ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Languages Other Than English (LOTE) => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE French => Topic started by: scout on December 29, 2017, 12:06:45 pm
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Bonjour à tous!
AN has a few French resource threads, but not a question thread, so here it is at your disposal for you to shoot any random questions to past French students who have been there, done that!
(Don't know if this'll become a sticky post. Maybe depending on popularity).
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Great idea scout! :D
I'll be here to help if needed, but there's several past French students floating around on the forums and contributions from anyone currently studying French would also be wonderful!
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This will be so useful :) thanks scout, I'll be posting on this throughout the year
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Hello everyone! :)
Thanks so much for starting this thread!!
1. Would anyone be able to give an indication of what SAC and exam results you'd need for a raw 40 in VCE French?
2. Also, how did you guys deal with a really fast recording (for listening) ? Obviously, practice, but do you think practicing the topic specific vocab is really helpful for listening? For example, if the topic is about immigration, would collecting and memorising vocab for refugees, citizenship and so on, would be one of the greatest practices?
3. If anyone has some tips about how to write notes from the audio on the day of the SAC, that'll be really appreciated!! (for e.g. how do people sift info and how to deal with important info that sort of jumps back and forth throughout the audio?) Or any tips on how to set out your note taking in the small margin they give you when you're listening? Sometimes it's just hard for me to write fast and at the same time understand what I've written later!!
4. Also, is there any trick to remember what accents (grave, aigu, circonflexe, etc) need to go on words?
Thanks a lot to everyone once again for helping out! :D
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Hello everyone! :)
Thanks so much for starting this thread!!
1. Would anyone be able to give an indication of what SAC and exam results you'd need for a raw 40 in VCE French?
2. Also, how did you guys deal with a really fast recording (for listening) ? Obviously, practice, but do you think practicing the topic specific vocab is really helpful for listening? For example, if the topic is about immigration, would collecting and memorising vocab for refugees, citizenship and so on, would be one of the greatest practices?
3. If anyone has some tips about how to write notes from the audio on the day of the SAC, that'll be really appreciated!! (for e.g. how do people sift info and how to deal with important info that sort of jumps back and forth throughout the audio?) Or any tips on how to set out your note taking in the small margin they give you when you're listening? Sometimes it's just hard for me to write fast and at the same time understand what I've written later!!
4. Also, is there any trick to remember what accents (grave, aigu, circonflexe, etc) need to go on words?
Thanks a lot to everyone once again for helping out! :D
Hey there, I got a raw 40 in French so here are just some of my experiences.
1. I'm not completely sure what sort of marks you may need. My SAC marks were all low A+ but it's possible that they may have been moderated. I have no idea what I got in the exam. I don't think I full-marked it or anything - I definitely lost some marks here or there.
2. I think it would be useful to learn some specific vocab - not just for listening, but also writing and reading. To make sure that the vocabulary you are learning is relevant and may be more useful, I think there is a section in the study design which tells you what topics the exam may refer to, so I think you should check that out. Also, if you want to improve listening, I think it is important to revise basic vocabulary such as colours, animals, clothes etc. These are vocabulary that are very likely to appear, and you don't want to be wasting time trying to find it in the dictionary. That said, if you know what topic your listening SAC may be on, I think it would be advantageous if you did revise some specific vocab.
3.
- First of all, write your notes in french. You may waste some time trying to translate in the middle of a recording. If you don't understand a word, just write in phonetically and come back to it later.
- Try and develop a shorthand that will save you time whilst taking notes in the middle of a recording - for example "tous les jours" can become "tlj". Make sure you understand your own shorthand!
- If you want, you can organise your information so that the info in the margin can align next to the corresponding question. Personally, listening always stressed me out. So what I did was just wrote down everything that I heard that seemed relevant and then organised the information later.
4. In terms of memorising accents on letters, you pretty much just have to remember them. However what does help is learning how the word sounds when you are learning its spelling. Over time, you will recognise what a é sounds like compared to a è, and hence if you know what the word sounds like, you can make an educated guess.
