Preparing for the IB SL French Exam

[The Hungry Hippo]

Hey,

I've just joined the forums here.... And I wanted to ask for some suggestions on preparing for the IB French exam. I'm doing it as a one year SL course because I wanted to get an extra elective for my senior year in school. My teacher just gives us work, and doesn't really teach us French, and I wanted to know if there was any way to improve myself in pronouncing and writing french? I'm currently at like level 3 when it comes to French, and I want to know what I could do to improve myself by the time I have to take the oral and then the actual exam. Thanks in advance

[Emmi]

Lots of practice.

No matter what language you take, in order to get good at it, you need to practice with it. To improve your pronunciation/speaking, listen to French. You can listen to French songs (it can be modern songs in any genre you like) in order to get a feel of how things are pronounced, the natural speed of the language, and things like that. You'll also improve your vocabulary, as you'll pick up words while doing that. You can also watch movies or TV in French as well. To improve your writing, do a bunch of practice writings. Work on some past essay topics (past papers work well) and have someone who is good at French grade it. You'll learn your mistakes, practice writing, and hopefully improve. You've got plenty of time to improve. Good luck

[by.andrew]

If you're at a level 3 right now, I think it would be better for you to focus on the fundamentals. Learn more vocabulary and grammar rules so that your sentences are making coherent sense. Try to focus on the mechanics of writing because that is where you'll be getting the majority of your marks.

Otherwise, I would focus a lot on the content of what you say and write because the newer French exams and assignments give a ton of marks for just having good content. You're learning a Group 2 language to get a multi-cultural view of the world so incorporate statements that the examiners want to here.

Edited September 27, 2013 by by.andrew

[iblyf]

I would have to agree with everyone here- IB French (like anything) is all about practice, practice, practice. Get your hands on as many past papers as you can. The best thing you can do is to immerse yourself in the French language- once you feel confident enough, try out French News, but be careful not to listen too early as you can feel demoralised as they talk super fast! I would recommend searching Spongebob (Bob L'Eponge in French) and The Simpsons (Les Simpsons) in French on Youtube. I find them to be achievable(ish). The more you hear French, the better your speaking and listening will become.

With reading, check out Le Monde online and Le Parisien- I just came out of my French trial exam (I have the real one in 5 weeks) and they take articles from real French magazines and websites that have been written for French people to read (so some can be pretty complex), so the best thing you can do to prepare for Paper 1 is to read real articles that haven't been designed for French students, but for the general French public. It's also important to read actively. Think about not only what the article is saying, but what it means. Imagine the sorts of comprehension questions you could be asked about that article.

[Captain Jeeves]

Here is a link you may find useful. Scroll down to French, there's a link that leads to nightly French news spoken slowly so you can improve your comprehension. Once you get good at understanding these, normally spoken French will seem a lot easier. I have hearing aids so I have a lot of difficulty understanding what's being said, and this helped me out quite a bit!