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AS French oral

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Mine is a week today. :afraid:

I've just had a practice with my French teacher, it's not like I can decide about the role play, the presentation is fine, half of my discussion seems to be okay, but I'm really underprepared on the other half. This entire weekend is going to have to be devoted to French. Gahhhhhhhhhhh.

Does anyone that's done AS French here know how easy it is to get an A, so to speak? Does your pronunciation matter a lot? I'm quite fluent when it comes to speaking on my own, and I always make sure to throw good phrases in, that include subjunctive, etc. I really want an A on this.

Reply 41

SuperSam_Fantastiche

rainbow drops

Does anyone that's done AS French here know how easy it is to get an A, so to speak? Does your pronunciation matter a lot? I'm quite fluent when it comes to speaking on my own, and I always make sure to throw good phrases in, that include subjunctive, etc. I really want an A on this.

I went through my AS speaking last May without even knowing what the subjunctive was and I still got an A :biggrin:

Speak in as many tenses as you can and use plenty of personal reaction. make sure you know what you're talking about - do your research xD

And yeah, try to get your pronunciation as good as possible. Slow your speaking down if needs be, but make sure you say enough.

Make it so that the teacher only really has to say a few words, then you can talk for an absolute age on the topic. But stick to the question that's been asked.

It sounds like a lot, but if you're well prepared, it's nowhere near as awful as i have just made it seem :biggrin:

I accidentally broke into English towards the end of mine and my teacher laughed rather loudly...

Reply 42

BlaiseyLew

did anyone do "francophonie" as their conversation topic & have any facts/figures they can send me?
my french teacher has given us nothing cause he can't be bothered to find it, he just helps the people doing l'environnement!

Reply 43

collegedropout

i'm really worried about the upcoming may exams. i feel like theres too much to do, so much that i can't keep track.
written exam - (i'll probably do immigration/multiculturalism)
Reading/listening - totally unprepared but least worried about
presentation - ( we have to pick a topic within immigration or francophonie, then whichever one we do the opposite topic we get asked about in the speaking questions. so i have no idea what to do..) + questions on your presentation?
speaking card? (god knows.?)
speaking questions on francophonie or immigration + one other topic (usually only 2/3 qs depending on time)

god im so confused, i'm trying to prepare but i dunnno how im gonna cope with it all!
someone give me some assurance! please..

Reply 44

Mrgd291190

Democracy

Hahaha you sir are a legend. Rep for you soon :wink:

Thank very much there Democracy :smile:

I'm not officially "a name known to all" which I strongly doubt but it's still nice :biggrin:

Reply 45

SuperSam_Fantastiche

BlaiseyLew

Right here is all my research that i did last year. Factually it's all correct but the grammar is probably a bit rubbish. i did francophonie for my writing paper, and had to speak a little bit about it in my exam.

La Francophonie est un mot pour décrire des pays qui parlent de Français. Il y a une organisation s’appelle « L’Organisation Internationale du Francophonie » qui défendent la langue française. Dans cette organisation, il y a 43 pays, inclut la France, le Canada, le Belgique, et la Cote d’Ivoire. Le Secrétaire-General de l’OIF s’appelle Abdou Diouf.

I'd say that focusing on one particular country might help you, and relating it back to the generic stuff. Here's a bit on Quebec that I stole from random websites:

