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struggling with A level French

so im in my first year of a level French. I love the subject and the language but my teacher is pretty poor. I have tried my best to cooperate with her lessons but none of them have been decent or useful. I really want to get an A in French but at the moment im falling behind and need some inspo. is anyone doing AQA French a level and can give me tips on revision etc??? any help would be appreciated :smile:

Reply 1

umbrellala

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by jessieglover8

I'm not doing A Level French, nor have I studied French (at least not since I was about 10yrs old) but I am studying a language at university so I might be of some help. What exactly are you looking for advice on? Revision techniques?

Reply 2

jessieglover8

hi! thank you for replying. I am sorry I am only just getting back to you! im looking for advice on learning and remembering grammatical structures and tips for listening (I find this the hardest area in assessment)

Original post by umbrellala

Reply 3

username4310824

For remembering the grammar the best thing to do is to just practice. When I was doing A-level French I used this textbook a lot and I found the exercises in it really useful.

Having a good range of vocabulary will help you in all aspects of the exam. I used pre-made French vocabulary sets on Quizlet and Memrise and tried to learn as much vocabulary as I could in the months leading up to the exam. The listening exams became so much easier as I wasn't having to guess a lot anymore as I already knew most of the words.

Just generally listening to French can help a lot too. I used to watch kids TV shows in French to practice my listening as they didn't speak too fast and the vocabulary wasn't too complex. You can find a lot of them on Youtube.

I found this website really useful too. Especially the ''1jour1actu'' section where you can practice your listening. Again it's for kids so it's not too complex :redface:

Make sure you're keeping up to date with French current events too! You'll get a lot of extra marks in the speaking exam if you can give accurate cultural examples. For example, if you were to get a card on politics you could mention the Yellow Vest protests.

Good luck!

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 4

umbrellala

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by jessieglover8

That's okay! The best thing you can do for grammar, as mentioned above, is practise. Once you've understood the concept, just work through as many exercises as you can get your hands on until it's solidified. I'm not sure what kind of homework you get set, but if you're given writing tasks then try to put it to use without the guidance of textbook questions and see whether you're getting them right. If not, go back to the concepts again, but if you do then you've pretty much mastered it. Then it's just a case of maintaining your knowledge.

As for listening, vocab is 100% the most important thing. I like to make mind-maps on each topic of related vocab that could come up. Doing any sort of listening practice, whether on the topic of your exam or not, will get your brain used to picking up words and focusing on the most important parts of conversations. A lot of textbooks come with CDs so you could use them, or listen to youtube videos/podcasts etc. It's even better if you can find resources that have a transcript too. Unfortunately I don't have any French ones to recommend but I'm sure there are plenty considering how popular it is :smile:

Reply 5

arice1820

I was in a similar position in first year A Level, I really loved French but didn't really feel like I was getting anywhere despite working hard. Now obviously this next bit depends on loads of factors in your life, but for me the absolute BEST thing for my language was going to France for 2 months in the summer holidays between year 12 and year 13 as an Au-Pair. It was a bit scary to take that plunge, but I lived with a lovely family in a gorgeous part of the south of France and spoke ONLY French for 2 months. Even though it was a struggle at times to speak only French, in those two months I went from being okay-ish at French to pretty much being able to hold my own in any conversation and I cannot stress how much easier it has made year 13. Obviously it is a big thing to do, but I would definitely recommend you at least consider it, I had an absolutely amazing time and am now on track to get an A in French - good luck with whatever you choose to do!

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 6

mimimoomoo7

hi! i have my speaking exam next week and i was literally in the same position as you, i was getting E's and below but i found it much easier when i made flashcards to remember things, especially grammar points. also, creating sentences using complex structures such as si structures etc helped. in terms of vocabulary, one girl in my class made quizzes for almost all of the topics on memrise for year 1 and 2 and they're really useful so i could give you the link if you want? when it comes to listening, doing listenings on exampro or even doing the ones in the textbook (online on kerboodle) helped me the most though because i have bad hearing in one ear so its good to get used to the summary style questions or multiple choice. it also helps to write out what's being said to make a sort of transcript. overall, it could help to do past papers too! another useful tip is to get used to French, even if it's just by listening to music or reading things such as articles in french, try and immerse yourself! i often have moments where i completely think in French now lol. AQA have been the bane of my existence for the past 2 years so i hope this helps!
good luck and don't panic!!

Original post by jessieglover8