BFI: Approfondissement Culturel et Linguistique

What is the BFI?

The best way to answer this question is to go straight to the source of all OIB questions, the EDUSCOL website.

Your BFI programme will be divided into 2 classes:

1. Approfondissement culturel et linguistique (ACL) and will be taught by Miss Ruch and myself. You will use this blog for your ACL classes with me.

2. Connaissance du monde (CDM). I will be your only teacher for CDM.  You will learn more about Connaissance du monde during our Thursday class.

The key part to remember the EDUSCOL website. is:

L'enseignement complémentaire d'approfondissement culturel et linguistique en langue vivante étrangère constitue un enseignement spécifique de 4,5 heures en classe de première et de 4 heures en classe de terminale et porte sur un programme de langue dédié permettant aux élèves d’approfondir leur niveau linguistique et leur culture littéraire de la langue de section (LVA). 

En parcours bilingue, le niveau visé est au moins C1. 

Un programme littéraire limitatif en lien avec le programme d’enseignement pour chaque langue de section est publié par voie de note de service.

What does this information mean for us, students and teacher?

As you move through the two-year BFI syllabus in ACL, you will have both Miss Ruch and myself as teachers.

You will have class with me (Mrs Cnockaert) on Friday afternoons from 13h-15h in 112 AND Tuesday afternoons from 13h-14h (week B only)

Over the next two years, we will study Jackie Kay's Darling poetry collection, Bram Stoker's novel Dracula (1897) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) by Oscar Wilde.

You will also have class with Miss Ruch and will prepare with Miss Ruch: William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, Tennessee William's Streetcar Named Desire, and a collection of Gothic poems. 

What type of exams will I have to take, in literature?

A written exam on William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, Jackie Kay's poems, and Tennessee William's Streetcar Named Desire.

An oral exam on your 'synoptic topic' : Gothic writing (your Gothic poems, Stokers' Dracula, and Wilde's Dorian Gray).

What do I need to bring to class?

I would recommend writing your notes on loose A4 paper and then filing them in a text specific folder: yes, on folder per author so 3 A4 binders.

Please purchase Jackie Kay's Darling poetry collection as quickly as possible. Please bring this collection to each class (or leave it in the class cupboard).

How should I take notes?

This may seem like an obvious question, but it's not necessarily.

Write to your future self, the one who will be revising for the written and spoken exams in 2024.

Clearly label each page of notes with the names of the text/author and that day's date.

Do note the page number of quotes, so you can find them again in the future.

Take the time to file loose paper once you get home.

Your future self will thank you.