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French Document
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26-03-2008 2:56pm#1
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Bad idea! No matter how good you are at French, there's still a possibility your examiner could ask something very obscure that you'll get stuck on. In my opinion, you have to either be really cocky or really stupid (or both) NOT to take a document. It's something you can work on yourself, you can pretty much anticipate every question you'll be asked and, most importantly, it will all be on your terms. The document really gives you a chance to show how much advance preparation you've done. Do it well and the examiner will appreciate how hard you've worked at it and give you good marks. I would have been petrified in there without my document. And I was pretty good at French!!!The Walsho wrote:If vocab isn't a problem for you, you could just not bring in a document?
Another bad idea, to be honest. This might work at Ordinary Level, but this is way too simplistic for Higher Level. Chances are the whole friends/family thing will have been covered before the question of the document even comes up. The examiner might ask you one question, and then could go on to a difficult topic, leaving you cut adrift.bUILDERtHEboB wrote:Just bring in a picture of friends or family?
Best thing to do I would say is to bring in an image or a newspaper article (in French! duh!) relating to current events. For my Oral last year, I brought in images of Saddam Hussein's execution. I had vocab prepared about the War in Iraq and the arguments for/against the death penalty. I was able to talk about an abstaract topic while knowing exactly what the questions would be. This is something you can't do without a document.
Alternatively, if by any chance OP you're interested in art, you could bring a famous painting. If you're into photography, bring some photos that you took yourself (scenery, landscapes, etc.) That way, the examiner gets to know more about you better and that could score you some extra marks.
That's my advice anywya. Hopefully you were able to extract something helpful from that waffle!!!
:D 0 -
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Fibonacci23 wrote: »oh god. :eek: I'm bringing a picture of me at a dressage competition?!!!
Not exactly current affairs.....
(I've got the olympics, le dopage, and hunting prepared as kind of "topics")
Plus alot of stuff about how it originated in France??
AH! should i change it?!
No, that sounds ok!! If dressage is something you're passionate about you should be able to talk quite a bit about it.
You could try slip in a reference to the Olympics and then steer the conversation towards "le dopage". I doubt you'll be asked on hunting though! You have to figure out a way to subtley (can't spell that word!) introduce it.
If dressage originated in France, That's perfect! All the examiners really wanna hear is how great French is and how much you love France!!
If you get really really stuck, any question can be answered with:
"Oui. Mais je prefere le francais!!!":D:D 0 -
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Something to do with Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni would be topical? Bring in the contraversial Carla Bruni photo
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http://www.mirror.co.uk/showbiz/latest/2008/03/26/carla-bruni-sarkozy-angry-over-naked-picture-publication-89520-20363095/0 -
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I'm not bringing in a document.
I've talked to my friends and family about it. Apperantly, it's not a guranteed sinch, as all recommended not bringing one in.
I'm not prepared (lazy as it may seem) to concentrate on studying for an image, only for the examiner to ask me something obscure and intricate; and therefore put my time studying that said topic to waste. I've too much going on for that to be honest.
Also, the person who said it shows that you took time to prepare your document is talking out of their arse to be honest :P Many go in seeing it as a great time waster. Examiners weren't born yesterday
The easiest things in ANY exam, are the ones marked the hardest! Taking in an obsure document will prove better, but, harder to prepare for.
Meh, just giving my €1 here >_0 You don't 'have' to bring one in. It's an option for a reason, i.e. you can get just as good marks without it, as with.
I also have prepared drugs, alcohol, pressure of fashion etc. which I've implemented into my conversation. I don't want to burn up my resources in the first 3 mins. now do I? :P0 -
Chances are something obscure and intricate is gonna come up anyway, if you're a good student. If it's without a document, they could literally ask you about anything!I'm not prepared (lazy as it may seem) to concentrate on studying for an image, only for the examiner to ask me something obscure and intricate; and therefore put my time studying that said topic to waste. I've too much going on for that to be honest.
I got an A2 in HL (and would have got an A1 if I'd done a better written paper). When you get you're A1 then you can tell me I'm talking out of my arse.Ino112 wrote:Also, the person who said it shows that you took time to prepare your document is talking out of their arse to be honest :P
And those people fall flat on their arse. Obviously a document is only good if it's prepared: if you're too lazy to prepare one then it's better to go in without it and take your chances. I would just assume any serious student would take the time to prepare one.Ino112 wrote:Many go in seeing it as a great time waster.
Examiners weren't born yesterday
You're right - examiners weren't born yesterday. Therefore don't you think they'll be able to tell the difference between a student who brings in a poorly prepared document that they can't answer anything on, and a student with a well prepared document that they can answer questions on.
The document is NOT the easiest thing in the oral. Family / School / Pasttimes etc. are all much simpler.And while it is tough to prepare a good document on an obscure topic. But I feel it's worth it for the extra security you'll have.Ino112 wrote:The easiest things in ANY exam, are the ones marked the hardest! Taking in an obsure document will prove better, but, harder to prepare for.
Obviously you don't have to, but unless you're fluent at French, I don't understand why you wouldn't. I'm just giving my opinion as well. If you feel comfortable without one, then good luck to you!Ino112 wrote:Meh, just giving my €1 here >_0 You don't 'have' to bring one in. It's an option for a reason, i.e. you can get just as good marks without it, as with.
