!! FRENCH - predictions, guesses and discussion.

jennibrownxo

Terrorism, The environment (water charges), Racism and technology. We've been told to know those inside out for French! :P


Edit: Here's the 2014 thread if anyone wants to look over it:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057225739

Robcool2

Basically what the title says.
Is there any pattern in the exam papers showing that certain topics are due for the essays Q's (Q1 Q2,3,4)
In the 2015 LC?
Thanks

d1234

Irish water me thinks!
Maybe binge drinking too due to the neknominate saga last year!!

freckly

d1234 wrote: »

Irish water me thinks!
Maybe binge drinking too due to the neknominate saga last year!!

Total guesswork but I also think something on alcohol because of necknominate.

Maybe something about Facebook challenges in general.

Water

Emigration

Politics

They would be my gut feelings.

9de5q7tsr8u2im

Anyone think about the SSM? Suppose its politics.
Also war in france earlier this year?

IrishLoriii

For HL French for the written these are the topics Ive covered-
Marriage/Gay Marriage
Drugs
Importance of foreign languages
Violence in schools
Smoking
Relationships in families
Water charges
Gender Equality
The environement
Road Accidents
Emigration
Unemployment
Terrorism

Is there anything else that I should focus on??? Please help I'm hoping for a B or a high C

ThatsTheShtuff

The Environment (with theme of Water possibly)
Crime
Drug Problem in Ireland
The Habit of Drinking as Irish People
Racism, Gender Inequality
Terrorism (important to include something about Charlie Hebdo)

I'm in LC in a grind school in Dublin which shall remain unnamed (we all know),
and these are my teacher's predictions, she's pretty spot on every year :-)

randylonghorn

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

MegLC

I would think all of your guesses could be fairly right! I have literally no notes on crime or terrorism and cant find any either Would anyone be able to send them on? Thanks so much!

laurajulietb

These are my teachers predictions and she's pretty clued in:
Water Charges
Binge Drinking (Necknomination)
Ebola
Terrorism
Could possibly be Ice bucket challenge/ social networks
Maybe something on e-cigarettes (they love putting smoking on the paper)

*side note: 2013 she predicted all 8 questions down to the horse meat scandal so she's usually spot on

GaryL0904

Anyone have any good resources or notes on topics? I only have notes on water and terroism.

orangey24

Has anyone got notes on water charges?

AlfaJack

Does anyone know where I can find the aural tape for 2003 and 2002?
And also does anyone know of another websites where I can practice my French listening? I listen to french radio and cartoons but listening is what let me down in my mock so I really want to try to improve it!

OMGeary

Does anyone have any nice sentences in the subjunctive that you could slip into an essay ?

AlfaJack

OMGeary wrote: »

Does anyone have any nice sentences in the subjunctive that you could slip into an essay ?

Il est important que tout le monde fasse de son mieux pour résoudre ce problème.
Il est temps que le gouvernement agisse.
Il est important que tout le monde soit informé des dangers de....

OMGeary

AlfaJack wrote: »

Il est important que tout le monde fasse de son mieux pour résoudre ce problème.
Il est temps que le gouvernement agisse.
Il est important que tout le monde soit informé des dangers de....

Merci Beaucoup

FoxScientist

French: Probably some Recession, Obesity or Terrorism questions

Patsy6546

I'm thinking obesity and cyber bullying are both very topical subjects this year and maybe know some sport to mix in with obesity

Tet2015

Patsy6546 wrote: »

I'm thinking obesity and cyber bullying are both very topical subjects this year and maybe know some sport to mix in with obesity

Many people are making predictions on events that have occured this year, didn't they finish the making of the papers in 2014?

Patsy6546

Tet2015 wrote: »

Many people are making predictions on events that have occured this year, didn't they finish the making of the papers in 2014?

Yes they do but cyber bulling is still a huge thing amongst teenagers and so is obesity for the past few years

oktplz

Tet2015 wrote: »

Many people are making predictions on events that have occured this year, didn't they finish the making of the papers in 2014?

They try to focus on what will be a big event, for example The Gathering came up in 2013.

Does anyone see the MarRef coming up?

DarraghF197

oktplz wrote: »

Does anyone see the MarRef coming up?

I think a good question to come up is 'should young people vote?' or along those lines. It's only something recent, so the Commission might not bother change the exam.

orangey24

Has anyone got notes/vocabulary for marriage referendum they wouldn't mind sharing..

IrishLoriii

orangey24 wrote: »

Has anyone got notes/vocabulary for marriage referendum they wouldn't mind sharing..

