Post Primary French teachers teaching in the mid to late 1990s

Jaygon2009

I'm trying to trace 2-3 circular letters concerning French which were issued by the DES Exam Branch in the late 1990's. They listed the roleplays for the Leaving Cert French Oral. The Roleplay was only an option on the exam in 1997 and 1998 (and possibly 1999 also) before being taken off altogether.

I have tried the DES and the SEC and can't seem to get copies of the roleplays/Circular Letters.

Are there any teachers who may still have them?

mtoutlemonde

Jaygon2009 wrote: »

I'm trying to trace 2-3 circular letters concerning French which were issued by the DES Exam Branch in the late 1990's. They listed the roleplays for the Leaving Cert French Oral. The Roleplay was only an option on the exam in 1997 and 1998 (and possibly 1999 also) before being taken off altogether.

I have tried the DES and the SEC and can't seem to get copies of the roleplays/Circular Letters.

Are there any teachers who may still have them?

There in the old (red) copy of Le Français Oral. (That's the role plays not the letters).

Jaygon2009

I had a look at the book but the ones that are outlined in the Role-play section/chapter seem to be generic samples/vocab building of role-plays that could come up (unless I'm reading it wrong). It also says in the introduction to that chapter that the DES will issue the actual role-plays to schools in due course etc.

Strangely enough, I can't even find a circular letter which states that the Role-play will not be an option after 1998.....

Jaygon2009

Still looking for this.....any French teachers remember it? There would probably have been inservice training on it around 1997/1998 also.

sitstill

I can't help with your request, but just wondering out of interest, why the role plays were taken off the French oral exam after such a short time?

teacherhead

We did a JC French oral.in school, doesn't seem to be an option now. Had role plays in IT too.

teacherhead

We did a JC French oral.in school, doesn't seem to be an option now. Had role plays in IT too.

RH149

The JC Oral in Modern Languages is still an option as far as I know but ASTI teachers don't do it as there's an 'assessing your own students' objection to it as outside oral examiners aren't brought in like at LC , so I don't think many schools do it. Not sure about TUI teachers though?

Jaygon2009

The JC Optional Oral came in for the Intercert in Modern Languages in 1985. This format continues to the present day. The ASTI has always had a directive in place that teachers would not assess their own pupils and thus not partake in this examination. This directive also applied to the Optional Oral in Gaeilge at JC. I believe this examination was first introduced in 1992 but I can't find any confirmation of this. Any Irish teachers remember?????

The TUI have a similar directive in place, (at least for Irish) though a conditional one : They allow the school-based examination to take place as long as certain specifications are met (Teacher remuneration, Adequate Training etc etc.)

The LC French Roleplay option was only ever introduced as a pilot two year project with the onset of the 1995 NCCA Leaving Certificate Syllabus in French. The idea was to bring French into line with the other Modern Languages at LC which had a roleplay option. I imagine that the general idea was that the option would continue post- 1998 although it seems to have been practically dropped overnight.
It was definitely an option for the oral exam in 1997 and 1998. I just can't find the list of topics and there seems to be no official record of them. 'Le Francais Oral' by Joseph Dunne gives a whole section to the roleplay option but these are general generic topics and not specific DES roleplays. The Chief Examiners Report for LC French in 1997 states that the topics for 1998 would be the same as those for 1997....but the report does not state the topics themselves.

evolving_doors

Could ASTI teachers swop with teachers from other schools to do the oral? Is that against the directive?

ejak1

Armelodie wrote: »

Could ASTI teachers swop with teachers from other schools to do the oral? Is that against the directive?

Yes it's ASTI policy Armelodie. All ad hoc Junior Cert orals are against the directive as the ASTIs position is that there is no monitoring of results/training nor is there payment for examiners. There is a thread on the same topic from some time back regarding the Irish orals. The directive is clear. ASTI members are not meant to make arrangements to carry out orals in any language at Junior cert level. This includes swopping teachers, hiring retired teachers or outsiders too.