Failing French

irishwierdo

LC student who does french and completely failing my tests. I know that my teacher SEVERELY dislikes me but I am trying. I got an NG in my last test even though i wrote a page. I don't need French for college so I'm thinking of dropping the subject as its taking up study time for really important subjects i.e. english and maths. Not sure is it too late or even worth the hassle of dropping it. Help please..

rainbowtrout

Are you doing higher or ordinary level? If you are doing higher maybe you could drop to ordinary. Do you know where you are going wrong? Have you asked your teacher for help?

irishwierdo

I have tried asking my teacher for help but all she does is tell me to use my notes.

Monkeysgomad

irishwierdo wrote: »

LC student who does french and completely failing my tests. I know that my teacher SEVERELY dislikes me but I am trying. I got an NG in my last test even though i wrote a page. I don't need French for college so I'm thinking of dropping the subject as its taking up study time for really important subjects i.e. english and maths. Not sure is it too late or even worth the hassle of dropping it. Help please..

Hey, I'm doing German too and find it very difficult- more so the oral side of it that written. Are you at higher or ordinary?
Dropping a 3rd language can hinder your chance of a lot of university entries. Why don't you try talking to your principal or year head ? Try getting a second opinion may be on your test and see if your teacher is marking you down...

irishwierdo

I am in ordinary level. The same teacher told me I was going to fail my Junior Cert and I ended up with a B grade

Monkeysgomad

irishwierdo wrote: »

I am in ordinary level. The same teacher told me I was going to fail my Junior Cert and I ended up with a B grade

Yes, I think the teacher could be a problem here. I don't know them but they sound like they have given up on you. Maybe get a French grind for one lesson (don't tell them that until after) and ask them to have a look at your work. Other than that speak to someone in the school to have a second opinion of another teacher.
How can the teacher expect you to work when they treat you like that?

gerard98

irishwierdo wrote: »

I am in ordinary level. The same teacher told me I was going to fail my Junior Cert and I ended up with a B grade

The teacher could be giving you a bit of tough love as a form of motivation. But if you believe they are against you then go talk to your councillor or vice Principal.

Monkeysgomad

gerard98 wrote: »

The teacher could be giving you a bit of tough love as a form of motivation. But if you believe they are against you then go talk to your councillor or vice Principal.

There's tough love and there's failing them every test

gerard98

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

There's tough love and there's failing them every test

OP never specified if they were failing all of their tests as far as I see but I understand your point.

I still recommend that OP brings this up to a member of staff in their school as if something is happening it's better to cut it out as early as possible.

mtoutlemonde

irishwierdo wrote: »

LC student who does french and completely failing my tests. I know that my teacher SEVERELY dislikes me but I am trying. I got an NG in my last test even though i wrote a page. I don't need French for college so I'm thinking of dropping the subject as its taking up study time for really important subjects i.e. english and maths. Not sure is it too late or even worth the hassle of dropping it. Help please..

Quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality. A page for an essay is a bit excessive - I presume your studying higher level - question 1 is max 110 max and the others are 90 max. A lot of people think that French is like Irish where you write long essays but it's not. Make sure you understand what is being asked and don't go off topic.

I am a French teacher - you can PM that question if you want and I'll give you some advice if you want to.

Monkeysgomad

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

Quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality. A page for an essay is a bit excessive - I presume your studying higher level - question 1 is max 110 max and the others are 90 max. A lot of people think that French is like Irish where you write long essays but it's not. Make sure you understand what is being asked and don't go off topic.

I am a French teacher - you can PM that question if you want and I'll give you some advice if you want to.

Op is taking ordinary level as stated above.
However that is nice of you to offer

teach432

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

There's tough love and there's failing them every test

Teachers don't choose to fail someone. What gets written on the exam paper by the students determines pass or fail.

Monkeysgomad

teach432 wrote: »

Teachers don't choose to fail someone. What gets written on the exam paper by the students determines pass or fail.