Best of luck for french!
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Best of luck for french!
Thank you! and congratulations on getting a 40!! :D
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Bonjour à tous!
Hope your break is going well! :)
I wast just wondering if someone could listen to the 2014 VCAA Text 2 Listening for the French exam and tell me if for part (c) if you could say that 'living is expensive'? I heard the lady saying it is expensive and the currency change is unfavourable at the moment, so I wrote that the lifestyle is expensive.
My answer wasn't there on the examiners' report, so that's why I thought to check with you guys if my answer was acceptable.
Also, for part (d) would you mind please explaining me why the second part of the answer is that so that Jacques can 'experience two aspects of the French speaking world?" (this is what it says on the report). I heard the lady saying "coast" at the end of her talk, and so I wrote "so that it will give him an experience of the Francophonies that are near the coast."
Also, I'm unsure for what Jacques said about beaches at the end. Could you help me out?
And sorry just another question, does it matter if you misspell something for the English sections of the exam? I do it rarely when I'm in a hurry :( but would that mean marks are deducted?
Thanks a lot guys!! :D
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Hello everyone! :)
Thanks so much for starting this thread!!
1. Would anyone be able to give an indication of what SAC and exam results you'd need for a raw 40 in VCE French?
2. Also, how did you guys deal with a really fast recording (for listening) ? Obviously, practice, but do you think practicing the topic specific vocab is really helpful for listening? For example, if the topic is about immigration, would collecting and memorising vocab for refugees, citizenship and so on, would be one of the greatest practices?
3. If anyone has some tips about how to write notes from the audio on the day of the SAC, that'll be really appreciated!! (for e.g. how do people sift info and how to deal with important info that sort of jumps back and forth throughout the audio?) Or any tips on how to set out your note taking in the small margin they give you when you're listening? Sometimes it's just hard for me to write fast and at the same time understand what I've written later!!
4. Also, is there any trick to remember what accents (grave, aigu, circonflexe, etc) need to go on words?
Thanks a lot to everyone once again for helping out! :D
@sophomania did an amazing job answering the questions
Just to add to your first question, since there's such a wide variety of schools who do their own French SACs, for this subject it is the exam which is the true driver. My school made the SACs so tough that barely anyone gets high scores, but then they use your exams to judge truly how well you do and scale SACs accordingly. So it's quite difficult to say what marks you should aim for, of course, as high as possible would be my best answer. As for the actual exam, my teacher said for writing, aim for 12-13 and spend less time on that, instead focus on reading and listening sections, and try to aim to not drop a mark there. The way to do that is to CRAM info - they can't deduct you but you will lose marks for not having ENOUGH info. That being said, if they specify for example "Give TWO pieces of information that suggests..." then they can only accept your top two answers, even if they're wrong but your third is right. So put the two you're most confident with, and maybe sneak in the third next to one of them or below - you never know the examiner might just be generous.
Bonne chance est je crois que tu vas faire très bien!!
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The way to do that is to CRAM info - they can't deduct you but you will lose marks for not having ENOUGH info. That being said, if they specify for example "Give TWO pieces of information that suggests..." then they can only accept your top two answers, even if they're wrong but your third is right. So put the two you're most confident with, and maybe sneak in the third next to one of them or below - you never know the examiner might just be generous.
Merci beaucoup pour votre aide, jaygatsby! :)
Thanks for bringing up the 'pieces of information' point, I just thought of a question that I wanted to ask for so long!!
Do you lose the mark if you write the correct answer but then expand on this answer and write something which was not expected or necessary for that question?
I tend to mark myself harshly and not give that mark even if my answer was right and then I had expanded on it.
But just wanted to ask if I really needed to stress about this so much? How do they go about this for exams?
I know you should be pretty concise with your 'answer in English' section (because you don't really need to write full sentences like you do with the French section), but still, sometimes I fear not writing enough or comprehensively and then I find out I've written extra!
Thanks for helping once again! :)
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Do you lose the mark if you write the correct answer but then expand on this answer and write something which was not expected or necessary for that question?
