Keeping on a third language or not?

Nicole.

Hi, I'm in Transition Year and as part of T.Y. I took up French; I had did it in First Year but as my situation wasn't good enough for me to be able to keep on a third language (First Year just didn't work out) I didn't keep one on.

I have checked with my Career Guidance teacher and my learning resource teacher that because I have a disability (dyspraxia) I can definitely get an exemption from a Third Language.

The problem is; I'm beginning to enjoy French, even doing the homework. My homework takes about 2 hours in French because the rest of the class have been doing French the last three years, verses my one bad year of French.

My question is, is it too risky to try take French at pass or foundation level, or is there any point? Should I stick to what I know? I want to get good points (500+)

I do pass maths but that's all the pass subjects I do. I am going to keep on 6 other subjects at higher level. (They'll get priority)
My resource teacher says that a person should only keep on 7 subjects because:
A. It's too stressful otherwise.
B. A subject(s) could get neglected.
C. They only count your best 6 subjects.

* I will probably get a spelling and some grammatical elements exemption because I had one for the Junior Cert.

pathway33

Drop the french. All that matters are your points and satisfying the matriculation requirements. If it's something you enjoy then you can dip into LeMonde every now and again to give you a break from your honours subjects.

The CAO are cold hearted and so you have to be too. Many colleges have language laboratories that are open to all students and some allow you to take optional courses in a third language with certification so you can take your current french further in college if you wish.

The most important thing at the moment is giving yourself every chance to get to the college course you want.

Best of luck

spurious

There is no Foundation LC paper in French - Foundation is only available in English, Maths and Irish.

Getting a 'reasonable accommodation' at JC does not mean an automatic one at LC - another application will have to be made. More than likely you'll get it, but don't be banking on it.

Keep on the French outside school, but not towards an exam - a night class once a week will be fun (since you like the language) and without pressure.

**Timbuk2**

You already have 6 subjects. I know you're thinking, that an extra subject will mean that there is one subject you won't have to include in your best 6. But if you didn't do French in 2nd and 3rd year, your French probably isn't up to scratch. It would probably be hard to do well in the LC. The LC H.L. French isn't easy (some might say it is - but I certainly don't think so). I'm not saying that you're lucky to have a learning disability, but what I mean is that you are lucky that you get exempted from a third language, which means you don't to take one up just to be able to do some university courses (e.g. in UCD) (I hope you don't take offense to this!).

My advice would be to concentrate on the other 6 subjects.

I am doing 8 H.L subjects for the LC. I do H.L French, but I don't put much effort into it as I don't like French (I loved it for the JC though). All I need is a pass to qualify for university courses. So rather than trying to bring my French up to an A-grade level, I concentrate on my other 7 instead. This still leaves me one subject to disclude when the LC comes around (as some exams can just go wrong on the day!).

Nicole.

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

You already have 6 subjects. I know you're thinking, that an extra subject will mean that there is one subject you won't have to include in your best 6. But if you didn't do French in 2nd and 3rd year, your French probably isn't up to scratch. It would probably be hard to do well in the LC. The LC H.L. French isn't easy (some might say it is - but I certainly don't think so). I'm not saying that you're lucky to have a learning disability, but what I mean is that you are lucky that you get exempted from a third language, which means you don't to take one up just to be able to do some university courses (e.g. in UCD) (I hope you don't take offense to this!).

My advice would be to concentrate on the other 6 subjects.

I am doing 8 H.L subjects for the LC. I do H.L French, but I don't put much effort into it as I don't like French (I loved it for the JC though). All I need is a pass to qualify for university courses. So rather than trying to bring my French up to an A-grade level, I concentrate on my other 7 instead. This still leaves me one subject to disclude when the LC comes around (as some exams can just go wrong on the day!).

Hi, I will consider this because I do like French in general. Yeah, I'm not going to take offense to anything that you've said because in some ways I am lucky, in some I'm not, but in terms of requirements I am:)

Thanks for the replies everyone that has written to me about this so far.

Nicole.

spurious wrote: »

There is no Foundation LC paper in French - Foundation is only available in English, Maths and Irish.

Getting a 'reasonable accommodation' at JC does not mean an automatic one at LC - another application will have to be made. More than likely you'll get it, but don't be banking on it.

