French

[Looking for help]

Oh Amber - really!
That D was a complete waste of his time - in the same way as if the D had been in textiles or horse husbandry.
Some people just don't get languages and no amount of leading to the water will make a jot of a difference. I was at once stage fluent in French (not so much any more, although I could make my way through France happily without shouting loudly in English), and I am able to understand that my husband and three of my four children have no clue whatsoever about any of the languages they have (at least tried to ) studied. It doesn't make them less human than me though, they have different and equally worthy skills - just not in languages.

[another mother]

Just a quick thought - 'he's not very good at languages' may also reflect the teaching to date. Will he get different teachers? My elder dd was predicted a C for French at GCSE when choosing her options - and they were trying to persuade her to do German instead in the hopes of a B (which is a considerably easier GCSE or was at her school).

She insisted that French was the one she wanted to do (she had to do one language) - and is now - after a great teacher (Amber - are you moonlighting?!) predicted an A* at A2 - in fact she considered seriously doing it as joint honours and is going to spend part of her gap year in France to consolidate in the hopes of working abroad in the future. She did Italian gcse in a year last year as an extra and also got an A* in that.

My point is we couldn't possibly have predicted this when in year 8 and 9 she struggled with homework, never spoke at all and hated the lessons and the teacher. A great teacher unlocked her blocks I suppose - and enthused her. So I'd say It is too early to rule anything out! It never happened with triple sciences though!

[wurzel]

My DC has a controlled assessment in French this week. I'm a bit shocked to find that for the written assessment they are allowed to take in a list of about 25% of the words they need, and can prepare and memorise the whole essay in advance, if capable of remembering all this, using sentence constructions from previous marked classwork.

Languages are a relatively weak area for my DC, so I was pleased that he opted to take French GCSE, but he doesn't work hard at it and I regard him of deserving no more than a C/D. However, I'm hopeful (UCAS applications) and irritated (lazy child) in equal measure that he could get a higher grade because he can get away with learning an absolute minimum of vocab and grammar.

The language teaching at school is fun and thorough. A hard-working child will get a lot out of the course, and I think learning another language is a very useful skill, but the examination process is hopeless for promoting or assessing active use of a language, and I don't have a high regard for the current GCSE qualifications.

[Rob Clark]

Quite the reverse - think how unbearable he could have been if he had got all A*s. That D could be very character-building - kept his feet on the ground

Amber, you’re wicked!

Wurzel, without wanting to put words into her mouth, I think Amber would be in full agreement with your last paragraph

[Amber]

Quite the reverse - think how unbearable he could have been if he had got all A*s. That D could be very character-building - kept his feet on the ground

Amber, you’re wicked!

Wurzel, without wanting to put words into her mouth, I think Amber would be in full agreement with your last paragraph

Moi? Mais non...je suis always serious, Rob.

Actually I agree with the first paragraph just as much...I was horrified when I first starting teaching AS Level Russian to find something very similar. It is only really at A2 that you have free rein in asking students just to speak, rather than parroting pre-prepared stock phrases.
Still, it goes on across the board...

For this exercise, from a Higher level GCSE Biology Paper (AQA) you need to visualise a nice fluffy little arctic fox. This is because I can't reproduce the photo which candidates were provided with here - AQA copyrights it - so, think cute, very furry, white (oops, hope I am not giving too much away):

This fox lives in the arctic, where it is very cold.
Suggest two ways in which the arctic fox is adapted for life in very cold conditions. Explain how each adaptation helps the arctic fox to survive in very cold conditions.

Just in case you didn't catch that - it is very cold where our fox lives...

Sorry, OT. Un renard arctique...

[wurzel]

Oh dear - I wish we could see the cute fox! A fair point Amber, though I do think exams are better in English, maths and the humanities, where some reasonably sophisticated analysis is called for.

Well off-topic now - sorry.

[flicka]

Go on extreme exams and have a look at the mark scheme and you will discover that a wide variety of weird spellings in french are allowed if they look like they might sound right. I was astonished. My DS is about to start UK school in September, having lived in France for ten years (he is eleven) and being fluent in SPOKEN french. I have home edded him for the last three years and when we looked round his future school the french teacher said that frequently bilingual children cannot read or write in their other language.
I decided I needed to make sure this was not so. DS can read fine, but his spelling can be a little off, due to having learnt initially to read and write in french, then having taught himself to read in English, and finally, to having had me teach him in English. We are currently brushing up his french writing skills, but having looked at the website above, I am not sure why I am worrying. If he writes "jais" instead of "j'ai" occasionally, who is going to care? Not the examiners, it appears, so long as when you read it aloud it sounds okay!
I was pretty appalled, but on the other hand, it does make it much easier to do for the pupil!
I must make a mental note to check up on the english part of that site to see if similar bad spellings etc are allowed in essays! I have been rigorous with DS in not allowing spelling, punctuation, grammar faults in english and am doing the same in french (being bilingual too), but am I wasting my time?

[mike1880]

Wandering yet further off the point, this might be of mild interest - about three quarters down the page :

http://www.lawnswoodhighschool.com/lhs/ ... s.html#GCE

Mike

[Amber]

Oh dear - I wish we could see the cute fox! A fair point Amber, though I do think exams are better in English, maths and the humanities, where some reasonably sophisticated analysis is called for.

Like this, you mean?

Look at the first page of the magazine article, ‘The very special young lady in Simon Cowell’s life’.
1. List ten things that you find out about Sian Tolfree. [10]
Now look at the second page (from ‘Joining Sian in her chat ....’).
2. What do you learn about Simon Cowell’s friendship with Sian and her family? [10]
Now look at the extract from Simon Cowell’s autobiography on the opposite page.
Look at the first two paragraphs of the passage.
3. Simon Cowell admits he’s rude. What explanations does he give for his behaviour? [5]

WJEC English, summer 2011
Sorry, really will stop taking this thread off topic now.

[wurzel]

Ah! Maybe I have not seen the full range yet then.

The essay my DC has experienced so far was, from approximate recollection, "compare the treatment of conflict in Shakespeare and William Golding texts", which I thought was a good question.