GCSE French

One thing to do with the mark scheme is look at the specific structures that will get you a top grade for example putting in one pluperfect “I had eaten” you might not have learnt this yet or ever be taught it but if you can learn a simple phrase you could put into most things I had enjoyed it so i did this and things like that. Also learning Vocab is like 90% of it at GSCE just create lists of words and learn them because if it was in a translation then it would be the kind of thing they would expect you to know even if the Vocab is a bit wild (which they often are) listening is defo the hardest but if you can find videos online with french subtitles in french (instead of English subtitles) even if you don’t understand it all you will get better. With speaking what I did (though I didn’t do french I did German) was sometimes just narrate basic things I was doing in my head in the language because it makes you practise your basic grammar and if you have that down then you won’t loose so many marks on speaking - for the Flashcards basically go thru ur topics and think of questions they could ask like do you think phones should be allowed in school and learn rough answers because the variation of questions shouldn’t been that big. And also the talking to yourself helps for photo cards because that’s just essentially describing a picture (even though it makes me sound like a mad person it works because it’s not like I had a German person to talk to 😂)

Thanks so much for this. Our teacher taught us once about the pluperfect but I’ve never really used it in exams. What is the best way to learn vocab because I feel like I’ve tried everything from duolingo, quizlet, memrise, flash cards and it’s just not sticking. Some things will stick, for example “tombler” is to fall because it sounds like “tumble”, but most just doesn’t stick, especially nouns. I also find it extremely hard to experiment with vocabulary because I feel like I’ll get the gender wrong, which limits what I can say. Also thanks for explaining what people do with the flash cards for speaking-that makes a lot of sense, only I’m unsure where I’d even start finding a list of things which could come up on the general conversation. Thanks again for this!

I’m going into Year 11 next year and seem to be stuck on a grade 6 throughout year 10. I would like to get an 8 in French (if possible) but am unsure of how to do so. I know people in other schools prepare for the general conversation by making flash cards for responses but I have no idea how to go about doing so. I’d say I’m “okay” at writing, given that the writing structure our teacher has given us is very basic, I’m unsure how I’d achieve full marks. For example if I was writing 150 words about technology, social media, I’d write something like:
Quand on y reflechit on pourrait dire que le technology cela a de l’importance. En effet, je ne peut pas ignorer les reseaux sociaux et l’influence que cela a sur la plupart de gens. Personellement, j’adore les reseaux sociaux car je trouve que c’est fantastique. Par example cela permet de faire des recontres qu’on ne ferrait pas autrement. Mais mon pere, il n’est pas d’accord avec moi. Il dit que tout ne se passe pas toujours bien avec les reseaux sociaux car...

I have learnt these phrases for use in technology questions about advantages and disadvantages but am using the exact same structure, like at the start, “ when we think about it...indeed we cannot ignore... and the effect it has...personally...because I think that..for example...but my dad...because...”

I’m using (or trying) tenses in my answers across writing and reading and am still getting marked a 6. I feel unprepared to take the exam next year and am unsure how I can go about improving my grade. I’m predicted 8s-9s in all subjects.

My other problem is with reading. I know that I’m not expected to know the vocab and to look at the text, which I have been trying, but if there’s a whole section which i have no clue how to translate apart fro

m the odd “je” or est or verb, how can I answer questions on it.
For example in the AQA paper there was a question about food, and one was about the appropriate option for a vegetarian. There were foods I had never seen before in my life. I have no idea how to do it.

I’m also dreading the listening exam. It’s the one part of the exam we never covered last year. I already know my listening is poor as it is so easy to confuse words in French and I can’t translate word to word and remember it in my head because by the time I’ve translated a word in my head, the rest of the sentence is already finished.

Does anyone have any advice on how to approach this because I’m really struggling. Thanks!

Hello.

I'm studying GCSE French and going into Year 10 next year.

Writing:
The structure doesn't sound like a bad idea, but you have to remember that it won't always work for every topic. It also sounds a little bit forced (that might just be me though ) but it looks like you need to search for asome sentence starters and/or opinion phrases.
You could use adverbs (malheureusement = unfortunately) as a sentence starter. Opinions phrases (il me semble que, je trouve que, je crois que etc) are useful as well, but make sure you get some high level ones in too. Use Quizlet to look at some useful opinions and starters, it will help.

To make your writing really stand out, use a variety of tenses (explain later), but connectives and justifications are really important. Use more complex connectives (tandis que, pourtant etc) and really make your writing shine with original justifications (if a negative opinion for technology, talk about la cyber-intimidation, la fraude d'identité). You seem to be very good at this, however it just needs to flow a little more ; it doesn't sound as natural.

