!! FRENCH - predictions, guesses and discussion.

With that broad a range, not that hard to get at least one or two near the mark!

Has anyone got notes on water charges?

Hi all,

Posted here a fair bit last year. French teacher and examiner here.

I understand people's desire to predict topics that may appear but it concerns me that some of you may not be accurately watching the trends on the paper. 2014 in particular was a very important year for that.

The SEC is very anxious to avoid predictability and also to reward full engagement with the syllabus, in other words mastering a broad vocabulary and displaying the flexibility necessary to answer the actual question posed. Think about last year's written question on banning smoking. It was in fact a question about the merits of banning as opposed to an opportunity to rattle off a learned off essay full of smoking vocab. I can tell you that there was carnage on that question last year because very few candidates actually answered the question, i.e. is banning the only solution. Also, consider last year's lovely question on sport. Candidates were asked two things: talk about a sport you play and a 'sportif irlandais/sportive irlandaise' that you admire. The amount of people who didn't know the word 'sportif' at LC higher level and thus failed to address half of the question was high. Again, too much of a focus on looking to get away with a learned off essay and the SEC is now trying to deter that.

With regard to the issues coming up here: terrorism/Charlie Hebdo and le mariage pour tous (which is what it is known as in France), I will be stunned if either appears in direct form - based on what I understand to be the current trend. Charlie Hebdo is a highly controversial subject. Seriously, there are many Muslim students in our schools who genuinely take umbrage at satirising their prophet. We (the majority) may take a diametrically opposed view and in any case there is no excuse for mass murder, but the SEC is not out to cause that level of controversy. Think about a question where you could bring it in - albeit in passing. I think a question, similar to last year's one on sport, on the general topic of reading might be a possibility. The stimulus might include the term 'les bandes dessinées' allowing you a chance to mention Charlie. But do a Charlie Hebdo/terror essay in response to your reading habits and you're dead:)

On le mariage pour tous, women's equality came up last year so I would be surprised if equality came up two years in a row. Either way, just bear in mind that the SEC doesn't particularly want the head of the Mosque or Breda O'Brien on Liveline talking about students being 'forced' to write against their conscience. Now, I could be wrong, but look at the trend and it's towards questions that elicit a targeted rather than a learned off response.