I tend to mark myself harshly and not give that mark even if my answer was right and then I had expanded on it.
But just wanted to ask if I really needed to stress about this so much? How do they go about this for exams?
I know you should be pretty concise with your 'answer in English' section (because you don't really need to write full sentences like you do with the French section), but still, sometimes I fear not writing enough or comprehensively and then I find out I've written extra!
Thanks for helping once again! :)
From what I understand, if you write extra unnecessary information, they will not deduct marks for that. The examiners are given a marking criteria and they will give you that mark as long as you provide the points they are looking for. It doesn't hurt to write too much. It's much safer to write more than too little.
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From what I understand, if you write extra unnecessary information, they will not deduct marks for that. The examiners are given a marking criteria and they will give you that mark as long as you provide the points they are looking for. It doesn't hurt to write too much. It's much safer to write more than too little.
True!
Thank you, sophomania! :)
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Bonjour tout le monde!
I have my writing SAC tomorrow, so would really appreciate a reply to my quick question :)
I searched up in my dictionary how to say "I'm dreaming"
and there were so many translations!! (obviously for different contexts, but still)
and I found this one really interesting: "j'étais dans les nuages" or "j'étais dans la lune" Now I get how it's metaphorical and how it's a nice expression, but if I wrote that in my SAC to say I was dreaming, would it be clear?
Would my teacher deduct marks for not saying "je rêvais" ?
I really wanted to sounded metaphorical and have that colloquial feel to it with that expression, but if it's gonna compromise clarity, should I just stick with "je rêvais" ?
Thanks so much everyone! :)
Really looking forward to a reply!
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Hello, I'm aware that this forum isn't super active but I was hoping for a bit of assistance!
I'm approaching a listening SAC and frankly, listening has always been my least favourite and weakest aspect of VCE French. I know I'm not the only one, but I always manage to mishear/ get lost in/ misinterpret/ freak out during the text, even if the vocab/content is at a manageable level in terms of my French knowledge etc.
If anyone has ANY tips that could help me out, that would be much appreciated!! There is an extended response as part of it so I will have to be collecting as much information as possible (i.e. not limited to what the short answer questions are asking) which I also find difficult when trying to keep up with the text.
I've read tips before but if anyone has anything in particular, maybe about note taking, dealing with the situation where you've heard the text and feel lost, just staying focused and prepared in general? IDK, anything helps and is much appreciated!
Merci beaucoup!
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Bonjour tout le monde!
what score would you need to get a 30-35 raw in french. I'm treating it as one of my bottom 2 subjects and have been putting very little effort into the subject as i have very little motivation. Any tips/suggestions to get motivated would be appreciated! :)
What score on what?
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sorry, i meant what score on your sacs and exam would you need to get a 30-35?
Couldn't really say about SACs, because it really depends on your class. But you'd be looking at a B or so on the exam (it's a bit higher in French), and probably a B or a C+ on SACs.
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Hello, I'm aware that this forum isn't super active but I was hoping for a bit of assistance!
I'm approaching a listening SAC and frankly, listening has always been my least favourite and weakest aspect of VCE French. I know I'm not the only one, but I always manage to mishear/ get lost in/ misinterpret/ freak out during the text, even if the vocab/content is at a manageable level in terms of my French knowledge etc.
If anyone has ANY tips that could help me out, that would be much appreciated!! There is an extended response as part of it so I will have to be collecting as much information as possible (i.e. not limited to what the short answer questions are asking) which I also find difficult when trying to keep up with the text.
I've read tips before but if anyone has anything in particular, maybe about note taking, dealing with the situation where you've heard the text and feel lost, just staying focused and prepared in general? IDK, anything helps and is much appreciated!
Merci beaucoup!
Hey! I know this is late, but hopefully you find this advice useful for future listening SACs and the all-important exam.
