Are you completing Y12/VCE French this year? Are you ready for the French Oral?
Do you know what is expected of you? Are you sure?
The oral exam consists of seven minutes of general conversation, one minute presentation on your chosen topic ("the detailed study") and seven minutes of discussion on this topic.
If you think it is enough to learn key points to talk about yourself, and your chosen conversation topic, my friendly piece of advice is: think again.
The exam aims to assess your ability to sustain a mature conversation in French with a French speaker, in a natural manner.
Worried? Don't be.
Below are my tips of what to do and what NOT to do.
- ensure you have material to sustain a conversation for at least double the required time (this does not apply to the one-minute detailed study component, which needs to be well-rehearsed and strictly one minute - or you will be cut off)
- organise your key messages so that you can convey them during your conversation, no matter what
- having material for double the required time (that is, 14 minute of general conversation, 14 minute for discussion on your topic) will ensure that you have plenty to draw upon should you need to (for instance, if you speak faster that you have in mock exams, perhaps due to nerves, or if the assessors lead you to a different path than you expected). In my experience as tutor and mock examiner, students rarely have enough quality material to produce.
- when an assessor asks you a question, aim to respond with a minimum of three long answers. It is very frustrating for an assessor to ask a question to prompt a student to show off their knowledge of the language, only for the student to be quite content with a brief sentence or paragraph response. This is not the aim of the exam. Imagine you are conversing in France with a French person.
- learn how to fill gaps in the conversation, and self-correct. One of the skills the assessors are looking for is repair strategies: i.e. if you make an error, do you self-correct immediately and keep going, or do you become stuck, unable to continue your train of thought, or worse, do you keep on going without correcting yourself?
- learn how to manage your nerves. Even if you feel you won't suffer from nerves during your exam, an unexpected question may make you lose your cool. What is your strategy for handling this?
- be aware of the assessment criteria. If you are not clear about what is expected of you, it is very hard to meet this expectation and perform at your best.
- Remember. The assessors are assessing your ability to converse in French. These 15 minutes are your opportunity to shine and show them all that you have. Many times during tutoring sessions I discuss with students ways to expand on their responses, use rich and varied vocabulary and sentence structures, key words to organise their thoughts, link ideas, texts and support materials, etc. Often students will say they are aware of these strategies, synonyms, connecting words, etc. But are they using them? Sadly not often enough! Unless you use what you have learnt the assessors will not know the full extent of your knowledge.
- Death before rote! I really need to emphasise that learning by rote is not the answer. It is obvious to assessors when students have prepared for the exams by learning key words and paragraphs (sometimes quite lengthy slabs) by rote. First, by the tone in which the answers and given (more of a monologue than an actual conversation), then by the difficulty for the student to address unexpected questions or requests for clarification. Responding by using material learnt by rote is not engaging for anyone. French is a living language. make it yours and have fun using it (Yes, you can still have fun during your exam! But only if you are well prepared).
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| La Villette. A.Legrain |
These points are not meant to make you anxious. They are simply a few of the observations I have made helping VCE students prepare for their oral exams for the last few years.
I hope these points will give you food for thought and have given you some simple and easily applicable tips to succeed.
To finish, how can you get to the required exam level?
- Tutoring (I suggest reading my posts on finding a tutor and making the most of your tutoring sessions, available on this blog). Please note I offer Skype tutoring if you are not able to join me face-to-face
- Immersing yourself in the language (again, please see my previous posts on how best to do so)
- Practising, practising, practising (and then practising some more). Practising with friends is great, but practising with a French teacher, or someone who has experience conducting exams, such as a reputable tutor, is best.
Bonne chance!
