Past Papers for French A Level 2018

Struggling as I usually revise by doing past papers, but we're obviously doing a new spec this year so there is only one specimen paper for French A Level!! Any advice on where I could practice listening and reading for this years spec?? Thanks

Speaking as a French teacher, let me reassure you that any practice you get with listening and reading will help. So if you use the past papers using the old specification, you will still benefit enormously. The main change in the new A levels as far as listening and reading are concerned is the summary which is now required - for practice, you can simply summarise the texts from previous past papers and ask your teacher to look through it to see how you've done.

Okay, thank you so much for replying! I will do this. Do you know the AQA spec for this year? Because I did not know about the summary! Also, with the coursework that we do for AQA, how much input do you think my teacher should be giving? Because I thought that we were meant to have lesson time on coursework and that our teacher could give us advice on the question, however my teacher is refusing to give us ANY help Really freaking about French, my teacher hasn't really taught me anything, we just do book work.
Thanks so much

This page - and navigation around the website - will tell you all you need to know about the specification: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/as-and-a-level/french-7652/scheme-of-assessment

Technically, of course, your teacher is right that the Independent Research Project is, indeed, very much student-based. The page I've linked you to tells you exactly what your teacher can and cannot do to help you (Part two of the Speaking section).

Okay, thanks ever so much for finding that for me! That's really helpful, as my teacher seems to be under the impression that she can't even know what our titles are. Would you mind explaining the summary that you referred to earlier please, because I'm not sure what that means! Thank you!

This is what it says on the website:

Listening; For one question students will need to summarise in French what they have understood from the passage they have heard and marks will be awarded for the quality of French used. Students must write in full sentences and use their own words as far as possible in this question.

Reading (exactly the same as Listening!) : For one question students will need to summarise in French what they have understood from the stimulus text they have read and marks will be awarded for the quality of French used. Students must write in full sentences and use their own words as far as possible in this question.

This needs a lot of practice as summary is not something that is taught anymore at English GCSE, so most students struggle with the actual activity of summarising, let alone doing it in French.

Below is a "method sheet" I use; hopefully it will help you:




1. Lisez / écoutez le texte dans sa totalité, plusieurs fois si nécessaire pour bien comprendre de quoi il s’agit.

2. Pendant cette lecture, soulignez (ou surlignez) les mots clés. Ce seront principalement des noms. Pour un texte écouté, vous noterez les mots clés en écoutant.

3. Écrivez une phrase sur le thème principal du texte : imaginez que vous devez expliquer le texte par un texto à un ami. Cette étape vous permettra de mieux vous focaliser sur l’essentiel.

4. Ensuite, en utilisant les mots clés soulignés dans le texte, dégagez les parties principales du développement du texte. Faites le lien (par des mots de liaison, par exemple : mais, donc, en plus…) avec le thème principal.

5. Écrivez une phrase pour expliquer la conclusion du texte.

6. Organisez vos notes dans un ordre logique. Cet ordre ne sera pas forcément le même que dans le texte.

7. Maintenant vous pouvez rédiger votre résumé. Commencez toujours en annonçant le thème ; ensuite vous ferez le développement ; ensuite vous écrirez la conclusion.



Notes :

Ne reprenez pas des exemples utilisés dans le texte.

Évitez les adjectifs, sauf si ceux-ci sont essentiels pour la bonne compréhension du texte ou pour arriver à la conclusion.