It's completely natural to miss some words or to hear words that you've never heard of before. Passages are designed to contain several words that are beyond the VCE level. The key is to know what you're looking for (by reading the questions during reading time) and to filter through relevant and irrelevant information. A trick is to look for trigger words, or trigger passages, as often relevant information is clumped together (and likewise for irrelevant information).
Note-taking time is the most important time. But don't panic! And even if you panic, don't panic about panicking - it happens to everyone, I assure you.
1st playing: When you're overloaded with complex information, just write everything you possibly can in the order you hear them. If you don't know the relevant vocab, write phonetically - recommended for complex numbers. Write key words only, don't worry about grammar or full sentences. Use abbrev or symbols where appropriate to increase the amount of info you can physically write. Don't try to process/make logical sense of what you're writing down in the first playing, it's just too time-consuming (unless, of course, you can immediately and effortlessly translate something into Eng).
Before the 2nd playing : look at the info you've got, determine any holes in the info... and carry on!
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Hey guys, I am in year 10 and we are choosing our VCE subjects right now. I dropped French in year 9, but had asked my school if I could retake it for VCE next year. But I am also stuck between either doing VCE French or History Revolutions. Is it worth doing French since I dropped it for a year?
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Hey Guys and Girls,
I am currently in Year 11 heading over to the infamous Year 12. I am undertaking French next year and although this forum is not very active, I was hoping someone would be able to shed some light and offer me advice and assistance as I am in hope of scoring a Raw 43+, It would be much appreciated.
1) Being a Francophone (bearing in mind I migrated when I was 4), I have never taken French too seriously but I do have relatively good listening and Oral skills but my Grammar drags these down alongside with writing. Anyone have any tips on how to master French Grammar easily for application? I am sure I am able to pick it up easily.
2) What should I be doing over the holidays and throughout the Year as LOTE subjects really lack clarity and do not have a set study design.
3) What writings should I be doing etc.
4) How should I prepare for SAC's and Exams?
5) Any Oral tips and must dos to increase marks
6) Any good sites for Resources etc.
Thank you :)
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Hey Guys and Girls,
I am currently in Year 11 heading over to the infamous Year 12. I am undertaking French next year and although this forum is not very active, I was hoping someone would be able to shed some light and offer me advice and assistance as I am in hope of scoring a Raw 43+, It would be much appreciated.
1) Being a Francophone (bearing in mind I migrated when I was 4), I have never taken French too seriously but I do have relatively good listening and Oral skills but my Grammar drags these down alongside with writing. Anyone have any tips on how to master French Grammar easily for application? I am sure I am able to pick it up easily.
2) What should I be doing over the holidays and throughout the Year as LOTE subjects really lack clarity and do not have a set study design.
3) What writings should I be doing etc.
4) How should I prepare for SAC's and Exams?
5) Any Oral tips and must dos to increase marks
6) Any good sites for Resources etc.
Thank you :)
Hey Maultima!
It's so great to see you setting goals for yourself and really starting to get ready for French next year! Great mindset! :)
1. With grammar, if it's mostly the case that you know it but you've just forgotten, I'd suggest starting from page 13 of the new study design @ https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/french/FrenchSD_2019.pdf and going through each grammar feature (all the past tenses, sentence types, etc) and making a checklist of which ones you're confident using and which ones you need to learn.
Then, every 2 days for example, take out 20 mins to learn a new grammar feature whether that be going through the Schaum's grammar book and for example studying about how to conjugate in the conditional perfect tense, if that's new for you. Or, these grammar sessions can be as simple as watching a youtube video on any French grammar feature! The grammar section really helps in the study design and once you've mastered each grammar feature (or you sorta know how it is used --- remember, you won't necessarily use each and every grammar feature in your exam, but you stand out, when you have advanced grammar features like the past tenses, y pronoun, reflexive in the past, subjunctive in the present and past).
Once you've learnt a grammar feature, put a phrase using that in a sentence so you can remember that sentence.
For example if you're revising the conditional perfect, this could be a really simple sentence you'll remember for how to conjugate it: Je serais venu
It can be as simple as that, and this sentence could potentially go into a piece of personal writing! This is a good way to make sure new grammar sticks in your brain but also make sure you revisit new things even for 5 mins during the day.
