FRENCH - help!!!!

Discussion and advice on GCSEs

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tiredmum
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Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:51 am

FRENCH - help!!!!

Post by tiredmum »

My dd is due to take french gcse this summer, a year early, she is struggling badly and hating every min of it! I dont know any french so cant help, could anybody recommend any books/resources i could buy to help her improve her grade? She nearly failed the mock! Many thanks... :shock:
KB
Posts: 3030
Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:28 pm

Post by KB »

If you can possibly mange the cost I would really recommend a tutor - even if its once a fortnight with work set in between. Or just for a short intensive boost
All 3 of mine have had trouble with French (to be fair the older two were already at B grade) and the only thing that really helped was one-to-one with a good tutor (different people).
It made a huge difference to confidence and performance - & enjoyment (all 3 have hated it at school!)

I am sure you can get extra material but the GCSE is pretty specfic in what it tests so you need to make sure it is appropriate for the exam.
A good tutor should know about your particular board & do an assessment so they can focus on specific problems.

Are there many children in a similar situation? You could try asking the school about booster sessions at lunch time. Most schools wont want poor exam grades any more than parents!

Hope you manage to get some help.
solimum
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Location: Solihull, West Midlands

Post by solimum »

My DD was part of a group who were all meant to take French early last summer - but they all did so badly in the mocks that they scrapped the idea (to great rejoicing all round...). Find out if the school has a clear plan as to what they will do next year with the "extra" time (concentrate on 2nd language? What about those who might have wanted to do French A Level? Will there be resits available?). An extra year will give them a chance to increase vocab as well as maturity
hermanmunster
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Post by hermanmunster »

Have heard about kids taking GCSEs a year early ..

not sure if it really gets them anywhere and unless they get A* they are likely to have got a better grade if they waited a year.
Sound like they could do with delaying this - unless there is something very specific to do instead in year 11
ourmaminhavana
Posts: 966
Joined: Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:14 am

Post by ourmaminhavana »

I'd recommend a French student! My sister used to have them stay during holidays and I learnt a huge amount from them (not all linguistic I have to say :oops: )
T.i.p.s.y

Post by T.i.p.s.y »

Legally they cannot force a child to sit an exam out of year group. I think you should speak to the school about this if you haven't already.
yoyo123
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Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Post by yoyo123 »

a holiday/day trip to France???

seriously Tipsy has made a good point.


what about buying copies of "le Figaro" etc? or Euro news (if you have satellite/cable? you can choose the language
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Looking for help
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Location: Berkshire

Post by Looking for help »

I tend to agree..not much point in sitting the exam early unless you are really going to do well...especially in a language, where an extra year might make a huge difference.
dyslexichelpneeded
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Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:39 am

Post by dyslexichelpneeded »

T.i.p.s.y wrote:Legally they cannot force a child to sit an exam out of year group. I think you should speak to the school about this if you haven't already.
Are you sure about this one? Our school had mutiny last year when the then Year 9s were required to take MFL short course GCSEs, even though many of them felt they were not ready. One parent I know told the school she would keep her daughter at home on the days of the exams, and was told that in that case, the girl would get a fail. In the end, the school relented, and it was left to the choice of student and parents whether to take the GCSE.
hermanmunster
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Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Post by hermanmunster »

hi - can someone enlighten me re these short courses - DDs GCSE list says she can either do German (1 GCSE) or French (1 GCSE) or German and French (1 GCSE) ... is there a cobined french and german GCSE or 2 half GCSEs???
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