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March 30, 2024, 02:14:26 am

Author Topic: Tips and tricks for French Beginners  (Read 25476 times)  Share 

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sydneyg

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #15 on: August 10, 2016, 11:45:35 am »
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Hi Elyse!
How did you practice speaking before your exam? I only have limited access to my French teacher but I still feel I need the practice, what would you recommend?

elysepopplewell

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #16 on: August 10, 2016, 02:42:26 pm »
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Hi Elyse!
How did you practice speaking before your exam? I only have limited access to my French teacher but I still feel I need the practice, what would you recommend?
Hello!
I wrote out my prepared responses on palm cards with the possible corresponding question on the opposite side. I asked my sister to read out the questions (in terrible French) and I would respond without looking at the card and my sister would follow the card as I spoke to see if what I was saying was matching to what I had prepared. In reality, it doesn't matter if I matched to what I wrote down, as long as what I said made sense! But I wanted to make sure that I wasn't skipping any idioms or little things like that to elevate my work. Usually my sister wasn't available or her French was too poor (now she actually speaks French, funnily enough) so I would just read the question side of the card myself, and then say my response, and then check it. I also consistently said my more difficult responses over and over again. Some I can still say now off the top of my head! Responding to the question "do you balance work and leisure?" was my favourite. Now is the time to substitute a sentence, phrase or word for something else if it it too difficult to pronounce and there's a possibility it might throw you. This time is about knowing your responses well enough that you are confident to add or take things away in the exam as is required, but also this is a time for perfecting your pronunciation. If you have trouble with pronunciation, you can ask me here how I would pronounce it and I can give you a phonetic spelling, or else you might be able to find that stuff online!

So, essentially, if you want that emulation of a conversation like in an exam, ask a friend or sibling to give you a hand by reading from the cards or a piece of paper. and then you responding. I think that's as close as you will get to the real deal! If you want to adjust to the different accents, speeds and tones a marker may use when they use fluent french, try download some apps that will do a vocal translation. So type in what you want them to say and then hear it say it, so that you won't be thrown by their pronunciation being different from your teacher's! :)
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yxrulz

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #17 on: August 15, 2016, 09:47:46 pm »
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Hello!! I have a listening exam for French Continuers in a couple days, and I am in need of help. Although I tend to do above average in all other areas (speaking, writing, reading), I absolutely fail in listening. I'm more or less at the bottom of my class for this and tend to get less than 50%. I'm not really sure how to improve? I simply find it so difficult to translate in my head instantly and even if I do, the recording has already moved on to the next couple of sentences which I have missed. Please help? thanks in advance :)

elysepopplewell

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #18 on: August 15, 2016, 09:52:11 pm »
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Hello!! I have a listening exam for French Continuers in a couple days, and I am in need of help. Although I tend to do above average in all other areas (speaking, writing, reading), I absolutely fail in listening. I'm more or less at the bottom of my class for this and tend to get less than 50%. I'm not really sure how to improve? I simply find it so difficult to translate in my head instantly and even if I do, the recording has already moved on to the next couple of sentences which I have missed. Please help? thanks in advance :)

I had this same problem, and unfortunately listening remained my weakest point! By the end, my strategy changed a bit though, and probably for the better. Rather than trying to write down as much of the sentence as I could when listening the first time, I'd write down any words that stuck out to me as being clear, whether or not I knew the translation or not. Then upon the second listening, I'd specifically listen out for more ways to connect the dots. Occasionally, I'd flick open the dictionary between the first and second hearing so I could translate some of the words I wrote and be prepared to listen for associated words in the second listening. Most of the time, I ended up with a few key words at the end and I'd try connect the dots with a hypothetical situation. What's your current strategy?
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lha

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #19 on: September 25, 2016, 03:40:52 pm »
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Are there anny websites that have posted the past hsc french listening audios?

MarkThor

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #20 on: October 08, 2016, 03:11:33 pm »
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You can find most of them on the BoS website by clicking onto the respective year and going to the French courses;
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/

elysepopplewell

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #21 on: October 09, 2016, 08:53:52 am »
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Are there anny websites that have posted the past hsc french listening audios?

Just a tip, I realised sometime just before the exam that I'm actually terrible at understanding male voices, as opposed to female voices. Is it because male voices are lower and the words blend together more? I don't know, but something to consider for you all so that if you're the same you can hone in on that! :)
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pughg16

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #22 on: October 15, 2016, 06:31:15 pm »
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Can I just add: If you go on the Assessment Resource Centre website, they actually have the audio clips of Band 5/6 speaking exams and you'll notice that every single one (for French at least) either started with hesitation or hesitated when asked a question that they weren't comfortable with. Just remember that they are not going to mark you down for being nervous. The most important thing is being clear and articulating with the correct technique. :-) At least, that's what my teacher always says and it works for me.

Good luck and I recommend going online and listing to the speaking exams!!