2. The new study design is actually so much better than the last one, in its appearance, organisation, etc and setting out some suggestions of what could come under each topic tested in the different aos. I really recommend reading every word of it in the holidays! But apart from that, over the holidays, what's gonna be useful is you revising the features of every text type. For example, pay attention to the fact that both sender's and receiver's addresses need to be written on a formal letter ; how an article needs to have a big heading and then 2-3 summary lines, etc. So many people's letters or whatever may be extremely well written with little grammar mistakes, but then they forget these 'structural elements' and could lose marks when it comes to that 'appropriateness to the text type' criteria (outlined in the study design). Secondly, during holidays and throughout the year, apart from regularly watching french short films, movies, listening to songs, reading the news, etc, I'd really recommend doing little translation exercises.
This helped me tremendously during the year, especially for reading and writing. So, you go on any English news website, pick an article and pick a paragraph to translate into French! Use your dictionary to translate complicated English words into French, and when it comes to the grammar, really think in your brain how to formulate that sentence or how you can use grammar features that are new to you (it's so tempting to just copy paste a few sentences into google translate or collins translator or whatever, but really give your brain a challenge when you're thinking about grammar when translating from English to French). I've said news articles, but really you can work with anything. If you want to practice creative writing in French, then open up an English short story and start translating! (short stories are great to practice reflexives!) And obviously, this translation exercise can go either way. So open up a French news article, short story, report, speech, etc and translate a small paragraph into English or at least paraphrase it in your mind. This helped me heaps with challenging myself to think about grammar, the tenses especially, and also, I didn't get bored reading, because I'd select different genres of texts every time!
Another thing you could do during the holidays is, come up with 3 idiomatic phrases for each text type. For example, "Tant va la cruche à l'eau qu'à la fin elle se casse" (basically means Enough is enough!) could go into a speech that involves some collectivist action or something. A really simple one such as "La cerise sur le gâteau" could easily go into a letter when you're describing your positive emotions, for example. These idiomatic phrases really help you stand out and lets the assessor know that you're really thinking about 'cultural elements' (in the criteria), when you use these. As I said, the 3 best ones for every text type that you think you'll write, should be enough and try memorising them as much as possible!
Also, during the holidays, think about what topic you would like to do as your detailed study! Make sure there's a strong cultural connection to French society and/or social problems. For example, development of French fashion, the French cuisine (a really popular one!), or think of something unique and get it checked from your teacher next year. If you're really hyped up about detailed study, you could even start collecting 3 'texts' (for example a movie, an article or a big image) which you'll consult to help you prove your detailed study question. I found these 3 texts during the holidays and this helped me tremendously to stay organised and reduce my time during the year (especially time during Term 3 when it gets the busiest with SACs and exam prep for other subjects too). But this detailed study thing isn't an absolute necessary thing to do, so don't freak out if you don't have an idea before school starts. Still plenty of time :)
3. With writing, I would look at the list of text types that can be assessed in each aos, and practice writing in one of the text types every week. Hopefully writing 250-300 words throughout the whole week shouldn't be too hard. For example, one week, you might practice writing an informal letter, the next week an article, etc. As you change between text types, you'll very clearly, notice the differences in your grammar features. For example, an article would have heaps of formal grammar like using the passive, and definitely not any colloquialisms like quoi de neuf? which would go perfectly in an informal letter, on the other hand. Things like this help you memorise useful grammar phrases as well!
Also, if you decide to do any writing SAC (or actually any SAC) under timed conditions, make sure you leave at least 5 mins for proofreading at the end, so you can hopefully pick up any conjugation, agreement errors. make a small checklist of these errors as well and write them in a small diary, like I carried a really really small cute diary with me full of French useful phrases, verbs, and my errors, with me everywhere I went haha!
