improving my french??

gaeilge-abú

hey..
im going into 5th yr next yr and i really want my french to improve..as in my spoken and written!?
i was thinkin of going to a french college or something next summer..
does any1 av ne recommendations??:D
would it be best to go to a college in ireland for a few weeks for actuali go over to france??:rolleyes:

wowiee

Well i did both, stayed in Ireland in 4th year with elc and went to France last year with Living Languages.

I learnt more in France but that was because my course was REALLY strict like 8 hours of proper classes a day. But for loads of people when then go over they go on really relaxed courses and just drink on the beach for the three weeks. So really it depends on how much you want to learn.

If you stay in Ireland you will learn a bit but tbh the colleges can be a bit like prison camps with no free time just to chill. Also you'll end up with a French accent with a major Irish tilt.

~Candy~

It really depends on what you want really

if you just want an A1 in higher level french ,
all you have to do it start working in 5th yr, listen to the teachers,
learn vocabs, listen to watch tape/watch french Tv / read french books,papers

and if you want get a native french person for one to one grinds...
or going to french college....


if you want good french for other sake( ie not for the exam sake), hmmm!! go to France and live and go to school there, you will learn the lanuage very quickly

gaeilge-abú

wowiee wrote: »

Well i did both, stayed in Ireland in 4th year with elc and went to France last year with Living Languages.

I learnt more in France but that was because my course was REALLY strict like 8 hours of proper classes a day. But for loads of people when then go over they go on really relaxed courses and just drink on the beach for the three weeks. So really it depends on how much you want to learn.

If you stay in Ireland you will learn a bit but tbh the colleges can be a bit like prison camps with no free time just to chill. Also you'll end up with a French accent with a major Irish tilt.

how did you find the whole going over to France and all??..did u go over with a group or what??..i dont know if i would be confident enough to go over on my own for three weeks and not being able to speak the language??

Dante

I went to that ELC French college in Rosscrea for 3 weeks last summer and I found it really helped my french a lot aswell as being a great laugh. Would definitely advise it!

gaeilge-abú

DaaaaaaaaaaN wrote: »

I went to that ELC French college in Rosscrea for 3 weeks last summer and I found it really helped my french a lot aswell as being a great laugh. Would definitely advise it!

cheers!:D..and when you went there ,,did you have much french..like were you able to hold a conversation??cuz i aint!!were they very strict??

Dante

gaeilge-abú wrote: »

cheers!:D..and when you went there ,,did you have much french..like were you able to hold a conversation??cuz i aint!!were they very strict??

Haha don't worry everyones in the same boat, I don't think I heard one proper sentence of french used by any of the students for the whole first week! We devised sketch words whenever one of the french lads were near to warn us to stop speaking english! :P But yea they are very strict but IMO that makes it better.

But it really does help your french, before I went I was struggling badly at french and was advised to do ordinary level, but now I feel I got a high B in higher.....theres no doubt ELC was a big reason although you don't notice it when you're there!

gaeilge-abú

oh ok phew!!!:D
by the end of it were you able to have a conversation in french like??

Dante

gaeilge-abú wrote: »

oh ok phew!!!:D
by the end of it were you able to have a conversation in french like??

Emmm nah I couldn't straight afterwards but it builds up your confidence in speaking, your grammar and your vocab for sixth year which helps loads for your oral. By the middle of sixth year I could speak and understand it real well, whether that was thanks to ELC or just a natural improvement I dunno! As I said its a great laugh aswell, I really didn't want to go at first but was actually quite sad to leave.

If you have the money and time, go to France though.....that looks fúcking lethal! :P

djcervi

At the same time if you really want to have good oral and knowledge of french and a once in a lifetime adventure.. I would definitely go to France. I went on the ELC Clongowes course last year, and personally I thought there were a lot of people there which didn't make the place very friendly. Plus the place was kinda like prison. All the same I had an ok time and learned a bit of French.

As a previous poster mentioned Living Languages do intensive courses in France, but they are pretty expensive. I don't know much about the French side, but in TY I did the 6 week Spanish school term in Spain and I literally came back fluent. The family atmosphere was really nice and I met some very nice people who I still keep in contact with. As a result I'm hoping for an A1.

Although it helps you do not need to go abroad to get a top grade, but I would recommend it for many different reasons (apart from the obvious). The choice is yours!

www.livinglanguage.ie
www.elc.ie

gaeilge-abú

djcervi wrote: »

At the same time if you really want to have good oral and knowledge of french and a once in a lifetime adventure.. I would definitely go to France. I went on the ELC Clongowes course last year, and personally I thought there were a lot of people there which didn't make the place very friendly. Plus the place was kinda like prison. All the same I had an ok time and learned a bit of French.

As a previous poster mentioned Living Languages do intensive courses in France, but they are pretty expensive. I don't know much about the French side, but in TY I did the 6 week Spanish school term in Spain and I literally came back fluent. The family atmosphere was really nice and I met some very nice people who I still keep in contact with. As a result I'm hoping for an A1.