Quebec
La colonisation du Canada français commence par la fondation de la ville de Québec en 1608 par Samuel de Champlain. Champlain, qui fut d’abord impliqué dans des activités de pêche dans le golfe Saint-Laurent, comprend vite l’intérêt du commerce des fourrures. Pour faciliter ce commerce, il établit d’abord un poste de traite saisonnier à Tadoussac en 1603 puis il réalise l’importance de disposer d’un établissement permanent. Il fonde donc, en 1608, la ville de Québec qui devient le premier établissement français permanent en Amérique et le point de départ du Canada français qui deviendra la plus importante colonie de la Nouvelle-France.
Le site choisit par Champlain comporte de nombreux avantages. À cet endroit, le fleuve Saint-Laurent se rétrécit et est dominé par un haut cap, aujourd’hui le cap Diamant. Le lieu est donc facile à défendre et peut être utilisé pour bloquer la route des bateaux qui remontent le Saint-Laurent. Il y a aussi abondance de fourrures dans la région car on est en territoire algonkien. Enfin, le site est entouré d’abondantes terres fertiles qui pourront permettre à la future colonie de s’adonner à l’agriculture.
La traite des fourrures à Québec s'annonce prometteuse surtout après la rencontre qui a eu lieu à Tadoussac en 1603 avec les Algonquins et des Hurons qui semblent plutôt bien disposés envers les Français. Pour s’assurer de leur coopération, Champlain leur a promis de les assister dans leur lutte contre les Iroquois.
Au printemps 1609, après un hiver plutôt difficile qui ne laisse que 7 Français dans l'Habitation de Québec, les Algonquins viennent proposer à Champlain une expédition contre les Iroquois près de l’actuel lac Champlain. Champlain n'en a pas vraiment les moyens mais il n'a pas le choix. Il doit donc s'impliquer dans un conflit qui existait bien avant son arrivée dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent. Il part avec deux compagnons, tous trois équipés de leurs «bâtons qui crachent le tonnerre», et ils se dirigent avec leurs alliés amérindiens vers le territoire iroquois. La rencontre a lieu au sud du lac Champlain et les Iroquois sont littéralement terrorisés par les arquebuses à mèche des Français. La partie a peut-être semblé facile mais elle aura des lendemains amers. Cette agression contre les Iroquois va amener ces derniers à entretenir un état d'hostilité quasi permanente avec les Français jusqu'en 1701 et coûtera la vie à plusieurs colons dans les avant-postes de Trois-Rivières et de Ville-Marie (Montréal). Champlain était piégé dans un dilemme. S'il n'avait pas appuyé ses partenaires commerciaux, son commerce des fourrures aurait été compromis et l'essentiel de l'économie reposait sur ce commerce. Par contre, en s'attaquant aux Iroquois, il a contribué à mettre la jeune colonie dans un état d'insécurité permanente.
Champlain se dépense tout de même beaucoup pour la cause de la colonisation de la Nouvelle-France. Il traverse plusieurs fois l'océan pour promouvoir son idée d'une colonisation intégrale du territoire. En 1618, il soumet un plan très détaillé de toutes les possibilités qu'offre la colonie. Il recrute des missionnaires. Les Récollets arrivent dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent en 1615 et les Jésuites en 1625. Arrive également en 1616 Louis Hébert que l'on considère comme le premier agriculteur de la Nouvelle-France. Champlain trouve tout de même le temps de faire plusieurs voyages d'exploration. On sait qu'il a visité la rivière des Iroquois (l’actuelle rivière Richelieu) et le lac Champlain lors de son expédition contre les Iroquois mais, en 1613, il remonte une bonne partie de la rivière des Outaouais et en 1615, il se rend au lac Huron puis au sud du lac Ontario. À cette occasion, il se rend encore chez les Iroquois mais cette fois l'affrontement ne tourne pas à son avantage et il est blessé. Il doit passer l'hiver chez ses amis Hurons. Il en profite pour parfaire ses connaissances géographiques de la région. Il devient aussi un spécialiste des questions amérindiennes.
Ainsi qu'on l'aura compris, le Canada joue un rôle si important et si original dans l'espace francophone que, sans lui, la francophonie serait fatalement très différente, beaucoup moins riche et beaucoup moins prometteuse qu'elle ne l'est aujourd'hui. Le Canada apporte précisément au moins quatre particularités intéressantes: c'est un pays d'Amérique sans passé colonial, un pays riche, un grand pays et un pays de langue maternelle française au moins pour une partie conséquente de sa population.

Avec le voyage du général de Gaulle au Canada en 1967 et son célèbre "Vive le Québec libre ", les perspectives changent. La solidarité de la communauté française de part et d'autre de l'Atlantique est évoquée; elle va peu à peu s'organiser avec des conférences ministérielles (la première ayant été celle des ministres de l'éducation de langue française) et le développement des organisations internationales non gouvernementales dont l'Association des Universités partiellement ou entièrement de langue française (AUPELF) créée à Montréal où elle fixe son siège, à partir du regroupement en 1961 de 33 universités, francophones en totalité ou en partie.

Wikipedia was my friend last year. :biggrin:

Reply 46

wolfie__22

rainbow drops

im doing a2 ocr this year, but just a tip, do your a4 notes on the computer as opposed to handwriting them because you'll get more on the page :smile:

Reply 47

Mrgd291190

Surprisingly I'm feeling better about the exam last couple of days. Feel a little more confident. :smile:

Reply 48

Ziffachan

My teacher is basically getting me to choose all the topics I'll do for my oral LOL

Seeing as i'm the only person there aren't any rules to adhere to that would apply if there were lots of other candidates so I think that's what she does.