Totally disagree. If. Teacher knows you find the subject difficult, and they just don't like you they will be more inclined to fail you or try too. Teachers themselves said that when talking about the new junior cert.

rainbowtrout

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

Totally disagree. If. Teacher knows you find the subject difficult, and they just don't like you they will be more inclined to fail you or try too. Teachers themselves said that when talking about the new junior cert.

No they don't. Many students are under the impression that simply by turning up to school that they will get a pass in a test and that is just not the case. We recently had mid term exams in my school. Some of my LCs got in the 30s and failed. And inevitably I was asked 'Could you not give me 40 and pass me?' To which I said no, because if they had produced work that deserved 40, I would have given them 40, and it undermines the student who did enough to get 40 in the first place.

Monkeysgomad

rainbowtrout wrote: »

No they don't. Many students are under the impression that simply by turning up to school that they will get a pass in a test and that is just not the case. We recently had mid term exams in my school. Some of my LCs got in the 30s and failed. And inevitably I was asked 'Could you not give me 40 and pass me?' To which I said no, because if they had produced work that deserved 40, I would have given them 40, and it undermines the student who did enough to get 40 in the first place.

Never said they should get marks for turning up. But some students do genuinely try so hard, like me for German I spent over 2 hours studying my pics stories and told they weren't good enough and she wouldn't continue my oral. This was totally out of order while they weren't her notes exactly they made perfect sense as they were the other German teachers notes. However because she doesn't like me I find it very hard to get anywhere with that teacher.

mtoutlemonde

Teachers don't want to fail anyone for many reasons.
1. Teachers got into teaching to help others and instil an interest in their subject to their students.
2. If a teacher is failing students just because they don't like them, alarm bells will be ringing and management will want to know why students are failing.

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

Never said they should get marks for turning up. But some students do genuinely try so hard, like me for German I spent over 2 hours studying my pics stories and told they weren't good enough and she wouldn't continue my oral. This was totally out of order while they weren't her notes exactly they made perfect sense as they were the other German teachers notes. However because she doesn't like me I find it very hard to get anywhere with that teacher.

Now this is something that gets on my nerves when students compare teachers and don't mind telling their own teacher - have seen it loads of times. Different teachers have different styles. Just because the teacher has 'brilliant' notes doesn't make them a great teacher. You are not sitting in his/her class everyday.

Also going into the classroom with the 'she doesn't like me attitude' is not making the situation easier because the class is becoming a form of torture where there is no enthusiasm and its very hard for the teacher to break through this.

rainbowtrout

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

Never said they should get marks for turning up. But some students do genuinely try so hard, like me for German I spent over 2 hours studying my pics stories and told they weren't good enough and she wouldn't continue my oral. This was totally out of order while they weren't her notes exactly they made perfect sense as they were the other German teachers notes. However because she doesn't like me I find it very hard to get anywhere with that teacher.

But the reality is that she set you work to do and you didn't complete it. You did another teacher's work. I have to say that bugs me too, particularly when the student doesn't reach the standard required because they insist on following someone else's notes/ not doing the work set for them.

Monkeysgomad

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

Teachers don't want to fail anyone for many reasons.
1. Teachers got into teaching to help others and instil an interest in their subject to their students.
2. If a teacher is failing students just because they don't like them, alarm bells will be ringing and management will want to know why students are failing.



Now this is something that gets on my nerves when students compare teachers and don't mind telling their own teacher - have seen it loads of times. Different teachers have different styles. Just because the teacher has 'brilliant' notes doesn't make them a great teacher. You are not sitting in his/her class everyday.

Also going into the classroom with the 'she doesn't like me attitude' is not making the situation easier because the class is becoming a form of torture where there is no enthusiasm and its very hard for the teacher to break through this.

She doesn't like me. Anyone in the class would tell you. She always picks on me. I have tried doing something about it but couldn't be moved.