My teacher thinks it could come up as a general marriage Q due to not lknowing the vote when the papers were printed but she said she thinks its more likely next year than this year but here ye go ( sorry no idea how to do accents but il try on this yoke!)

Il existe tous les pays dans toutes les cultures- It exists in all country and culture
On ne peut pas choisir avec qui on tombé amoureux- One cannot help who they fall in love with

Je suis d'accord avec les homosexuals étant authorises á se marier entre eux- I agree with homosexuals being aloud to marry each other

Ce n'est pas de nos affaires si deux personnes veulent se marier, n'importe quell sexe- Its none of our business if 2 people want to marry, regardless of sex

Si dieu a vraiment crée l'homme, il a également crée l'homme homosexual- If god truly created man then he created the homosexual man

Il faut changer les mentalities- Its necessary to change mentalitys.

Hope this helps :D

orangey24

IrishLoriii wrote: »

My teacher thinks it could come up as a general marriage Q due to not lknowing the vote when the papers were printed but she said she thinks its more likely next year than this year but here ye go ( sorry no idea how to do accents but il try on this yoke!)

Il existe tous les pays dans toutes les cultures- It exists in all country and culture
On ne peut pas choisir avec qui on tombé amoureux- One cannot help who they fall in love with

Je suis d'accord avec les homosexuals étant authorises á se marier entre eux- I agree with homosexuals being aloud to marry each other

Ce n'est pas de nos affaires si deux personnes veulent se marier, n'importe quell sexe- Its none of our business if 2 people want to marry, regardless of sex

Si dieu a vraiment crée l'homme, il a également crée l'homme homosexual- If god truly created man then he created the homosexual man

Il faut changer les mentalities- Its necessary to change mentalitys.

Hope this helps :D

Thank you so much

vamos!

I can't change them because I'm on my phone but there are missing or incorrect accents on quite a few words so be careful.

IrishLoriii

Does anyone have anything for terrorism?? I have the usual its a big problem etc etc but like nothing really SOLID...anyone??

me1289

Tet2015 wrote: »

Many people are making predictions on events that have occured this year, didn't they finish the making of the papers in 2014?

They can still change it. One year, horse meat came up on the paper and it had only happened in feb/mar, even though the papers were written in Oct/Nov

IrishLoriii

me1289 wrote: »

They can still change it. One year, horse meat came up on the paper and it had only happened in feb/mar, even though the papers were written in Oct/Nov

Do you think it was too late for them to change MarRef?

sdio

vamos! wrote: »

I can't change them because I'm on my phone but there are missing or incorrect accents on quite a few words so be careful.

Also don't forget the e in homosexuel!

me1289

IrishLoriii wrote: »

Do you think it was too late for them to change MarRef?

Possibly, I personally think they could ask something about politics in general, but then again they have the ability to do whatever they want!

if832uspx4eogt

I think MarRef is too specific for the exam. Same with Ebola.

But "the importance of voting" or "is voluntary work important" could.

I hope something about Water Charges & Driving comes up.

EaSwe

Horse meat was pretty specific (and recent) in 2013 when it came up.. so we really dont know

Praying for MarRef though..

JohnDunne

It says around 75 / 90 words but that's to be honest, so short! So is it ok to go over that or better to play it safe?

Also if you do all the written tasks will your best be counted?

Merci.

BlueWolf16

80 is bare minimum imo. You won't be faulted for writing more, but think logically - the more words your write the more mistakes you are likely to make. Doing a lot also means waffling around, and you don't want to bore your examiner -> 100-110 words for the first one, and then around 90 for the others is best I think.

You will have loads of time during the exam, It's the shortest exam in the LC in my opinion. You can finish the paper in about 90 minutes, so take your time with everything, look over numerous times. And in general, I think a lot of students do all the written tasks because all will be marked, and then your best 4 are counted. Good luck

JohnDunne

Sound thanks!

sdio

BlueWolf16 wrote: »

80 is bare minimum imo. You won't be faulted for writing more, but think logically - the more words your write the more mistakes you are likely to make. Doing a lot also means waffling around, and you don't want to bore your examiner -> 100-110 words for the first one, and then around 90 for the others is best I think.

You will have loads of time during the exam, It's the shortest exam in the LC in my opinion. You can finish the paper in about 90 minutes, so take your time with everything, look over numerous times. And in general, I think a lot of students do all the written tasks because all will be marked, and then your best 4 are counted. Good luck

I'm just wondering, are you supposed to have introduction and conclusion paragraphs in your answers? I always end up writing twice as much as you need to.

Tet2015

The real question is: Why are aurals being changed to last in the exam rather than first? (my school did it for mocks and will be doing it for real thing, they said it's mandatory)..

