GCSE French: Photo Card and Conversation

One part of the GCSE French speaking test starts from pictures. The DfE subject content requires students to talk about one or more visual stimuli, such as connected photographs, and to extend this into a short unprepared interaction. For example, in AQA's specification the photo card carries two photos from one of three themes (People and lifestyle; Popular culture; Communication and the world around us), the student must say at least one thing about each photo, and the conversation that follows may cover any topic of that theme. In AQA's test it is the longest task and carries 25 of the 50 speaking marks, so it pays to practise it aloud.

In the oral exam each card describes its two photos in English, since the photos cannot be shown here. You describe them in French, then the examiner asks five or six questions in French, one at a time, across the topics of the theme and in different time frames: what you do to stay healthy, what you ate yesterday, your favourite festival, what you did for your last birthday, whether celebrities are good role models, where you went on holiday, what you do for the environment, how you use your phone. The examiner does not correct you during the conversation; at the end you receive short feedback in English on whether both photos were covered, which time frames and opinions you used, and which errors to fix. Three cards are available, one per theme.

The quiz has twelve questions on the language of photo description and conversation: il y a, à droite and au fond, il fait beau, the position and agreement of colours, avoir l'air, être en train de (Higher), je pense qu'…, comparing the two photos, understanding a past-tense conversation question, recognising a fully developed answer, and the minimum requirement for the description.

The fourteen flashcards gather the phrases you can reuse on any card, from Sur la première photo, il y a… to on dirait… and the comparative.

The written work gives eight tasks: describing three photo cards in French, comparing two photos, answering three conversation questions with an opinion and two time frames, and explaining how the task works. Each comes with a model answer and marking points.

The cards and questions are original practice material written in the style of the task, not taken from any exam paper.

• Describe two photos in French with il y a, position phrases, porter and avoir l'air
• Speculate and compare (je pense que…, plus… que)
• Use être en train de at Higher tier
• Answer unprepared questions on a theme with opinions and reasons
• Use past, present and future time frames in conversation

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the DfE GCSE subject content for French, German and Spanish (September 2025 version: talk about visual stimuli and extend into a short unprepared interaction) and, for the task format and themes, the AQA GCSE French (8652) specification (Paper 2, Photo card task).