Keep on the French outside school, but not towards an exam - a night class once a week will be fun (since you like the language) and without pressure.

Wow, thanks for telling me that, I hadn't really looked into the finer details.

Nicole.

pathway33 wrote: »

Drop the french. All that matters are your points and satisfying the matriculation requirements. If it's something you enjoy then you can dip into LeMonde every now and again to give you a break from your honours subjects.

The CAO are cold hearted and so you have to be too. Many colleges have language laboratories that are open to all students and some allow you to take optional courses in a third language with certification so you can take your current french further in college if you wish.

The most important thing at the moment is giving yourself every chance to get to the college course you want.

Best of luck

What's LeMonde? And thank you.

pathway33

Nicole. wrote: »

What's LeMonde?

French newspaper that you can read bits of online. I've heard there a way of translating it to english so you can test if you got the jist of the article but don't know if this is true or not

pathway33

spurious wrote: »

Foundation is only available in English, Maths and Irish.

I didn't know there was foundation english for the leaving. Only maths and irish I thought

spurious

pathway33 wrote: »

I didn't know there was foundation english for the leaving. Only maths and irish I thought

I beg your pardon. You are right. There was talk of introducing a basic English 'foundation-type' exam focussing on oral and 'everyday' proficiency, but it hasn't come to anything yet.

Foundation just in Irish and Maths at the moment.

unknown13

Nicole, I have been in your situation but I need to know one thing you haven't mentioned before I give advice because the DOE are a bit strict when it comes to exemptions to Dyspraxia.

Did you sit the junior cert French paper?

Nicole.

unknown13 wrote: »

Nicole, I have been in your situation but I need to know one thing you haven't mentioned before I give advice because the DOE are a bit strict when it comes to exemptions to Dyspraxia.

Did you sit the junior cert French paper?

Hi, I did not sit the Junior Cert French paper.

unknown13

Nicole. wrote: »

Hi, I did not sit the Junior Cert French paper.

Now, you have very little chance of getting off French because I sat the Junior Cert Irish paper and passed it and when I applied for the exemption for the Irish paper in Transition Year I was told I could not get it because I sat and passed the Junior Cert paper.

Also people with Dyslexia only get exempted from Irish and don't get exempted from the foreign language so the chances of you getting exempted now is very slim.

pathway33

unknown13 wrote: »

Now, you have very little chance of getting off French because I sat the Junior Cert Irish paper and passed it and when I applied for the exemption for the Irish paper in Transition Year I was told I could not get it because I sat and passed the Junior Cert paper.

Also people with Dyslexia only get exempted from Irish and don't get exempted from the foreign language so the chances of you getting exempted now is very slim.

but Nicole said she did NOT sit french in the junior cert

and Nicole's disability is dyspraxia

Nicole.

Thank you Pathway; I just had the biggest scare of my life just there, its one thing doing something because you want to, another when you have to. If I did do French I wouldn't really be looking for much points in it and if I didn't have to do it I could quit anytime I wanted if I fould it too stressful.

Has anyone done what I have done? What I mean by that is, been told the whole way up that they had an exemption from a third language and find it's not in writing yet. Has anyone been successful/unsuccessful in applying for an exemption from a third language due to dyspraxia? I have to get my physiologist report updated again next year.

dlofnep

Nicole, I'd reccomend that you just drop French as a school subject - but perhaps buy a book on learning French, and keep it up as a hobby if you like it. That way, you can learn the language without any pressure And trust me, it's much more enjoyable that way.

Nicole.

Hi, I was thinking about that, but the good thing about being in a classroom environment is that if you don't understand something a teacher can explain it, like some things in grammar are confusing.

I also like working towards a target, something set infront of me, like tests would do.

Maybe I could just test myself on it:)

If I don't have to do a third language and I can't manage the French class at school that would probably be the best option.

dlofnep

Yeah, I understand you. But don't pressure yourself too much. I learned Irish a few years after finishing school. I found it much more rewarding to learn it on my own. But people learn differently - so maybe you might want the challenge of exams.

French is a very useful language, you could always go to France or Canada with it So maybe if you do drop it in school, definately consider taking it up yourself as a hobby as I've said. Some books will have little tests at the end of each chapter anyway, so you'll have little challenges to keep you interested as you progress.

Best of luck