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March 29, 2024, 09:33:52 am

Author Topic: Teaching yourself through VCE  (Read 2632 times)  Share 

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jaceyjace

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Teaching yourself through VCE
« on: April 16, 2017, 02:12:56 pm »
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There are only 4 people in my french class, which should mean lots of one on one attention, but it really means that the teachers don't cover anything in class and just sit there chatting.

1 term in and I have learned close to nothing, which just feels like a waste of time, money and education.

We're expected to complete written assignments, oral preparation questions and a vocab bank of 60 words per week, on top of any class homework (which is NEVER relevant to the course). While it doesn't sound like a lot it actually adds up to between 7-15 hours of mostly irrelevant homework per week, which isn't realistic, and close to impossible.

If I was to just teach myself, what's the best way to prepare for the final exams? Obviously written assignments and oral prep is great, but I need the skills to be able to come up with content and say what I want to say, and I'm not getting any help from either of my teachers in this area...

2016 - Physical education {43}

2017 - Literature, Further, Biology, Methods, French

2018 - Bachelor of Physiotherapy @ Monash University

whynot

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Re: Teaching yourself through VCE
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2017, 02:21:26 pm »
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Do you have background in French or you are a non-background student?

From my experiences as an ABC doing Chinese SL; background students destroy non-background. What are you 'doing' in class? Most background speakers know how to write a good 200 word essay (may not be good quality) and the high scoring students speak it orally like a first language. I'm not of French descent, but can you 'rate' you French?

1. How well can you speak?
2. Can you complete the exam and net above 95% of you did it right now?
3. Have you done your general conversation?

Most background speakers (i.e. the ones who score above 45) can do all three of the stuff listed above.

jaceyjace

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Re: Teaching yourself through VCE
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2017, 02:51:48 pm »
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Do you have background in French or you are a non-background student?

No I'm not a native speaker, my speaking is pretty poor, I can speak but my pronunciation isn't great it's proably at like a B level 7/10
I could complete the exam and net about 80-85% if I did it right now.
And no I haven't.

In class we work from a textbook written for the A levels course covering things like global warming but with little to no explanation of
1. Grammer points used
2. relevant vocab
However classes are only 45 minutes long so we work for about 20 minutes then she sets the rest for homework (usually about an hour+) reading comprehension and listening exercises mainly.
2016 - Physical education {43}

2017 - Literature, Further, Biology, Methods, French

2018 - Bachelor of Physiotherapy @ Monash University

whynot

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Re: Teaching yourself through VCE
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2017, 03:11:07 pm »
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Well classes at my day school I dropped by year 9 because we didn't learn anything lmao

I changed to a language school (on the weekend) and we actually learnt stuff; it was amazing
Have you considered going a language school instead of doing it at your crappy day school (cohorts are usually stronger at language schools)

vcestressed

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Re: Teaching yourself through VCE
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2017, 03:57:38 pm »
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Hey, I'm not doing french but i hope this helps.
- Listen to SBS french radio every single day. Not only it helps you know the current world  issues but it also helps with vocab.
- Do your detailed study + general convo asap and start practicing in front of the mirror if you don't have anyone to practice it with.
- Learn at least 1new word a day - helped me in my first SAC so much omg
- My teacher always tells us to write 1 essay per week in timed conditions. Make sure you ask for feedback
- Make a book of common mistakes you make and go through them every week
Hope this helps!

jaceyjace

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Re: Teaching yourself through VCE
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2017, 03:58:46 pm »
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Have you considered going a language school instead of doing it at your crappy day school (cohorts are usually stronger at language schools)

Yeah I did consider it briefly (the same thing happened last year with a different teacher, but my school convinced me it would be different this year). Unfortunately its not an option anymore :'( I'm not allowed to transfer this far in... (according to my school).
2016 - Physical education {43}

2017 - Literature, Further, Biology, Methods, French

2018 - Bachelor of Physiotherapy @ Monash University

jaceyjace

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Re: Teaching yourself through VCE
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2017, 04:00:39 pm »
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Hey, I'm not doing french but i hope this helps.
- Listen to SBS french radio every single day. Not only it helps you know the current world  issues but it also helps with vocab.
- Do your detailed study + general convo asap and start practicing in front of the mirror if you don't have anyone to practice it with.
- Learn at least 1new word a day - helped me in my first SAC so much omg
- My teacher always tells us to write 1 essay per week in timed conditions. Make sure you ask for feedback
- Make a book of common mistakes you make and go through them every week
Hope this helps!

Thankyou! Yeah radio I well definitely start :)
2016 - Physical education {43}

2017 - Literature, Further, Biology, Methods, French

2018 - Bachelor of Physiotherapy @ Monash University

vox nihili

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Re: Teaching yourself through VCE
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2017, 08:22:08 pm »
+1
I think vcestressed's advice in particular is very sage. I was in a similar position, except that I was in a class of 2 + 4 year 11s as well. There was a fairly big gap between them and me (sounds cocky...but I did beat the other student by 21 in terms of SS... :\). Using things like SBS radio, turning your phone/computer/facebook into French and even following French meme pages are all really good ways to immerse yourself in the language and build your skills without having to devote a huge amount of effort.
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rosecookiie

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Re: Teaching yourself through VCE
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2017, 12:39:13 am »
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Personally, I find the easiest way to study for French is to really immerse yourself in the culture - watch French movies, listen to French songs (there are some really good playlists on Spotify), read French books or magazines, etc. Also, the Alliance Française holds VCE classes throughout term 2 and 3, so if you feel as if you need mor practice, you can always sign up 
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