4. Do practice SACs under timed conditions, as you get closer to your SACs. With exams, it's great when you have the time to do full on practice exams under the 2 hours (and you should be doing at least 2 of these), but if you don't have time to do the complete exam, you can just do individual sections of it under timed conditions, for example, make sure you can finish the reading section both eng and fre in 40 mins for example, or make sure you can finish your writing in 50 mins, etc. When you're preparing, I recommend making a list of useful vocabulary relating to that theme you're studying. For example when we studied immigration and cultural diversity, I had a vocab list relating to this and then I'd review it every few days. This sort of thing especially helps for a listening SAC, because when you have a variety of good vocab, then there's a higher chance you can detect complex words in the recording
5. When you're practicing for an oral SAC, make sure you can pronounce your words correctly and for this I recommend using google translate to type in any word which you're ensure how to pronounce, and then clicking the sound icon on google translate to hear its pronunciation. As you hear different sounds, you'll notice how certain combination of vowel sounds are pronounced, etc. Be alive to these! For example, look at where the nasal is used and where it isn't. The assessor is really impressed when you pay fine attention to your pronunciation!
Another really big thing is, please try and practice staying 'free' when you speak. Although you might have memorised an answer, make it seem that you're saying it as if you're not prepared! Really make sure your facial expressions are switched on haha! Because I've seen so many people just not looking at the assessor, not using their facial features and instead looking around the room, because they're trying to recall what they've memorised. The conversation just doesn't seem 'real' if you know what I mean? So be natural and switched on in terms of your communication strategies - eye contact, vary your tone a little big, raise your voice here and there, speak softly, etc)
In the oral exam, having 3 si clauses (with different tenses) can make you stand out, because the assessor knows that this person can use si clauses not just in writing!
6. There are absolutely amazing websites on AN, like these:
https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=172648.0 -- amazing guide for every skill written by Kate
https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=136390.0 -- huge and amazing list of resources both online and suggested textbooks
Additionally, search up small articles, short stories, podcasts, videos, you name it in French! Keep practicing listening, reading and speaking amongst people in your class or to your teachers!
Sorry for the long post, but I hope some of these things help! :)
Good luck!! and make sure you enjoy some free time in the holidays too! Don't study all the time!
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Hey guys! This thread hasn't been used for a while but I am hoping I can still get some help. I am currently in year 10 and doing French, wondering if it is worth doing in VCE for year 11 and 12? Is it stressful? like is there a big workload or is it manageable? any tips or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated xx
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Hey guys! This thread hasn't been used for a while but I am hoping I can still get some help. I am currently in year 10 and doing French, wondering if it is worth doing in VCE for year 11 and 12? Is it stressful? like is there a big workload or is it manageable? any tips or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated xx
I definitely recommend it :) I didn't find it as stressful as some of my other subjects (for me it was a walk in the park compared to methods!) and enjoyed its difference to other subjects. I guess it ultimately it comes down to a number of individual factors as to whether it's a hard subject or worth it/not worth it but I reckon it's not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. It seems hectic because you go from not really being able to hold a conversation at the end of year 10 to being able to talk for 15 minutes to some assessors in French, but to me it felt like a natural progression - the things you've learnt in the past start to click together and you just feel a lot more familiar and comfortable with the language.
When I decided to do French in VCE I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into because people always talk it up as a huge thing but honestly, it's no different to doing any other subject. If you're interested in doing French, go for it - worst comes to worst, you can always drop it and pick up a different subject :)
I hope this helps somewhat - I realise it's a pretty jumbled answer haha. It's probably also worth having a chat to your French teacher to get their opinion too.
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I definitely recommend it :) I didn't find it as stressful as some of my other subjects (for me it was a walk in the park compared to methods!) and enjoyed its difference to other subjects. I guess it ultimately it comes down to a number of individual factors as to whether it's a hard subject or worth it/not worth it but I reckon it's not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. It seems hectic because you go from not really being able to hold a conversation at the end of year 10 to being able to talk for 15 minutes to some assessors in French, but to me it felt like a natural progression - the things you've learnt in the past start to click together and you just feel a lot more familiar and comfortable with the language.