Peregrine

Tet2015 wrote: »

The real question is: Why are aurals being changed to last in the exam rather than first? (my school did it for mocks and will be doing it for real thing, they said it's mandatory)..

JC does aurals before the written exam and LC does it after so there's enough CD players for every room. Not an issue with Irish since their Irish exam is on a different day.

DarraghF197

I really hope we don't use our school CD players. Some of them might as well be a vibrating box, the quality can be so bad. It's really annoying at times when you wouldn't be able to understand them in English, never mind French.

I suppose enough with my excuses lol

vamos!

During the part of the CD which is in Irish and telling you that it's a French exam etc is your opportunity to raise your hand and report poor quality equipment or ask for the CD player to be turned up/down. One Section 1 starts the CD cannot be stopped for any reason. There may be nothing the supervisor can do but it can be noted in their report. I would imagine most schools have 'good' CD players which are kept in storage during the year so they don't get damaged. The ones the teachers in my school use are cheap and tinny but the big guns are brought out for the exams!

vamos!

Also with regards to SSM as a topic- I would think it is too controversial. They wouldn't have known that it was going to pass by huge numbers at the time of printing exams. I can't see a direct question but I could be wrong! I would be more likely to predict something on young people and politics i.e voting or perhaps the of equality in general and it could be twisted towards marriage, age or gender. I would like to see necknomination or social network challenges and terrorism/ Charlie Hebo come up as the current and topical themes.

vamos!

sdio wrote: »

I'm just wondering, are you supposed to have introduction and conclusion paragraphs in your answers? I always end up writing twice as much as you need to.

Intro, Valid and concise points and conclusion. Nothing has to be long but everything has to relate back to the question.

linguist

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.

Shan016

IrishLoriii wrote: »

For HL French for the written these are the topics Ive covered-
Marriage/Gay Marriage
Drugs
Importance of foreign languages
Violence in schools
Smoking
Relationships in families
Water charges
Gender Equality
The environement
Road Accidents
Emigration
Unemployment
Terrorism

Is there anything else that I should focus on??? Please help I'm hoping for a B or a high C

I think you're fairly ok! 😂

Casio123

Any OL French predictions ?

Jessica treacy 2015

better examinations.ie

Mags95

ThatsTheShtuff wrote: »

The Environment (with theme of Water possibly)
Crime
Drug Problem in Ireland
The Habit of Drinking as Irish People
Racism, Gender Inequality
Terrorism (important to include something about Charlie Hebdo)

I'm in LC in a grind school in Dublin which shall remain unnamed (we all know),
and these are my teacher's predictions, she's pretty spot on every year :-)

Did she mention anything on Ebola?- my teacher has predicted pretty much the same topics just including ebola.

linguist

These abstract topics focus on only one very small part of the syllabus - topical or social issues. How would one even frame a question on ebola? I mean, you're not going to get "Ebola - donnez vos réactions!"

Racism - always a possible topic. But as I said in my earlier piece, the strong trend now is towards questions that require a very targeted answer. For example, quite a good question on racism might be a graph/pie chart indicating the number of students interviewed - probably in France - who only have friends from the same ethnic group. You would then be asked to comment on it. Now that's just off the top of my head. But you are most unlikely to get "Le racisme est un grand fléau dans notre société. Etes-vous d'accord?" because all that does is test memory as opposed to your ability to produce fairly spontaneous French on the day.

Just remember all the perfectly ordinary topics that are on the syllabus and that need to be examined too. "Le monde entier parle anglais, on n'a plus besoin d'étudier le francais" is far more likely than something terribly specific and technical such as ebola. Frankly, as a very experienced teacher, I don't know where I'd start on a topic like ebola:)

The twist on drugs might be the issue of decriminalisation. However, since the question of banning smoking came up last year, it would seem very similar. However, it is true that candidates last year did not deal well with the issue of banning so maybe...

sdio

linguist wrote: »

These abstract topics focus on only one very small part of the syllabus - topical or social issues. How would one even frame a question on ebola? I mean, you're not going to get "Ebola - donnez vos réactions!"

Thanks for your advice... I was feeling quite nervous as I haven't learnt off anything specific for the exam. I did think it would be unfair to include such topics as Ebola and water charges, as it would benefit people who have learnt off essays instead of those who have a wide range of vocabulary and grammar to cover the syllabus.

linguist

For all that people bang on about grind schools, the tiny number of people who know what's on this exam certainly don't work in them and I don't need the fingers on one hand to count the number of people working in them whom I've actually encountered as examiners:) Beware the hype!