Well that all sounds great. Good luck with it. I just hope you actually do get asked on those things, because there's a lot of other stuff an examiner can ask you. And you can only say "Ce ne m'interesse pas" once!!Ino112 wrote:I also have prepared drugs, alcohol, pressure of fashion etc. which I've implemented into my conversation. I don't want to burn up my resources in the first 3 mins. now do I? :P0 -
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Please quote me where I actually said that. That's true to a certain extent, but it's also partly just beating the system. I wasn't terrific at spoken French, and I probably couldn't have a normal conversation in everyday life. But by knowing the Oral format you can get through it comfortably without being a brilliant speaker. That's true in every exam, really!square_igloo, I'm sorry but that's complete rubbish.
At one point, you are saying that it's a test of your grasp at the language,
Like I said before, that line is typically used as a get out of jail card. I think using it twice or more would be pushing it.I completely agree with you that it's better to say that than to bluff your way through, but reallistically you can't expect terrific marks if you over-use it. The examiner won't be impressed if you respond with "Ce ne m'interesse pas" 3 times!!Ino112 wrote:yet on the other, you are saying you can only say 'I don't know/I'm not inerested' once? That's sort of a contradiction and in no way true. What if you are asked something en francais that you couldn't even answer in english?
I'm not saying you are allowed to over-use the line, of course not. But I think it is wiser to tell people to admit to the examiner if they don't understand, still NOT losing any marks, and saving the examiner time and bother instead of hearing an answer for a min. which doesn't even relate to the question at all.
I said it in such a manner because you said I was "talking out of my arse". That's not disagreeing with me, that's telling me that I'm wrong. There's a big difference.Ino112 wrote:Well, you say you got an A2. Well done, but if you think that makes your answers better than mine (which is why I think you stated it in such a manner) you are wrong :P..
I have no problem with you disagreeing with me, but having a different opinion does not make you right and me wrong.
Oh and I've been through the Oral, so while I don't think my answers are better than yours, I certainly think I have more experience to base my answers on.
Look, I'm only trying to give helpful advice. If you don't want to take it, don't. Whatever way you do your Oral, I hope you get on well I would just appreciate you not denouncing my replies as "complete rubbish". 0 -
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Hmm, I think I might have been a bit rude earlier. Sorry for that
My point was that just because one does not bring in a document, doesn't mean they aren't that well prepared. I was trying to remove the stigma from it.
My point is, I'm not willing to take that risk. Only time shall tell I suppose?
Good luck to all sitting their orals!
Edit: btw, I wasn't saying bringing in a document was a bad impression to make. Quite the opposite in fact; but since this is a common conception, many students bring in documents and it may back-fire on them due to the range of questions asked.
Like I said bfore, it's an option, therefore implying equal marks can be earned in both ways. It just depends whether you need visual stimulus to talk comfortably, or whether you can map the conversation to your liking. Also, it counts on the examiner..0 -
You can look at the french oral two ways
You can look at it in the idealistic way where you wan't to be able to speak fluent frenach and have no problem talking about anything
Or you can look at it in a more realistic way and see it as a 15 minute memory test to get points in get into college and one of the easiest ways to do this is with a document
People need to get their piorities straight
And listen to Square Igloo!! I wen't to school with him and he was a-ma-zing at french0 -
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Hmmm...it's hard to say. They'd all be excellent documents if you have the right vocab and you get the right questions...there's always the danger that something more obscure could creep in.rower 4 life wrote: »ya i am a rower but its such a hard thing to talk about. and im kinda thinkin of doing sumat along these lines
. pic of a fattie ... obesity
. pic of french athelit... olypic's sport and all that
. road accident...boy racers saftey the double d
square igloo what would u do???????
For sport, you'd need Le Dopage. You'd also wanna talk a bit about who the athlete is, especially if they're French. And be prerpared to talk about sport in general quite a bit, since you've brought in a sport-related document the examiner will assume you're interested in it. There's a lot in that document. The difficulty is you might be asked something like the whole China/Tibet thing, and whether China should be allowed host the Olympics (It's very unlikely this would occur, but you might get a tricky Examiner)
The obesity thing would require: How and Why people become obese, the dangers involved, ways to combat obesity (Sport again!:)) and maybe a bit about how obesity is portrayed in the media. Similarly,if you wanted to, you could bring in a pic of a size-zero model, talk about media pressure etc.
The road safety one could be a good one aswell. (If you know the French for "Boy Racers", and "souped-up" etc.) You might need to prepare a bt about the Road Safety Authority and ways of combatting car accidents.
Have you spoken to your teacher about this? He/She would know a lot more than me!!:D And they'd probably be able to tell you which one of those three would be easiest/most difficult.0 -
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I was planning on not doing a document, and my teacher told me I didn't really need to do one, but then when I was reading my revision book it said it a) strongly advised a student to prepare one and b) that students with documents were proven to get higher results.
Because of that, I'm taking a picture of myself and some friends in Monaco in. It's not topical, it's not Carla Bruni with her baps out, but it's fine and it'll get me talking about travel and the benefits of travel to adolescents, or that's the hope.
You don't have to show off with a fancy-pants document, as long as you prepare it. I'm working on mine now and my oral's on Thursday.
Not having done a French oral yet I can't speak from personal experience, but it makes sense to bring in something you can fall back on, something you have vocab on, and something that can add on five minutes of pretty good French to your conversation.
ps Peleus you suck 0
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