your child is sitting.
When should my child start?
Language skills build slowly, so starting early in Year 10 helps. Year 11 students can still make a lot of progress, especially with speaking practice before the spring exams.
Related tutoring
French at other levels
Find your child’s GCSE French tutor
Tell us their exam board, target grade and the times that suit you. We will find, interview and book the right tutor.