Sawtry Community College AS French Transition Pack 2014

1. Sawtry Community College AS French Transition Pack 2014

2. AS FrenchAQA Unit 1 – Listening, reading and Writing Unit 2 – Speaking test

3. Unit 1: Listening, Reading and Writing • 70% of AS marks • 2 hour exam paper • Done in June • Individual student control of CD

4. Unit 2: Speaking Test • 30% of AS marks • 15 min test + 20 min preparation • Discussion of stimulus card (5 mins) • Conversation (10 mins) • Done in April/May • Conducted by class teacher/marked by AQA examiner

5. AS topics • Media Television, advertising, communication technology • Popular culture Cinema, music, fashion/trends • Healthy living/lifestyle Sport/exercise, health and well-being, holidays • Family/relationships Relationships within the family, friendships, marriage/partnerships

6. Classroom and homework activities Discussions/debates/ reading aloud/oral presentations Pair/group work Translating Listening to CD/ news Summarising Watching film/news Essay writing Grammar exercises Computer work Vocabulary building Reading tasks Filming

7. Introduction During the course of the year you will be sitting internal assessments as well as the external exams at the end of the year. In order to help develop your skills in exam technique, the following pages have some hints on improving listening, reading, speaking and writing skills. What you need to do next You will need to complete a series of exercises that are listed at the back of this booklet. You’ll also find a list of useful resources and web-links to look at before the course starts.

8. Reading Tips Read as much as you can ! Try and read at least one thing in French each day. Use the internet to find articles. Keep it short ! Try and attempt short stories and articles as they are easier than long texts or books. Get the gist ! You don’t have to understand every word. See how much you can understand but don’t try to translate it all. Make a note of any idioms or phrases you like. You may be able to use them in future writing or speaking tasks. Make a note !

9. Writing Tips Imitate the language ! Try to imitate the language you’ve seen in your reading and in your French lessons. Use new structures ! Incorporate as many new structures in all your writing as you can. Use your previous work ! Learn from what you got right and wrong in your previous work. Make sure to plan your work carefully, but don’t be tempted to write in English first or you’ll be tempted to do a ‘direct translation’. Plan ahead ! Use a checklist to check for: agreement, tenses, the correct gender and all punctuation. Check your work !

10. Listening Tips Get the gist ! You don’t have to understand every word. See how much you can understand but don’t try to translate it all. Keep listening ! Listen to an extract several times; it helps to tune your ear and you’ll pick up extra words. Use the news ! The news is often easier to understand than a DJ for example; the articulation is often better. Try http://www.euronews.net Select the French language option at the top, listen to the videos with the transcripts

11. Speaking Tips Keep on practising ! Use French at every opportunity – in the classroom and with teachers, with native speakers and when you go abroad. Communicate ! Speaking is about expressing ideas; you don’t need to know every word. Don’t be shy ! It’s up to you to make the effort to speak French. Don’t be shy – try !!

12. Useful Links Useful websites to look at before the course begins: www.zut.org.uk (account Id: 3980, password fletcher) ( interactive and authentic resources). http://www.lesclesjunior.com (news items with a very useful ‘archives’ section, type a French key word et voilà!) http://www.languagesonline.org.uk (grammar and vocabulary) http://www.s-cool.co.uk ( vocabulary and grammar) http://www.cheriefm.fr (radio station) http://jt.france2.fr (news videos ) http://www.leparisien.fr ( national news site) http://French.about.com ( language learning site)

13. Exercises You should complete the following tasks before the course begins in September. You will be assessed on some of these. Revise your GCSE vocabulary – you need to be sure of this before embarking on new topics. www.linguascope.com username: sawtry Password: bonjour Click on Intermediate Each section has activities and a vocabulary sheet ( fiche de vocabulaire) Revise the grammar and complete the exercises from the transition booklet. Complete the following activities on www.zut.org.uk, print a copy or note down your answers and bring to your first lesson. (account Id: 3980, password: fletcher). Click on register /login, enter the information then click on year 12/The individual and society/Youth culture/Le fossé des générations. Do all the activities from ‘Compréhension orale sur les adolescents et les sorties vrai ou faux ’ onwards. Also, visit vocabulaire et pronociation-le fossé des générations section. Find out about something that has happened in France over the summer. Write a summary in French (100 words) using the past tense, and bring it along to your first lesson to present to us.

14. Equipment Needed You should have the following equipment before the course begins in September. A good bilingual dictionary e.g. Collins big French/English. 2 A4 folders with dividers. You will be supplied with a textbook, a grammar book and grammar and vocabulary booklets for independent learning to accompany the course.