I was like 1 mark off an A for the oral last year so hopefully I will get an A in it this time around (and hopefully an A overall as well :wink:

)

Reply 49

rainbow drops

star_light90

rainbow drops

im doing a2 ocr this year, but just a tip, do your a4 notes on the computer as opposed to handwriting them because you'll get more on the page :smile:

Yeah, I am, in a small font too lol :p:

I handed my first try at the notes in today, I wasn't sure what I would be allowed when I was writing them so I think my teacher might make me cut quite a bit off. Is it only factual stuff you're allowed on there?

Reply 50

wolfie__22

rainbow drops

Yeah, I am, in a small font too lol :p:

as long as it's not full sentences that you're gonna read you can put anything on it :smile:

i put prompts on for my presentation, then a few general phrases like je crois que/c'est juste que/je ne peux pas m'empêcher de penser que/ etc
then key phrases/vocab to do with your topics you want to talk about

good luck!

Reply 51

rainbow drops

star_light90

as long as it's not full sentences that you're gonna read you can put anything on it :smile:

Ahhh, I see. Some of my bullet points for the presentation were a bit sentence-ish, so I think my teacher will cut them down. I don't mind though, I have lots of general phrases in my head already, it's just the facts and dates etc that I really need on the sheet of paper. I doubt I will even be able to fill the page with facts alone, so hopefully my teacher lets me add some general phrases on there too! I only found out I was even allowed notes in the exam with me a couple of days ago, so I'm still really relieved about it! It's the role play that I'm worried about...

Thanks for the luck. :smile:

I'm going to need it.

Reply 52

Mrgd291190

Can anyone remind me of my tenses?
What's like...

I will
I did
I went
I will go
I'm going to

and the rest? :confused:

Reply 53

rainbow drops

5 days until my exam, ugh. I have literally spent ALL DAY bar three lessons that weren't French preparing for it, I am going to burn all my role plays when it's over. I HATE THEM.

Mrgd291190

Can anyone remind me of my tenses?
What's like...

I will
I did
I went
I will go
I'm going to

and the rest? :confused:

http://french.about.com/library/verb/bl-verbconjugator.htm That website is your friend. Just put the infinitive of the verb in and it tells you every tense of it.

Reply 54

rainbow drops

Mrgd291190

Can anyone remind me of my tenses?
What's like...

I will
I did
I went
I will go
I'm going to

and the rest? :confused:

Thanks for the rep :smile:

Reply 55

Mrgd291190

rainbow drops

Thanks for the rep :smile:

No worries, that site's gonna be a life-saver, especially with coursework next year :biggrin:

Although it just goes to show that our school has never even suggested such sites... :frown:

Reply 56

rainbow drops

Mrgd291190

No worries, that site's gonna be a life-saver, especially with coursework next year :biggrin:

Although it just goes to show that our school has never even suggested such sites... :frown:

It has saved my arse many a time. My teacher didn't suggest it to me, I found it myself when I was trying (and most likely failing) to figure out when to use the subjunctive months ago. :p:

Are you definitely carrying on with French then? I am too, the A2 oral exam sounds even more traumatising than this one. Alas, why do we do this to ourselves...

Reply 57

Mrgd291190

rainbow drops

It has saved my arse many a time. My teacher didn't suggest it to me, I found it myself when I was trying (and most likely failing) to figure out when to use the subjunctive months ago. :p:

Are you definitely carrying on with French then? I am too, the A2 oral exam sounds even more traumatising than this one. Alas, why do we do this to ourselves...

Thank you for being unable to use the subjunctive in the past to help me now :smile:

Got to. Unfortunately. My school forced us to take the bloody Welsh Bacc so I only study 3 AS Levels, so now I have to keep up with them all, in order to get the AAA or AAB I need :frown:

We're all really into Masochism. Is the hidden secret of all French A-Level students. :biggrin:

Reply 58

rainbow drops

Mrgd291190

Thank you for being unable to use the subjunctive in the past to help me now :smile:

Got to. Unfortunately. My school forced us to take the bloody Welsh Bacc so I only study 3 AS Levels, so now I have to keep up with them all, in order to get the AAA or AAB I need :frown:

We're all really into Masochism. Is the hidden secret of all French A-Level students. :biggrin:

That sounds a bit gay! Like my school and General Studies, not to mention Key Skills.
Haha :biggrin:

indeed.

Reply 59

collegedropout

can anyone help me with ideas for this question (practise written essay) "comment est-ce que la langue francaise et les liens avec la france unifient le monde francophone?"

once i get going i'll be okay with it. but right now i'm looking at it rather blankly thinking...where can i start.

oh yeah and. how long exactly do you have to talk for in the presentation?