When I decided to do French in VCE I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into because people always talk it up as a huge thing but honestly, it's no different to doing any other subject. If you're interested in doing French, go for it - worst comes to worst, you can always drop it and pick up a different subject :)
I hope this helps somewhat - I realise it's a pretty jumbled answer haha. It's probably also worth having a chat to your French teacher to get their opinion too.
Thankyou so much K888! personally I love speaking French as the language is just beautiful, I just hate the whole sitting in class and learning how to write it when all I wanna do is speak to people en Francais! ;) but yeah, Thankyou for the help, will defiantly see my teacher x
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I agree with all of what K888 said!!
The fact that you like engaging in French will really help you too - I feel like French for me was a subject where putting in more effort beyond assigned work/classwork (ie; listening to/speaking/reading French outside of class) made a lot of difference and was really helpful, so that kind of attitude is great :D
Honestly, apart from writing tasks and prep, I didn't find that I spent all that much time "sitting and learning how to write" French so I wouldn't be too concerned about that; IMO the more "practical" activities I mentioned above were probably more significant than the writing, which is something which is pretty unique but refreshing about the subject! And, the good thing is, it's all linked anyway; your speaking will help your writing, your listening will help your speaking etc etc.
Personally, French was one of my least stressful subjects; it just involved a bit more self-directed/external learning/practice. If you're happy to put that in and have a love for the subject, it'll only make it easier for you to do well and in that case I'd also recommend it to you :)
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Bonjour tout le monde!
I have my writing SAC tomorrow, so would really appreciate a reply to my quick question :)
I searched up in my dictionary how to say "I'm dreaming"
and there were so many translations!! (obviously for different contexts, but still)
and I found this one really interesting: "j'étais dans les nuages" or "j'étais dans la lune" Now I get how it's metaphorical and how it's a nice expression, but if I wrote that in my SAC to say I was dreaming, would it be clear?
Would my teacher deduct marks for not saying "je rêvais" ?
I really wanted to sounded metaphorical and have that colloquial feel to it with that expression, but if it's gonna compromise clarity, should I just stick with "je rêvais" ?
Thanks so much everyone! :)
Really looking forward to a reply!
Hey!
'J'étais dans les nuages' doesn't actually mean 'I was dreaming'; it literally means 'I was in the clouds', as in physically.
I think the expression you mean is 'j'avais la tête dans les nuages', which means 'I had my head in the clouds', an idiom which means someone is absent-minded, impractical, day-dreaming, or is a 'dreamer', as in an artist or a romantic. It does not mean you are actually, physically dreaming.
The same principle applies with 'j'étais dans la lune' - 'I was daydreaming'. Both idioms can't be used to refer to actual dreams, so I guess the answer to your question is no, you can't use them in that context. However, they are super useful to use in other situations and I used both those phrases a lot in my writing as they are quite poetic. :)
Hope this was helpful to you!
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Hey guys, I am in year 10 and we are choosing our VCE subjects right now. I dropped French in year 9, but had asked my school if I could retake it for VCE next year. But I am also stuck between either doing VCE French or History Revolutions. Is it worth doing French since I dropped it for a year?
Hi there! I'm currently doing year 12 french in year 11 :) My piece of advice to you is if you're willing to work for it, go for it! French is a great subject (very stressful but always worthwhile and rewarding) - but it is difficult to cram!
Acquiring any language, not just French, is a gradual process. Every day, you learn new things about the language, whether that be a new grammar rule or a new word. Consistency is key in learning any language. If you haven't studied French at all for a year, it might be a good idea to catch up on key grammar and immerse yourself in the language as much as you can, as it's very easy to forget a language if you don't use it.
I say go for it, if you are willing to work hard. French takes up a lot of time, but rightfully so. It's a foreign language, so be prepared to give it your all! Once you do, you'll be so happy with your progress, trust me!
Hope this helped!