Tenses and grammar. There are the basic ones that are absolutely essential (present, perfect, imperfect etc) and to study these use a grammar book. To test yourself, use conjuegemos and you will practise forming verbs on the spot. Eventually, you will become a lot quicker and more efficient, it is difficult at first. If you genuinely want a grade 8/9, you have to sort the simple tenses out first before you get onto the complex. I would advice using 'si' clauses, with the conditional and imperfect (si je pouvais, j'irais.... (if I could, i would go)) and this could also be a perfect way to begin a sentence. You could also use 'ce que... c'est que' (ce que j'adore le plus, c'est que c'est utile = what I love the most is that it is useful). Once you are certain of the basics, move onto the complex tenses (pluperfect, subjunctive etc).

Final thing for writing, use idioms. 'Il pleut des cordes' means it's raining cats and dogs and can be great when saying 'je voulais sortir avec mes amis, cependant, il pleuvait des cordes'. Make sure you use them sparingly though and appropriately (some are a bit... weird ).

Reading:
Whoever told you that you're not supposed to know vocab? How are you supposed to answer questions and translate into English if you don't know half of the stuff it's talking about?

For vocab, Quizlet is again very useful. Memrise: the amount of times I have sat in an exam and thanked goodness that I spent hours on Memrise is unbelievable. It's a true blessing. Duolingo is good too. Download a vocab list from Pearson and condense everything you don't know into flashcards. CGP books are great to form new sentences and vocab that perhaps you would never know ; you said there were food products that you didn't know right? At the back of the book, there are lists of vocab for every topic: for food there's everything from l'ail to le veau.

Listening
Ahhh. The best thing here is just practise papers (which are useful for all aspects of the GCSE too ). But seriously, do a past paper and it doesn't matter if you get 0, just listen to how words are pronounced and mimic it. It sounds weird, but when you know how that word sounds you'll instantaneously recognise it. The one thing I'm thankful for is that throughout my French journey, I learnt vocab and listened to pronounciation. The other thing you could do is listen to French music or the French radio, but it's extremely quick and wouldn't recommend it until you are more confident. Otherwise, you'll get confused or stressed that you don't understand something, and it will not help your confidence.

I'm so sorry this is long lol and probably doesn't help much. However, don't give up and if you ever need advice, just PM me.

Other than that, bonne chance!

A good way to help listening is listener get to French music in your spare time or when you are travelling. Usually songs are a good way of remeber things so you will have a better grasp of the French pronunciation and be familiar with tenses and words.
Here are some French artists I recommend
⭐️ Indila
⭐️ LEJ
⭐️ Chilla
⭐️ L'algérino
Hope this helps

If you look up a list of past photo cards you can see where the convo could lead from but most of them are general like how important is healthy eating and is bullying a problem in schools but most textbook questions probably could be a start - the gender isn’t actually as important in marking unless it changes the meaning so le la is only a minor mistake in writing not a major one so I wouldn’t worry as much about that just try your best - word association is a good way for words that don’t sound the same sometimes you have to be creative to make connections but like difficult words I.e. ones you always get wrong I don’t know any french examples of this unfortunately- I really did it more for Latin than German - also I learnt my words through Quizlet and it took up a lot of time but it was also 90% of my revision for gcse German and I got a 9 and even for alevel just learning words slowly is 90% of my revision so it’s hard but it works I think quizlet it best especially the “learn” mode because it makes you learn it In both languages also just label things in your room with postet notes of the french or have a postet note of words you find hard on your wall with the translation so you see it everyday and eventually you will remember

A good way to help listening is listener get to French music in your spare time or when you are travelling. Usually songs are a good way of remeber things so you will have a better grasp of the French pronunciation and be familiar with tenses and words.
Here are some French artists I recommend
⭐️ Indila , Album-Mini World
⭐️ LEJ , Album- Poupée russes
⭐️ Chilla , Album-Mün
⭐️ L’algérino , Album-Internationale
Hope this helps

Merci beaucoup! This really helped.! I completely agree that using a structure like that seems forced. I’ve also been looking for sentence starters on quizlet but struggle to find any. I always use opinion phrases like “a mon Avis” or “je crois que”, but do you have any high level ones to use? Also do you have any more complex connectives or vocab I could use from quizlet?

For the reading, our teacher told us that examiners deliberatey put in difficult words that we’ve never heard of (more so in AQA) but though it’s still possible to translate and get the gist of the text to answer the question. But I think I need to revisit some basic Ks3 vocabulary.
I’ll definitely try Memrise, but what set do you use because the generic set for French seems like general conversation French and doesn’t help too much for GCSE? Also I’ll try listening to the past papers. Thanks again!