Best ways to learn French?

Hi, I have 500 words of French to learn, any ideas on how to learn it easily? Writing it out isn't working for me...

Cheers.

Reply 1

EGcse98

Original post by Gott

I had to learn/revise all of the vocab for a reading exam the next day and I got an A (I got a D overall but that's just because of the stupid weightings :mad:

). And I just coved the French and remember the English (better than vice versa)

It's a whole paragraph though, not just a vocab list.. :frown:

Any other ideas?

Reply 2

Anna Schoon

Original post by EGcse98

Hi, I have 500 words of French to learn, any ideas on how to learn it easily? Writing it out isn't working for me...

Cheers.

There are various methods; try them out and see which one works best for you:

- WLCR: Write, Look, Cover, Repeat. You need to write out lists (maybe 20 at a time?) with the French on one side and the English on the other. Having written your list, you need to study it and learn it - I find saying them out loud helps. Then you cover the English side and tick off the ones you remember. Repeat until you can tick them all off. Then you do the same by covering the French side (that's harder, by the way, which is why you should start by learning French to English). Make sure you revise old lists regularly so the vocab goes into your long-term memory.

- Flashcards. Make a set of flashcards with one or several French words on them, with the English translations on the other side. Pick up a handful at random; do this every day for regular learning and revision. The app Quizlet does the same for you and you will find many people on this forum use it for vocab learning.

- Work in context. Take a number of words relating to a similar context (eg family relationships; television or whatever) and make up a short story / paragraph using all of them. You can do this orally or in writing.

- Many words are part of a "family". Become familiar with prefixes and suffixes, and look out for the root word. For example, take "venir" : you've got devenir, to become; revenir, to return; survenir, to happen, se souvenir, to remember; parvenir, to manage, to succeed. From the past participle of "venir", you get: la venue, arrival; la bienvenue, welcome; malvenu(e) unwelcome. From the present participle you get le revenant, ghost. Seeing these patterns in words can be a very useful shortcut.

I hope you find some of these ideas work for you. Bonne chance!

Reply 3

beyknowles

Original post by EGcse98

Hi, I have 500 words of French to learn, any ideas on how to learn it easily? Writing it out isn't working for me...

Cheers.

There are things you need to do before you remember it. If you are attempting to just learn a paragraph of random French then I wish you the best of luck, because you're really going to need it.

1. You must make sure that you COMPLETELY understand every single word of the French and that you could easily translate it, for example if a parent asked you what it said.

2. Make sure your work means something to you. Writing about past events that didn't actually happen can be harder to remember then if you write about things that you have actually experienced.

3. Acknowledge that you don't HAVE TO remember your work by the exact word. As long as you have a gist of what you want to write, and you have listened in class so you know the Grammar required up to your level, you should be fine.

If you have followed these steps, I would recommend looking at your French text, and if for example it is 100 words long, then pick 15 key words out of it and write them down on a separate piece of paper. Then, try to write your work as best as you can, don't worry if you can't get it word for word straight away. After you've done this, check your work against your original and circle in red where you went wrong and tell yourself what mistake you made and how you need to correct it the next time you write it. This should mean that your mistakes become fewer and fewer.

^^^^
This is the way that worked for me personally at GCSE, I got an A* overall in my Controlled Assessments.

Bon courage, ne perds pas espoir :wink:

Reply 4

Anna Schoon

Original post by EGcse98

It's a whole paragraph though, not just a vocab list.. :frown:

Any other ideas?

Why? Are you learning a role for a play? Because if it's for the oral exam that's not what you should be doing. Look at the poster Gott, who learnt a whole vocab book and his oral text off by heart, and ended up with a B, not an A*. There's much more to oral French than learning off by heart!

Beknowles has very sensible advice: make sure you understand what you're trying to learn; focus on key words; and make sure you can express the gist of what you need to say, rather than word-for-word. You'll find the oral a lot less stressful if you're not panicking about being word-perfect.

And don't forget that the oral is also about interaction - you have to be able to respond appropriately to the examiner, which means that you need to understand what he/she says and engage in a conversation. Marks are also awarded for initiative, which means that if you want an A* you need to take control of the conversation and maybe ask the examiner a few questions!

Reply 5

EGcse98

Thanks guys, that really helped :smile:

Reply 6

PensAndPaper

Original post by EGcse98

Hi, I have 500 words of French to learn, any ideas on how to learn it easily? Writing it out isn't working for me...

Cheers.

I used to write out a paragraph at a time and firstly learn it off by heart in english. Then in french. I would do this by learning a sentence saying it out loud then the second sentence, and then put the first and second together and say it that way. Do this repeatedly.
This got me A*s throughout. It can just be quite tedious !

Reply 7

beyknowles

Original post by Anna Schoon

Original post by EGcse98

Thanks guys, that really helped :smile:

OP I presume you are at GCSE level?

At GCSE level, we are actually, well I was and I know other schools were, told we had to learn our French pieces to get a good mark. My teacher actually tested us over the period of a week to make sure we could remember it all (3 minutes worth of speaking, about 6 questions).

But when you get to A-Level, if you do French, it'll be a lot different then!! :wink:

Reply 8

Anna Schoon

Original post by beyknowles

At GCSE level, we are actually, well I was and I know other schools were, told we had to learn our French pieces to get a good mark. My teacher actually tested us over the period of a week to make sure we could remember it all (3 minutes worth of speaking, about 6 questions).

You're right; a lot of teachers recommend learning by heart at GCSE because it's a lot easier for them than actually trying to teach the stuff. Not that I blame the teachers for that, don't get me wrong - they want their students to get good grades and if learning stuff by heart works, then that's OK. But it shows that Modern Languages GCSEs are not fit for purpose - the purpose being, of course, communication and interaction in a foreign language.

Original post by beyknowles

But when you get to A-Level, if you do French, it'll be a lot different then!! :wink:

Absolutely. Thank Heaven for that! But it does mean that the step up from GSCE to AS is enormous, as loads and loads of students on this forum will agree.