Although it helps you do not need to go abroad to get a top grade, but I would recommend it for many different reasons (apart from the obvious). The choice is yours!

www.livinglanguage.ie
www.elc.ie

ye i know that going to france would probably be better as one would b in the french atmostphere and it would be a great experience.but,i dint know if i would have the confidence to get the flights & be in a different country and not knowing anybody for 3 weeks??

djcervi

gaeilge-abú wrote: »

ye i know that going to france would probably be better as one would b in the french atmostphere and it would be a great experience.but,i dint know if i would have the confidence to get the flights & be in a different country and not knowing anybody for 3 weeks??

I was the exact same. I was literally bricking it going to Spain. The important thing is to go in with an open mind.Also It's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice . Yeah it takes a few days to settle in, but as long as you try to get involved and meet people you would be fine. Trust me! If people see you are sound and make an effort to speak French they will love you and help you with whatever.

gaeilge-abú

ye,,but i want my learning of french to b fun?!!:D:p..ye,,dont tink ill bother with france..might go to a french college in ireland tho!

devereaux17

i always though with my kinda french surname i would be naturally good at french *shifts eyes* this is not the case lol, but watch french movies like banlieue 13 or La Haine(altho some argue if the french language is even spoke in this film, it even needed subtitled for the french audience )

it shouldnt be so hard, just get involved like really involved with the language. i hope to spend some time in france when i'm older so i've made it my ambition to get a great understanding of french now.

wowiee

gaeilge-abú wrote: »

how did you find the whole going over to France and all??..did u go over with a group or what??..i dont know if i would be confident enough to go over on my own for three weeks and not being able to speak the language??

Well the way living language's summer courses work is that your placed in a French boarding school with about 15 other Irish students. The school you stay in depends on your standard ( you take a test before hand) so that kinda means every one is by themselves because your friends will all be different standards so its really easy to make new friends cus everyone is in the same boa

Going over i thought it was goin to be desperate cus i knew no one bt even in the airport everyone starts talking.

About not being able to sepak the language dont worry..the teachers are so helpful and again all the other students in your school will be the same standar.

IrishinDublin

I know loads of people that went to France or Spain with www.ef-ireland.ie and had a great time - the school in France was in Nice and the Spanish school was in Malaga

Piste

The best way to learn French is actually go to France. I'm just back from 2 weeks in the south of France and I wish I'd gone just before 6th year as I learned so much out there. If you're going to France I'd recommend the south as even though the accent's a bit strange, in general most people dont speak English so you'll have to speak French if you want to communicate with them.

soccymonster

Im thinking of going to france next year. Is it fair strict? Do you stay with a family or at a school? Is it all learning in classes or can you go round the towns and have fun? And most importantly, do you get weekends off? :P

neil_18_

gaeilge-abú wrote: »

hey..
im going into 5th yr next yr and i really want my french to improve..as in my spoken and written!?

If you watch the news on Euronews France you will pick up some words..Almost like practising for your aural! And oral in a way!:pac:
And sometimes TG4(or RTE1 maybe?) show french films with subtitles at night!

gaeilge-abú

soccymonster wrote: »

Im thinking of going to france next year. Is it fair strict? Do you stay with a family or at a school? Is it all learning in classes or can you go round the towns and have fun? And most importantly, do you get weekends off? :P

+1 ..please answer these q's!:pac:

djcervi

soccymonster wrote: »

Im thinking of going to france next year. Is it fair strict? Do you stay with a family or at a school? Is it all learning in classes or can you go round the towns and have fun? And most importantly, do you get weekends off? :P

Strict?! Well you will probably have a fair bit of freedom, but in terms of the courses they will be intensive depending on how long you are going for. However you will have free time to have fun in France. Personally I know Living Languages discourage you from hanging around with other Irish people in the school term course, but the summer courses I think you do trips with the other Irish people on your course. At the same time if you really want to learn French it doesn't really matter (and shouldn't be the most important thing) as you will make friends with French and/or different nationalities, provided you go in with an open mind. The bonus is that you will be there for each other, and you will all learn as you are all speaking French together.

Cookey131

Hi I am going to a French elc course in a few weeks! I was wondering if many people go on their own? I have hardly any French!!! Is there anything that I should bring with me? I hear that there are fancy dress parties and discos?! What should I bring for them???

Thanks for any replies cause I have no idea!!!

Coeurdepirate

Something I did during TY that got me from doing pass French for Junior Cert to being able to have a conversation in French without difficulty and aiming for an A in honours next Wednesday was joining a language learning website and making friends with a Frenchie! It'll be humiliating at first if you're really bad, but you'll actually pick it up soooo quickly, and grammar and correct structure will be like second nature to you after a few months!

I actually can't stress enough how helpful this is, so many people dismiss it but it's actually had an unmeasurable impact on my level of French. I don't know whether or not we're allowed link to websites here but if you PM me I can link you to the website I used and still use!


Edit: just realised how old this thread is

nailvarnish16

I'm going to elc in Roscrea in July by myself because none of my friends would go and a guy a year older than me went by himself too and he loved it and totally promoted it to me. I'm just after doing TY so I can't even remember the language but I'm watching all the youtube tutorials on how to speak the language now. I.m bringing like skirts, dresses, canterbury pants' like everything that I have really into my bag!! :P

Cookey131

Oh that's such a good idea learn stuff off utube!!! Thanks! It should be fun hope others are going on their own too! Thanks hope u have fun;)