Friday 17 February 2012

Exam dates 2012

Tuesday 1st May S Grade Spanish

Thursday 10th May S Grade French

Thursday 24th May Higher and Inter 2 French

Friday 1st June Higher and Inter 2 Spanish

Standard Grade Revision - French

The worst thing you can do is not revise or leave everything until the last minute. Give yourself a chance to build up and consolidate your knowledge. There are lots of things you can do at home to prepare for exams.

1.Learn and revise vocabulary thoroughly.
Unavoidable, but think of it as a part of your routine and not a chore. Spend around 10 minutes a day on a manageable topic/chunk of vocabulary. It is a straightforward task and can help you ‘change gear’ between two longer pieces of homework.

2.Vocab revision need not be boring
There are lots of resources where you can learn French in an interactive way and these sites are not just for younger pupils. Your teacher has a list of useful sites and some are linked to in previous posts.

You can also team up with a friend and test each other out – memory games, compete with each other. Share what works for you with others in your class.

You could use techniques such as Mind Mapping, or anything else that has worked for you in other subjects.

The key is finding the correct balance for you.

3.Don’t forget your S3 work.
Vocabulary from S3 can come up too. Locate your materials and review your work. Copies of your booklets are available online. There are TEN topic areas in all and you come across other frequently occurring vocabulary when you do past papers.

4.Listening
These papers usually contain less complicated language but words sound different to what you would expect. Try to listen to French while reading what you hear in French. This helps you get used to how the language sounds. You could use
- past papers on the SQA site (once you have done them in class). Start with the Foundation papers, read the transcripts (text versions of what you hear) while listening to the MP3 file.
- sites for French learners like BBC sites like The French Experience AND Ma France
- sites aimed at school pupils e.g. The Ashcombe School

5.Reading
Although you have a dictionary for this exam, you should ensure that you don’t waste time looking for vocabulary you should be familiar with. Revise your vocabulary!

You can also review essential grammar at home as this will help you with how to word your answers (e.g. knowing the difference between the past, the present and the future.) There are online resources to help you e.g. Languages Online (also good for vocab).

Thursday 19 January 2012

Spanish

Some resources to be getting on with, particularly for S3 Spanish.

You can access on online copy of your vocab sheet here. You can also access other useful vocab lists.

Atantot has some really useful exercises.

Learn Spanish

I'll update this list as and when I come across sites.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Revision S4 (and S1)

S4 are only two weeks away from prelims. Remember that some of them, French Listening included, will take place before official exam leave. Click on the label SG Revision for tips and links to revision sites. However, I do expect that you should already be revising a little each evening - don't forget all your previous hard work! Your vocab booklets should help and, should you have lost yours, try

Green book.

Red book.

In each case you will need to supplement this with work you have done in class and vocab that you have encountered in past papers.

Don't forget to click on the label SG revision for many more hints, tips and places to revise.

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S1
: if you have lost your copy of the vocab the Blue book is what you are looking for.

Friday 14 October 2011

A few reminders

S3 Spanish: You have a written folio piece to learn by heart and complete on Monday 24th October. This was prepared and, if not corrected in class, you were asked to leave it to be corrected and collected by the end of Thursday 13th October.

S2 French You have Reading and Listening to prepare for. This is on module 5 and covers everything we have gone over so far. 2X1 should be ready for Tuesday 25th October and 2Y4 will do theirs on Thursday 27th October.

H and Intermediate 2 French Language NABs in Reading and Listening from Wednesday 26th October.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Exam dates 2011

Good luck to all candidates for all of your exams. Continued revision and practice will help you approach the exams with confidence. You might also find guides like BBC Scotland Revision Tips useful.

Exam Dates

Standard Grade French - Wednesday 11th May

Standard Grade Spanish - Wednesday 25th May

Higher and Intermediate 2 French - Tuesday 17th May

Higher and Intermediate 2 Spanish - Thursday 2nd June

Wednesday 30 March 2011

Standard Grade Revision

This should be well underway. You have worked hard for Speaking assessments and to complete Writing folios, so make sure that it doesn't all go to waste. The exams for French will take place on the 11th May 2011. It might seem like a long way off but, in fact, exam leave will be here before you know it!

You will need time to identify what you need to do most urgently and plan accordingly. This is best done as soon as possible.

Look over your work from S3 and S4 and use the vocabulary sheets we provided. Some of your revision time should be chunked up for vocabulary learning - the 'little and often' approach usually works best but you should know what works best for you by now. You also need to practise Reading tasks and ensure that your dictionary skills are up to scratch.

I have already made a list of recommended sites but feel free to tell me about any more you come across.


A few pointers for Listening

Pupils are often unsure as to how to prepare for this element and find these tasks hardest to do well in. The vocabulary isn't necessarily more difficult, but it can sound a lot different to what you might expect.

There are things you can do.