French A level

Hey there,

I just started Year 13 and to be honest I have lost all my motivation of it because of terrible teachers and because frankly I don't even like the subject. I am still struggling with imposter syndrome thinking that I'm not good enough at French. However, it is doable as I managed to just about scrape an A prediction. (not looking forward to my final exam though :|) It is quite good if you enjoy the language.

I would say that a good way to learn writing essays for your mocks to make loads of mindmaps on different kinds of questions that could come up on your book/film, including some nice phrases you might want to use / analysis you want to do. This way, you can try to write out the mindmaps over and over again from memory until it sticks in your head. This makes it a lot easier to lay out a well-structured essay and essentially regurgitate some high-level analysis without having to come up with it on the spot. Some people say that this is a poor way of writing essays, but my grammar is quite poor and spontaneity is quite difficult, so this works for me.

Unfortunately, I can't really help you with speaking as I am struggling with it myself since I barely got any time with our assistant, but as long as you keep up with vocab then you will be fine. Also, remember that nobody cares if you make a mistake / say something wrong. The point of speaking practice is that you try to form your ideas on the spot. This gets better with practice.

Quizlet is a good resource for just passively learning vocab when you have some spare time to get a better understanding of what you're learning.

Finally, don't worry about it too much for now. Do what you can but remember to take a break.

Hopefully this is of some help - if you have any more questions then I can answer them for you.

Thank you for all of your advice that’s super helpful! I think I’m generally just worried that if I don’t get a high grade in it it could lower my chances of studying something at uni. I’m not sure whether to take that risk.

Which Board are you sitting, Emma?

Something I would recommend would be that you have a good French dictionary and book on French grammar.

I'm doing a Postgrad and I use the following:

https://collins.co.uk/collections/french-dictionaries/products/9780007556526

https://www.routledge.com/French-Grammar-and-Usage/Hawkins-Towell/p/book/9781138851108

At your level, you might find this hepful:

https://shop.scholastic.co.uk/cheznous

I know that these things are quite expensive, perhaps your parents could help?

It's not actually as difficult as everyone makes it out to be. It's a lot more work, but as long as you keep on with your vocab then you'll be absolutely fine.

Heya! I ended up getting an A* in French, but I definitely didn't start out doing well... I got Ds all the way through my first term! But French is a skill-based subject, not a content-based subject, on the whole. That means that, unlike in science where it's more feasible to get an A in a particular topic, improvement in French is continuous across the 2 years.

To improve AND become more confident:
- learn vocab consistently , starting with vocab lists, then other words you don't know from the textbook, then from other sources if you have time!
- practice talking to yourself when you're on your own, about what you're doing or perhaps describing a picture! Getting used to the sounds of the language should help
- listen to music and podcasts in French, even if you don't understand a lot. Try to pick out works that you know
- read the news in French
- use an exam board workbook (if one exists for your exam board!) To practice translations
- lawless French blog can help you with grammar