Wish I had read this earlier!!
My French speaking went okay i think.....I managed to answer all the questions!
One of them I wasn't sure if the examiner had asked If had had moved or done the housework...I hope it was housework!!! :P :-\

woman2womenblog.com

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #23 on: October 25, 2016, 07:51:26 am »
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Hi elysepopplewell,
First of all I wanted to thank you to link to my blog’s post on French movies:
http://wp.me/p508D7-yz
French is the third language I learnt, and I totally agree with your propositions! I used to watch French movies with English subtitles, and it helped me a lot!
Another great way to learn French is French songs. Like you say, there is an unlimited source of songs, many of them subtitled, but otherwise it’s very easy to find the lyrics online!
There are some great French singers to learn French; my French teacher loved Nino Ferrer…
You can check my list with 100 French songs and choose the ones you like!
http://wp.me/p508D7-1cF

stephsteph_xx

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #24 on: January 24, 2017, 06:47:08 pm »
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Can you come from france and pick like extension french up ? Or is that not allowed because obviously you can speak french

elysepopplewell

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #25 on: January 25, 2017, 03:35:19 pm »
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Can you come from france and pick like extension french up ? Or is that not allowed because obviously you can speak french

Hey there! I believe you fall into the French Native Speakers category if that's the case and aren't allowed to do continuers or extension, I think!
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janenmortimer

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #26 on: March 15, 2017, 06:40:24 pm »
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Hi Mark!
Some of my favourite French movies:
-BIENVENUE CHEZ LES CH’TIS!!! (favourite)
-The Intouchables (actually maybe this is my favourite)
-Amelie (weird movie, but good)

I didn't watch any French TV shows, but, I do recommend listening to French music, particularly rap. I thought rap was helpful because it was still spoken french, so each word could be made out clearly. Black M is awesome!

Love all of these! Just want to add La Famille Belier to this list. We had a substitute who showed us this movie at the end of the year, and it was absolutely beautiful!

Hi Elyse,

Not being creepy, but I have the same French and English teachers as you did! ;D
Firstly, thanks for all your posts and answering and marking on here. It honestly feels so reassuring to know that you all are here for us in times of indescribable stress and anxiety.
I was just wondering how you learnt your grammar for French? I understand you did beginners, I'm currently doing continuers, so I think there is more grammar involved there, however, I'm just struggling a little with remembering the rules and where and how to apply them. I write a lot of responses, but whenever I need to use a tense that isn't the present, I find myself picking up a dictionary again!

Thanks in advance! Hoping you're having a good time in Venice!
2017 HSC
English Advanced, English Extension 1, French Continuers, Legal Studies, Mathematics General 2, Studies of Religion I
Aiming for 90

elysepopplewell

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #27 on: March 15, 2017, 08:04:43 pm »
+1
Love all of these! Just want to add La Famille Belier to this list. We had a substitute who showed us this movie at the end of the year, and it was absolutely beautiful!

Hi Elyse,

Not being creepy, but I have the same French and English teachers as you did! ;D
Firstly, thanks for all your posts and answering and marking on here. It honestly feels so reassuring to know that you all are here for us in times of indescribable stress and anxiety.
I was just wondering how you learnt your grammar for French? I understand you did beginners, I'm currently doing continuers, so I think there is more grammar involved there, however, I'm just struggling a little with remembering the rules and where and how to apply them. I write a lot of responses, but whenever I need to use a tense that isn't the present, I find myself picking up a dictionary again!

Thanks in advance! Hoping you're having a good time in Venice!

Hey Jane! Nice to see a local online! :)

For grammar, I made palm cards that I would study from. When I studied French, I'd just memorise the irregulars because you have no choice. So I'd have in my head: "suis, es, est, sommes, etes, sont" and I would visualise the "je/tu/elle" that comes on the left of the little graphs we make in my head. So I could shift through them quickly to choose the one I needed. I'd love to say I knew it off by heart every time but I did have to come back to the little chant in my head! As for the regulars, I learnt to become quite quick at them throughout the year, but I started with the same kind of little conjugation chant. When I got into an exam, I'd write down the conjugation table at the top of the page as soon as I could, so when it came to the writing section I could just refer to my little graph at the top (which takes a whole 30 sections to draw up a few)! I know that some dictionaries have this little conjugation table in them, but you're right, we can't rely on that! So that was my technique.

In saying that, I'm studying Italian A1 in Uni now, and I'm taking a different approach. I'm committed to being able to know them off by heart and not relying on the little chant in my head so much. This is mainly because the purpose of my Italian here is so that I can speak it more than anything else, and I can't be pausing to chant the conjugation every time I talk. So, I've been doing exercises of writing the same sentence out, but with a different conjugation for me, for you, for him, for them, for us, etc, each time. So this is some self directed learning because I'm not studying this for a HSC exam, I'm studying this to be able to communicate, so it's a little different. If you have the opportunity, I'd try do something similar. In a way it's almost like you're making a worksheet for yourself! They say practice makes perfect, and I know grammar and verb conjugation makes me want to stick pins in my eyes but knowing conjugations quickly and accurately really saves so much time in an exam!

Hopefully this gives you a few ideas about how to go about it all :)
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damecj

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #28 on: March 25, 2017, 08:08:52 pm »
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Hey,
I do French Continuers and just wondering what is the best way to study for Writing?

elysepopplewell

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Re: Tips and tricks for French Beginners
« Reply #29 on: March 29, 2017, 12:57:19 am »
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Hey,
I do French Continuers and just wondering what is the best way to study for Writing?

Practice! Go through past papers and observe the different types of text types they require, and the different topics they cover. Have a go at responding to as many as possible, diversifying your responses while you have the chance. Include idioms where possible! When you have a few responses written, go through and identify the times you showed your prowess as a french writer. When did you vary tense? Use the subjunctive? Conditional? Idioms? You might find there are some areas you are shying away from without realising, but identifying what you are good at and what you lack in will help you improve.

Also, studying the grammar so that you can write fluently without stopping to think regularly will improve your exam results!
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