GCSE French Revision Techniques Vocabulary Vocab list of key words from past papers. You have already seen that you can remember the overwhelming majority of the words on this list. Revise the list regularly or your memory of the words will gradually fade. Make sure you revise regularly during Study Leave, or study leave will simply be Forgetting Leave. Always begin each revision session by going over everything you have already revised. Use stories or images to link the French to the English meaning. The dafter the story the better. Identify words that cause you problems each time you test yourself and make a personal revision list just of these words. 100 most common words in French. These words make up 50% of everything you will see and hear. If you know these words you will already be able to understand half of everything in the exam. Again, revise the list regularly or your memory of the words will gradually fade. Use the same techniques for other vocab. Again, identify words that cause you problems each time you test yourself and make a personal revision list just of these words. Further vocab revision Further revision can be done from the vocab revision lists in the Language shared area. E-mail the list home to yourself. Use the same techniques as described above. Alternatively you can buy GCSE revision books from bookshops such as Waterstones or Borders or via the internet from suppliers such as Amazon. Work smarter not harder. Start with the end in mind. Decide what it is you will achieve from your revision session. Write it on a piece of paper or card and put it where you can see it. This will help you to know that you have achieved what you set out to achieve. See the big picture. Look over your text book and your exercise books. Make sure you have everything you need nearby. Plan the time. Work out a manageable time slot for the revision session, then break it down into chunks of no more than twenty minutes. Allow yourself short breaks between each chunk of revision. Get the mood right. Revise where it is quiet. Work well away from distractions such as TV, computer games, brothers and sisters. Quiet, gentle-paced classical or chill-out music without vocals help the brain learn more effectively. Save your favourite music as a reward for when you have achieved what you set out to. Start! The hardest bit of revision you do is the first bit. Once you know what you want to achieve from the revision session, have planned your time and sorted out the necessary resources …start! Chunk it down. Do a bit at a time. After each chunk, review what you have achieved and take a short break. Before you start the next bit briefly run through what you have already done, and what you plan to do next. Draft and re-draft your notes in a way that helps you learn. Use different colours of pens or paper or make a mind-map or poster. Put copies of the poster where you will see it frequently. The exposure will help you learn it when you’re not even trying. Test yourself. At the end of each revision session test yourself to see what you can recall. Regularly test yourself on everything you have done since your first revision session. Rehearse. Your oral exam will be more successful as a result of rehearsing your presentation and rehearsing extended answers on all the possible topics. Reward yourself, when you’ve done what you planned. Get yourself a drink, play your favourite music, sit in the sun for ten minutes… Oral exam Common words from past role plays. Revise this list as for other vocab. (see above) “Je voudrais” will come up more than any other phrase. Presentation Learn it by heart. Break your text down into manageable chunks to learn. Use different colours for the different chunks. When recalling the presentation always begin at the very beginning and run through everything you have learnt. Plan your revision programme so that you have learnt the presentation by heart comfortably before the exam, and then revise it each day. You only need 90 seconds to run through it each day once you have learnt it. Answering questions. Practise talking for as long as you can on the following topics: Aim first for 10 seconds, then 20 seconds, then 30 seconds; then try a different topic. The longer you talk the fewer questions you get asked! ma famille le collège ma maison mes passe-temps le collège de l’avenir la nourriture les films, la lecture et la musique ma ville / mon village l’argent et le travail mes copains / mes copines mon stage en entreprise mes projets pur l’avenir ma carrière les vacances l’environnement For each topic practise using: past, present and future tenses giving opinions giving reasons PAST TENSE It doesn’t matter whether you mean “I bought” or “I have bought”; it’s all the PAST TENSE. Just follow the pattern you have been taught every time. verbs that take avoir j’ai je n’ai pas on a on n’a pas quelqu’un a verbs that take être je suis je ne suis pas on est on n’est pas quelqu’un est acheté fait eu vu lu visité trouvé dit « ….. » perdu oublié volé / piqué entendu écouté appris travaillé joué bought did / made had seen read visited found said lost forgotten stolen / nicked heard / understood listened learned worked played mort / morte revenu / revenue descendu / descendue allé / allée monté / montée parti / partie sorti / sortie tombé / tombée arrivé / arrivée venu / venue entré / entrée resté / restée né/ née devenu / devenue retourné / retournée died came back went down went went up left went out fell arrived came went in / entered stayed / remained born became / got returned PRESENT TENSE It doesn’t matter whether you mean “I play” or “I am playing”; it’s all the PRESENT TENSE. Just follow the pattern you have been taught every time. French Regular -ER Verbs Key regular -er verbs aimer to like or to love arriver to arrive or to happen chanter to sing chercher to look for danser to dance demander to ask for détester to hate donner to give écouter to listen to étudier to study jouer to play manger to eat nager to swim parler to talk or to speak penser to think regarder to watch or to look at rêver to dream skier to ski travailler to work the pattern for –er verbs: trouver to find visiter to visit (a place) Singular Plural je parle nous parlons tu parles vous parlez il / elle / on parle ils / elles parlent French Regular -RE Verbs Key regular -re verbs attendre to wait (for) descendre to descend entendre to hear perdre to lose rendre to give back, to return something répondre to answer vendre to sell The pattern for –re verbs. Singular Plural je descends nous descendons tu descends vous descendez il / elle / on descend ils / elles descendent Here are some of the many -ir verbs that you will soon be able to conjugate: abolir to abolish avertir to warn bâtir to build choisir to choose établir to establish finir to finish grossir to get fat nourrir to feed, nourish réfléchir to reflect, think remplir to fill réussir to succeed the pattern for –ir verbs: Singular Plural je choisis nous choisissons tu choisis vous choisissez il / elle / on choisit ils / elles choisissent Say “don’t” “didn’t” “doesn’t” etc in French Making sentences negative in French is a bit different than in English. The key is ne...pas. Once you understand ne...pas, you can make just about any sentence negative. To make a sentence or question negative, place ne in front of the verb and pas after it. Ne...pas translates roughly as not. Je suis riche > Je ne suis pas riche. = I'm rich > I'm not rich. FUTURE TENSE In French, there are two ways to express an event that will occur in the future: le futur and le futur proche. Le futur is used for upcoming events. It is usually translated as will. J'irai au magasin demain - I will go to the store tomorrow. Ils mangeront sur l'avion - They will eat on the plane. To form the future tense of -ER and -IR verbs, add the appropriate ending to the infinitive. For -RE verbs, drop the final E before adding the ending. Singular Plural je -ai nous -ons tu -as vous -ez il -a ils -ont Some important verbs are irregular in the futur Verb Future stem acheter j’achèterai aller j’irai avoir j’aurai devoir je devrai être je serai faire je ferai pouvoir je pourrai venir je viendrai voir je verrai Le futur proche is used when the upcoming event is to occur in the near future. It is usually translated as going to. It is formed by simply using the verb aller (to go) with an infinitive. Je vais aller au magasin - I'm going to go to the shop Ils vont manger dans 5 minutes - They are going to eat in 5 minutes The distinction between le futur and le futur proche is not always clear - there are many situations where you can use either one. You can find more practice of French verbs at www.happychild.org.uk/freeway/french