Moins de neige – French Oral Preparation
With the thaw comes the stark reality that the holidays are definitely over. Remember its 12 weeks to the French orals…..starting the week of Monday 12th April. The oral exam is 25% of the marks in higher level French. So let’s knuckle down folks!
You will be asked questions in the past, present and future tenses.
So make sure you understand the tense of the question and make sure to reply in the same tense. See can you reply to the following simple questions.
Qu’est-ce que vous avez fait pendant les vacances?
Ou etes vous né?
Qu’est-ce que vous aimez faire comme passe-temps?
Comment allez-vous à l’école chaque jour?
Qu’est-ce que vous allez faire apres les examens?
So obviously for the past tense the examine will be checking that you used j’ai and not je suis where appropriate.
A common mistake often mentioned by oral examiners is that in the rush to get an answer out the student often forgets (sometimes intentionally…!) to conjugate the verb….
Je jouer du piano => je joue du piano
A good way of preparing for the oral is to imagine a simple conversation along to lines of
- what you did
- what you do/like doing
- what you plan to do
Then write out a batch of questions in english (careful to note the tense) and try and verbally answer them in French.
Why did you chose this photograph ? Pourquoi vouz-avez choisi cette photograph?
Where do you live ? Ou est-ce que vouz habitez?
What do you like doing at the weekend ? Qu’est-ce que vouz aimez faire le weekend ?
Which is your favourite subject ? Qelle est votre matière préférée ?
Did you go away on holidays recently ? Est-ce que vous êtes allé en vacances récemment?
Who went with you abroad ? Qui est allé avec vous à l’étranger?
That should get the brain cells flowing for the moment.
How did you get on yesterday with your documents? I’ve had a few crazy suggestions from students but remember, in the end you must be able to talk about the subject (in any language) and particularly in French….
Let me know if you have any queries on the suggestions above – just instant message me in the box on the right hand side of this page —->
A demain.
hey how are you, I’m wondering what would be suitable to bring into the exam as a document.. ive no idea
HELLLP please
Basically the document is there to kick-start a conversation.
You may have been a few minutes into the oral talking about general introduction, who you are, where you live, you rfamily, school, what you like doing in your spare time…those type of questions.
After this the examiner will ask you about the document.
So simple questions to start :
(do them in English first! This may sound obvious, but make sure it’s clear in your head in English…).
Say for example you have a photograph of a wedding you were at recently and you were bridesmaid…..
who is in the photograph ?
where/when was it taken ?
J’ai été demoiselle d’honneur au mariage de ma tante.
why did she chose you ?
What did you have to do as bridesmaid before the wedding…?
Did you organise a hen party ? soirée pour enterrer une vie de jeunne fille
Was there music ? a band ? How many people were at the wedding? (Combien de personnes ?)
Where did they go on their honeymoon ? partir en voyage de noces …?
This part of the conversation may only last 3-4 minutes but it’s your opportunity to shine and display your pronunciation and vocabulary and pick up some easy marks. Make sure you have learned off any words surrounding the topic of weddings – its not something you probably studied in class…
So for this you will need to understand the start of the question : who/where/why….
Check out the blog post on : http://frenchgrinds.ie/BLOG/moins-de-neige-french-oral-preparation/ for this …
If you want to try getting your answers together in french I’d be happy to correct them if you need help
best of luck,
Brendan