I got the other teachers need as they were layed out in a better. A few points were different but I covered all my own teachers requirements

Monkeysgomad

rainbowtrout wrote: »

But the reality is that she set you work to do and you didn't complete it. You did another teacher's work. I have to say that bugs me too, particularly when the student doesn't reach the standard required because they insist on following someone else's notes/ not doing the work set for them.

I did complete the work. The notes she gave me for the picture story were guidelines. If you can tell the story through your own German you will get your marks. My grind teacher told me that. As long as you can tell it and correctly. The examiner will not know what notes you learned at the end of the day.

rainbowtrout

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

I did complete the work. The notes she gave me for the picture story were guidelines. If you can tell the story through your own German you will get your marks. My grind teacher told me that. As long as you can tell it and correctly. The examiner will not know what notes you learned at the end of the day.

If I had a euro for every time I heard that phrase.....


Your teacher gave you notes and told you to learn them. You didn't. You learned other notes instead. Presumably your teacher didn't think your German wasn't up to standard from those notes. It's also possible that you were missing key words or phrases needed for the picture sequence.

No, you are right the examiner won't know or care where you got your notes, but your class teacher has given you work to do. By all means do the work your grinds teacher has set for you, but you might as well be holding up two fingers to your regular German teacher if you are not doing her work, but have the time to complete the work of your grinds teacher.

Monkeysgomad

rainbowtrout wrote: »

If I had a euro for every time I heard that phrase.....


Your teacher gave you notes and told you to learn them. You didn't. You learned other notes instead. Presumably your teacher didn't think your German wasn't up to standard from those notes. It's also possible that you were missing key words or phrases needed for the picture sequence.

No, you are right the examiner won't know or care where you got your notes, but your class teacher has given you work to do. By all means do the work your grinds teacher has set for you, but you might as well be holding up two fingers to your regular German teacher if you are not doing her work, but have the time to complete the work of your grinds teacher.

You see that's where your wrong. I learned all of the necessary phrases she told us too. However the optional ones I didn't and learned my own ones. She then got odd because I didn't learn her ones completely when she first told us they were optional

mtoutlemonde

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

You see that's where your wrong. I learned all of the necessary phrases she told us too. However the optional ones I didn't and learned my own ones. She then got odd because I didn't learn her ones completely when she first told us they were optional

Are you a German teacher with experience? - No. You should follow the advice from your own teacher. I can see why you're having problems with your teacher - 1. You aren't following her direction 2. You compare her and get notes from another teacher in the school and 3. You are also taking advice from a grinds teacher.

Do you really wonder why your teacher may have a dislike to you?

As aside, in relation to notes, I always make my students to write their own notes - yes we use the book for guidance and I give 'some' notes depending on the topic. I was in a school where the other teacher spoon fed the students by writing the topic and giving a photocopy to each student - how much of this was taken on board? Did the students take responsibility for their own learning - No. Was there any difference between students? Was there any extra vocab for the HL level student? When students write their own notes, there will be differences and it shows the examiner that you can have a conversation about something as opposed to speaking a set of notes given by the teacher.

Monkeysgomad

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

Are you a German teacher with experience? - No. You should follow the advice from your own teacher. I can see why you're having problems with your teacher - 1. You aren't following her direction 2. You compare her and get notes from another teacher in the school and 3. You are also taking advice from a grinds teacher.

Do you really wonder why your teacher may have a dislike to you?

As aside, in relation to notes, I always make my students to write their own notes - yes we use the book for guidance and I give 'some' notes depending on the topic. I was in a school where the other teacher spoon fed the students by writing the topic and giving a photocopy to each student - how much of this was taken on board? Did the students take responsibility for their own learning - No. Was there any difference between students? Was there any extra vocab for the HL level student? When students write their own notes, there will be differences and it shows the examiner that you can have a conversation about something as opposed to speaking a set of notes given by the teacher.

Well that is exactly what my teacher does. She hands us the notes on a sheet we read through them she tells us what's important and that's that.