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Hey guys! This thread hasn't been used for a while but I am hoping I can still get some help. I am currently in year 10 and doing French, wondering if it is worth doing in VCE for year 11 and 12? Is it stressful? like is there a big workload or is it manageable? any tips or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated xx
Hi there! I'm doing 3&4 french this year, so I'll try to answer your question to the best of my ability :) If you want to, then you should go for it! Learning a foreign language is different to a subject like methods or biology, where you can study the textbook and do well. It's a slow, gradual process of constant improvement and growth. It's stressful (for me at least :)) but is always so rewarding when you get a good mark after working hard. I wouldn't say the workload is big, or maybe that's just my class. In fact, throughout year 11 and 12 french, you should be doing as much extra work as you can. Whether that be learning new vocab or grammar, it's bound to help you one day. Tips: start practice in listening and writing early especially so you can build confidence! They're tricky but come with practice. Give your teacher writing tasks frequently, they'll be more than happy to mark them (I hope :)) That way, you can get feedback and know what to look out for in your next piece of work. Listening to french radio, particularly the SBS one, helped me a lot in listening practice and kept me up to date with the news which is a bonus. Honestly, IMMERSION IMMERSION IMMERSION in the language is the best thing you can do. Watch french movies, go to a french film festival, read books and magazines...etc.
I hope this helps! :)
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Bonjour,
What is the french detailed study? I have heard about it but is it still in the current study design? I am currently doing french 1/2.
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Do any of you know any good VCE french tutors in the Melbourne area? I'm looking for one but I'm having trouble fining one I think is good.
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Bonjour!
I have been told that it is useful to use an index book for French. For eg, in the 'g' section, you would make a glossary of new words, and in the 'a' section, you would write the grammar rules for adjectives.
Has anyone used this or have any experience with it? Is it helpful?
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Bonjour!
I have been told that it is useful to use an index book for French. For eg, in the 'g' section, you would make a glossary of new words, and in the 'a' section, you would write the grammar rules for adjectives.
Has anyone used this or have any experience with it? Is it helpful?
I made a bit of an index of new words when I did French but didn't do the full thing like you're describing. I certainly found what I did really helpful in terms of building my vocab and expression! :)
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Hello! I'm Paige and I'm taking French 1&2 this year. Just wondering if someone else is taking VCE Chinese or VCE English Language? Does anyone have tips for handling two VCE languages?! (I'm doing Chinese 3&4 this year not 1&2)
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Hi, I have a french sac coming up based on french history and francophone communities. I have no idea what to study. Could do with some help. :-[
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How good is duolingo at supporting vce french? I know I can't use it as a sole resource, but does it help a lot?
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Hi, I’m currently in year 10 and planning to do French for VCE. I was wondering what SACs, exam and oral scores I would probably need for at least 30 raw score?
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How does the 2019 graded distribution work? I don't understand where they get the 400 marks from...
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How does the 2019 graded distribution work? I don't understand where they get the 400 marks from...
If the total is actually 200, that would fit because they do multiple assessors and add the marks together. (This is true for other subjects as well.)
*I'm not a French student and know nothing of the subject.
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If the total is actually 200, that would fit because they do multiple assessors and add the marks together. (This is true for other subjects as well.)
*I'm not a French student and know nothing of the subject.
That's where I'm confused - it isn't out of 200...
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That's where I'm confused - it isn't out of 200...
100 and four markers?
I assume you're also looking at the correct exam - it has both written and oral, right?
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How does the 2019 graded distribution work? I don't understand where they get the 400 marks from...
Disclaimer : just another vce lote student. From a q that i aaked on, here (you can find it on the vce technical score disucssion thread) as far as I understood its 100 marks frm your oral and the written exam is out of 75. its marked by two assessors and the score that each assesore gives you is doubled (adding up to 300 max) e.g: you got 60/100 on oral, 50/75 on written from one assessor (this is doubled to give you 100) and 55/75from another assessor doubled to, give 110. add to get 60+100+110=270/400. in 2019 for french that would give you a b+ on the GA3 from the grade distribution.