GCSE & A Level French & German - Recommended Books

[TheSquareMile]

I was wondering yesterday which books teachers of French and German recommend to the students in their GCSE and A Level classes.

I did my GCSEs and A Levels a long time ago and the books I had on French/German society/politics/culture are looking positively Victorian!

I would be grateful if someone could tell me which books are recommended for the two languages today, please.

Hi Op MFL is my subject tho I no longer teach in school.

So for GCSE I would advise learning verbs and vocab above all. The best books are the CGP guides and practice books. Past papers are also good for practice. You could buy the text book if you really wanted - there will be a new AQA one as the syllabus is changing slightly for 2026 exams. Not essential tho. No need for any book about culture and society.

For A level I recommend the book to be studied haha! also very very much the revision guide for book and film (sadly only available for limited options). The text book is good as well, especially for vocab and as a starting point for topic research. But for research beyond that (which you should deffo do) the Internet is your friend. There are websites suggested in the textbook. Hth.

Good question, OP. I'm following for the German suggestions.

I did French and German A-level in the early 2000s, but I remember the books Wort Für Wort (for German) and Mot à Mot (for French) being my absolute bibles for those years. I see they have recent editions, so they're obviously still going strong. The books are made up of thematic sections covering different vocab and handy phrases for discussing the main topics. Admittedly you could get all of this (and more) on the internet, but it's handy to have a lead-in to key issues in one easy guide.

I can't speak to the quality of recent editions, though - perhaps @clary knows?

Yeh those vocab books are good for A level, tho tbf there is lots and lots of vocab just in the AS level/A2 level textbooks. I guess if you had learned all that and wanted more you can't go wrong with those tho.

What kinds of books are you thinking of @AudiobookListener and @TheSquareMile ?

Honestly if a GCSE candidate has learned all the info out of the textbook or CGP guide and drafted and learned decent example phrases and is on top of all the grammar (tenses, gender of nouns, adjective agreements, word order in German, complex structures, modal verbs etc) then they don't need any extra books and buying them won't make them do better.

It's at the same time very straightforward and a real slog to get a top grade in MFL GCSE or A level. What you need to do is simple enough and yet hard work. There is no easy way and there are no quick fixes.

People recommend or ask about watching films in the TL and using xyz app and now what books to buy; but nothing is a substitute for the sheer graft of learning (in whatever way suits you - which I agree may be via an app, for example) what I mention above.

Crucially you also need to know the spec of the exam and what you need to do and know about (eg for A level speaking - ask the examiner two questions; for A level R&L - DO NOT go over the word count in the summaries or your work will not be marked; for GCSE speaking - expand your answers on the photocard but don't bother on the roleplay (all those are AQA btw - specs vary obvs and others are available))