AQA A2 French- 19th JUNE 2012

I defs agree that the most worrying parts are the translation and the essay although I wouldn't say I'm not worried about the other parts (irrational fear of cursing myself) :/ I'd take any tips people have going as well!

All I can offer is to look at the French/ Spanish/ German past papers (same spec) and plan all the essay questions available, know your topics inside out and learn as much vocab as ya can.

What's your essay topic? I'm yet to talk to someone with the same as me... (Baudelaire's collection "Les fleurs du mal")

Les fleurs du mal isn't one of my topics but I just have to say I absolutely love that collection


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I have yes, and translated through google translate as i speak neither haha, and some of those i wouldnt be able to so i'm assuming they're slightly different for each one.

I can't stand Au Revoir Les Enfants so i decided against it. Also, i find it easier talking about a novel, because it's something i'm passionate about...and Bonjour Tristesse is just amazing

Haha I know seems like practically no one does it! Yeah a question related to society would be good but I was mainly hoping for a themes-related question. Your teacher will probably have a better idea of the questions they might ask though

You do Bonjour Tristesse too! I'm leaning towards writing an essay on BT but I dunno. I'm sooooo bad at essays! What do you do as your second thing? We do a film (Le Grand Voyage).

We do a film, au revoir les enfants. I love love love love bonjour tristesse. I want to donsome work on Sagan at uni as I think she's genius it's become one my favourite books I'm defently doing the essay on it, I have learnt an intro and got a good idea of my conclusion ( I look to use the webbs, especially when talking about themes)

Never heard of it, what's Au Revoir Les Enfants about?

Out of curiosity, what is it that you like so much about BT? I think it has a good message, and I think Sagan has a good style of writing but I don't know about loving the book Cecile is a really interesting character though.

Oooh conclusions! That's another question for you What are you meant to write in the conclusion? I get stuck every time

about a boarding school in nazi occupied France where they are harbouring Jewish boys and the friendship between a non-Jew and a jew...not my cup of tea really haha

It's her style of writing, and the way she shows the internal conflict of cecile, and cecile's relationship with Raymond...in fact all the relationships within it. And the repetition of the phrase "parfaitement heureuse" and the last paragraph breaks my hear every time. And the way for Anne's final lesson for cecile she commits sucide (yes I think it's suicide) and how Anne changes everything and the little detail about elsa's sunburn, and the humour like the conversation about mackerel/pimps I just love it and here haha

The questions tend to be relationships or themes (fingers crossed) and if it's themes I tend to do love and power so I use the quote about Webb (he had a passion for theatre publicity she enjoyed spending the money he earnt and particually enjoyed young men) and say it sumerises the entire book and say it's a message Sagan wanted to achieve, and if it's relationships I tend to say that cecile's relationships are strained and difficult but then Sagan didn't want them to be plain sailing otherwise the point of "bonjour tristesse" is lost. I make that point a lot; without the problems bonjour tristesse is futile.

What's your film about?

Hey, it sounds quite good actually Might watch it after exams. Sounds depressing though!

I see what you mean. Isn't it insane that she managed to write like that when she was just our age?
I think it was suicide too. Poor Anne.
I know what you mean about the last paragraph... it didn't affect me that much in french but when I read the english version i was like "wow". Things are better in their original language, obviously, but because I don't understand french as well as english, the meaning/impact of a sentence hits me more in english than french, if that makes sense.
I think my favourite thing in the book is the Cecile- Raymond relationship, it's so messed up ahaha.

They are some pretty impressive conclusions Thank you, that's inspired me! And yeah, that is a really good point! I think it's hard to write about BT without saying what a human novel it is, how human the motivations and relationships etc are.

It's about an issu de l'immigration who drives his dad to Mecca from France. At the start they're effectively strangers because of the age gap and the cultural gap etc, but they get to know each other through the journey, and they meet some pretty interesting people. I'm making it sound crap but it's good! Worth a watch after exams imo

It's amazing she wrote it at this age. I know what you mean thenfirst time i read it I was like what? But now when i read it I'm just like my god! Haha excellent book
And thanks, glad to have helped and it's the point that's it's naturalistic behaviour in a surreal setting, which makes it more believable.

I shall I'd Recommend jeux d'enfants if you haven't seen it; off but good

I haven't re-read it, that's probably the problem. I've been meaning to but I've spent all my free time revising for the other exams Might re-read it after exams when there's not that pressure of having to write about it in the exam.

Hey, yeah! I like that phrase! Gonna translate and nick that haha!

I've heard of that, I think I tried to watch it a few months ago but I couldn't find one with english subtitles so I gave up after a bit haha. Might rewatch though, think my french has improved since I last tried!

Have you heard of Le Petit Journal? It's a TV show pretty much ripping everything (a bit like Mock the Week etc here) but they have clips online, and it's honestly hilarious! I've been using it to practice listening etc.

Anyone doing Jeunet or Sagan?

Haha thanks I'll check it out
And if you amazon love me If you dare it has subtitles

And I will re-read in the summer for sure

Yeah, I think I will buy it Really want La Faute a Fidele on DVD too (it's my favourite film of all time)... and Tous ce qui Brille... damn it, France, why so many good films

Yeah, summer is gonna be amazing!

I know, it's amazing isn't it! Just the fact that he dared to go where no one else would and still did it so beautifully Honestly, hie is up there in my favourite poets of all time, second only to Sylvia Plath

Have you all studied your cultural topics as a class? There are six of us in my class and we each picked out own topics - we had to do a region, but all picked different ones, and then were given total free choice for the others. Literally none of us are doing the same.

I wish we'd studied as a whole - we had to do all our research etc on our own and in our own time for the most part - other than one class hour every two weeks to do independent research (waste of time, we did nothing :P)