Study help

PeadarofAodh

I'm a student in 5th year and a big French enthusiast thanks to my inspiring teacher. I'm very capable at my French but am looking for very high points in the leaving cert and so would like to improve as much as possible. Does anyone have any tips for this (for both the listening, speaking and written exams)? Any help would be much appreciated!

simu

I put this up on my boards space ages ago. It might or might not be of help.

raphaelS

PeadarofAodh wrote:

I'm a student in 5th year and a big French enthusiast thanks to my inspiring teacher. I'm very capable at my French but am looking for very high points in the leaving cert and so would like to improve as much as possible. Does anyone have any tips for this (for both the listening, speaking and written exams)? Any help would be much appreciated!

Hi,

For the listening, I heard a French FM radio in Dublin, I can't remember the frequency (in the "middle" of the band, I'd say around 95Mhz).
You can also listen to some online:
France Info (a News radio), click "ecouter le direct" or "ecouter le dernier flash" at the top:
http://www.radiofrance.fr/chaines/france-info/accueil/

Or Europe 1, will be like RTE One. with all kind of programs (Link "Ecouter le direct" at the top):
http://www.europe1.fr/

Or the competitor, RTL (link at the top as well, "Ecoutez RTL en direct"):
http://www.rtl.fr/

For some "though" news reading, I would suggest "Le monde", reading a lot of that would help you for the written exams:
http://www.lemonde.fr/
Like this article about tattoos: http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3230,36-384004,0.html

As for speaking... well that's the most difficult one, the best would be to be with French people!

Raphael

PeadarofAodh

Thanks Raphael

angeldelight

If you get the chance I'd go on a French exchange this summer. I did 2, one at the end of 2nd yr and one at the end of 3rd yr. You'd be amazed how much they help. I did mine with the franco-irish exchange programme www.newchange.ie and it helped so so much. You stay with a french family for 3 weeks and don't go to classes or anything. Kinda scary but good cause you're not with a group of Irish ppl except on plane so you don't spend whole time speaking English. After I came back I hardly had to study French at all and got an A in JC and every exam after that including A1 in LC! Bonne chance

Bog

Il faut écouter, regarder et lire au moins cinq heures par semaine en Français. Si vous avez TV5 ce serait une bonne idée de regarder les infos de temps en temps, ou d'acheter un journal français et lire quelques articles que t'interessent (la musique, le sport etc.) pendant le week-end. C'est très important d'avoir la langue toujours dans la tete.

SMPE

angeldelight wrote: »

If you get the chance I'd go on a French exchange this summer. I did 2, one at the end of 2nd yr and one at the end of 3rd yr. You'd be amazed how much they help. I did mine with the franco-irish exchange programme www.newchange.ie and it helped so so much. You stay with a french family for 3 weeks and don't go to classes or anything. Kinda scary but good cause you're not with a group of Irish ppl except on plane so you don't spend whole time speaking English. After I came back I hardly had to study French at all and got an A in JC and every exam after that including A1 in LC! Bonne chance

Hi ! I'm french and I'm 16 years old. I've seen the exchange program " www.newchange.ie" and it could interest me. I would like to go to Irland, and do the "surf program". But my parents are kind of worried because they don't know people who have already gone with this program ... So i've seen you did. Could you say me how your trip was ? if you family was nice ? If there were someone of your age in the family ? Well anything you want about it !!!
It would be very nice of you ...!

franc 91

Have you had a look at what's available? - in Dublin there's quite a thriving French community - as far as I can see, me being over here in France. The AFI.ie have a students' club where they're looking to welcome anyone who wants to try out their French. Although I'm always telling people to listen to the radio (and getting hold of podcasts and if possible transcripts), I imagine for someone as yourself it wouldn't be very interesting - though there is a programme for children on France Inter on Sunday afternoons. There are quite a few magazines specifically published for school students such as Mon Quotidien that could give you something to talk about if you managed to find un français de langue maternelle - is there un marchand de journaux français in Dublin?
There's quite a lot on daily life in France on Daily Motion but it's a matter of knowing where to start and of course there are all the various cultural websites - and there are schools of course.
Salut
Franc

EhBenDisDonc

Peadar,

The main French TV channels have loads of stuff available for viewing online. It's a good idea to watch the News regularly, daily if possible; it may seem like heavy going initially, but you quickly start to pick up more and more. It's pretty entertaining anyway, and they usually do a good job of zipping around the regions looking for interesting stories - a great way to get to know France. Try the websites of TF1, France 2 and France 3.
For more programmes, look at the sites of Arte and France 5.
You may find that some programmes are unavailable outside France. You should be able to get around that by 'cloaking', not that I would know anything about these things.

It would be really great if you could receive French television by satellite. This would involve some cost and the help of someone with a French address, but is free-to-air once installed.

In general, don't force yourself to watch or listen to material that is boring or difficult; keep it light and entertaining.