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Should I self teach myself for French GCSE?

Basically I have decided to self teach myself French (with the help of a native speaker step dad). But with one year to go (I'm in the end of Year 10) should I try and teach myself enough to take a French GCSE at the end of the Year 11. I haven't chosen any language for GCSE but want to do French A-level which means I need to pass in the language at GCSE unless I somehow convince the college to let me do it without one, which is unlikely.

My question is should I really put effort into learning French and to try to do it GCSE OR just learn it at my own pace and hope the college will let me do it for A-level with some persuading OR spend the next 6 years until I get ab job becoming fluent at French and then finally take a qualification to prove myself - the fault with this would be that I wouldn't be able to show I can speak French to my uni to try and get in.

HELP

I think I posted this twice sorry - not spamming
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 1
Avatar for Petulia
Petulia
19
GCSE French doesn't require much knowledge tbh. Most unis want students to have a GCSE in a language though, so discuss this with your teachers and they should let you pick it up in Year 11.
If you do want to self teach, I'd say the only necessary things to learn in Year 11 are: present, past and imperfect tenses, and some basic vocab.
The oral exam just consists of memorising a page of French then reciting it to the teacher. You also do a written piece of coursework, where you memorise a page over the course of a month and then you have to write it out in class within an hour.
The jump to AS French is very big. You need to be able to have improvised conversation for 15 minutes, and be able to write a 200-250 word essay in French on a given topic.
My advice is to tell your teachers why you need to have GCSE French, and then self teach the basic tenses and grammar concepts.
Listen to French music and watch French movies over the summer to help you with the listening exam. BB Brunes are a really popular French band, and Les Intouchables is a popular French movie (Omar Sy is in it, and it's become famous in the UK and US, also).
Good luck!
Reply 2
Avatar for Wolf11
Wolf11
OP
11
Original post by Petulia
GCSE French doesn't require much knowledge tbh. Most unis want students to have a GCSE in a language though, so discuss this with your teachers and they should let you pick it up in Year 11.
If you do want to self teach, I'd say the only necessary things to learn in Year 11 are: present, past and imperfect tenses, and some basic vocab.
The oral exam just consists of memorising a page of French then reciting it to the teacher. You also do a written piece of coursework, where you memorise a page over the course of a month and then you have to write it out in class within an hour.
The jump to AS French is very big. You need to be able to have improvised conversation for 15 minutes, and be able to write a 200-250 word essay in French on a given topic.
My advice is to tell your teachers why you need to have GCSE French, and then self teach the basic tenses and grammar concepts.
Listen to French music and watch French movies over the summer to help you with the listening exam. BB Brunes are a really popular French band, and Les Intouchables is a popular French movie (Omar Sy is in it, and it's become famous in the UK and US, also).
Good luck!


Yeah thanks! How hard the French GCSE is, was also on my mind and you answered it! I just have to convince my teachers I'm up to the challenge.
(edited 9 years ago)

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