Advice for non-Frenchperson doing French?!?! (2 Viewers)

[Guage]

Ok...

So my sis, currently in Yr9, is currently doing French and is considering doing it for HSC. I know it's early to judge ability and whatever, but she came 1st in French out of ~80 Yr8's at a top 10 school in NSW. I'm bloody incompetent and can't offer her any advice, so I have a few questions on her behalf!

I'm concerned that she might be up against native speakers of French come HSC exam time, or at least those who have had some kind of background/prior knowledge with French. I'm afraid she could be out of her depth. (...I have these fears because I know a lot of native Russians doing Russian at my school, and they'll obviously pwn it. What about the poor non-Russianfolk doing the course, who demonstrated a bit of a knack for it in earlier grades but are still gonna be blown out of the water by my vodka-drinking friends?)

What are people's experiences with French or a language who had no background with it? She's got brains enough for a great UAI (99+), is French well scaled? Are there extra units of French Ext etc? Any advice on French or anything languages related would be appreciated

Thanks

 

[iRuler]

tbh like you said, its too early to judge, but if she's doing so well then there shouldnt be a problem in picking up the accent and stuff for hsc to beome jsut as well as native french people or even better. She still has a long time to go and if she's doing so well now at a top 10 school it doesnt matter about scaling because she can do well and I think there is french extension too...

 

[xxstef]

i do both german continuers and german extension, and i am completely not german.
there's obviously going to be an advantage for native speakers, but the funny thing is that they never top the state! so non-natives have just as good a chance of doing well.

the BOS isnt biased towards natives, so its perfectly capable of a non-native to get e.g. 10/10. and even if the natives do something pro, they can't get more than 10/10 as well.

so yea, if she's talented at languages, go for it!
also go check out the language forums, they might have more info.

 

[hermand]

i do french and did french extension [would have continued but something ad to give] and i'm not french at all. i have a very australian accent and i can easily pick up a french accent when i want to. if she's good at it then she'll be fine come hsc time. you learn a lot in the time between year nine and year twelve. she'd be fine =]]. and french is a really interesting, fun subject, so tell her to go for it!!

also, russian isn't a very popular language, so it's usually only the native speakers or ones with some sort of russian heritage that take the language, so in that case, it might be a little harder to get top marks, but noone from my school or my old school that did french was from a french background at all.

 

[Guage]

Ah thanks a heap guys, that reassured me I wasn't aware of those language forums, I'll check em out.

 

[Guage]

Can anyone not access SAM? I tried it today and yesterday AND the day before and no luck...empty white page. I wanted to see how French and French Ext scales compared to my subjects.

 

[xxstef]

Can anyone not access SAM? I tried it today and yesterday AND the day before and no luck...empty white page. I wanted to see how French and French Ext scales compared to my subjects.

languages (apart from beginners and bg speakers) generally scale quite well.

extension is usually better than most subjects actually. apart from 4U maths of course.

 

[Guage]

Cheers steff...sorry to bother you, but could you (or anyone) try access SAM? Just so I know whether it's down or it's just a problem with my account, in which case I'll create a new account and see how it goes

 

[hermand]

Cheers steff...sorry to bother you, but could you (or anyone) try access SAM? Just so I know whether it's down or it's just a problem with my account, in which case I'll create a new account and see how it goes

nah i couldn't get onto sam earlier on today. so it's not just your account. just wait it out, the whole site was down a few days ago, so i'm sure it will be back up & running soon.

 

[Guage]

THanks hermand for the heads up...

 

[aimzlouise]

hey

yeah i do french continuers and ive been doin french since year seven and im not from a french speakin background at all. shamefully

i'm doin in through distance education and i struggle a little like my speakin is fine but nt having a techer there always to ask questions is very annoying. =[

that and i get distracted bad as well i know

so yeah sorry if that doesnt help

aimz

 

[Borbor]

languages (apart from beginners and bg speakers) generally scale quite well.

extension is usually better than most subjects actually. apart from 4U maths of course.

Not true. Most languages are actually quite poor scalers compared to many of the more popular subjects such as chem, phys even economics.

Above 98, 99 then it's a different story as most the scaling gap between subject closes.

But to answer the OP definitely encourage your sister to continue with French! I reckon language study is a must in today's world!

 

[Kittikhun]

She should be fine. Tell her to continue reading the language a lot and I`ll bet you she`ll get into the state rankings especially since she studies at a top 10 school in the state.

Anyway, off topic, learning by distance is hard but hey it`s French and it`s fun aimzlouise! Who`s your OHS teacher?

 

[aimzlouise]

She should be fine. Tell her to continue reading the language a lot and I`ll bet you she`ll get into the state rankings especially since she studies at a top 10 school in the state.

Anyway, off topic, learning by distance is hard but hey it`s French and it`s fun aimzlouise! Who`s your OHS teacher?

yeah but i sometimes loose motivation
ohs? do u mean my distant ed teacher?
if so her name is Tracey Whitby =]

 

[Kittikhun]

yeah but i sometimes loose motivation
ohs? do u mean my distant ed teacher?
if so her name is Tracey Whitby =]

Yeah, the work does get pretty tedious at times. .

Don`t know her but mine is Mrs Shelhot. She`s cool. How`s your teacher?

 

[aimzlouise]

Yeah, the work does get pretty tedious at times. .

Don`t know her but mine is Mrs Shelhot. She`s cool. How`s your teacher?

ahh ok yeah i dont know her, i do it through sotuhern cross distance education centre =]

are you doin noir son blanc, as your books?

 

[Kittikhun]

ahh ok yeah i dont know her, i do it through sotuhern cross distance education centre =]

are you doin noir son blanc, as your books?

Oh. OK, maybe that`s why we don`t know who the bloody hell is each other`s teachers. I thought you were doing French by Open High School! Sorry for any miscomprehension.

Yep, Noir Sur Blanc. My teacher though says not to trust it all to often. Is this the same for you? I have seen some mistakes in there. Anyway, how much each time week do you get to converse with your teacher?

 

[aimzlouise]

Oh. OK, maybe that`s why we don`t know who the bloody hell is each other`s teachers. I thought you were doing French by Open High School! Sorry for any miscomprehension.

Yep, Noir Sur Blanc. My teacher though says not to trust it all to often. Is this the same for you? I have seen some mistakes in there. Anyway, how much each time week do you get to converse with your teacher?

yes i do find mistakes =]
what tp are u up 2?

i converse with my teacher for about 45 mnutes each week although these can vary in time length depending on timetables =]

 

[Kittikhun]

You're lucky! I only got to speak 5 minutes with my teacher today and it was in English. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Book 3, week 1. I better light a fire under it and get my ass moving. You? What are you doing for the HSC? Is the work demanding?

 

[aimzlouise]

You're lucky! I only got to speak 5 minutes with my teacher today and it was in English. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Book 3, week 1. I better light a fire under it and get my ass moving. You? What are you doing for the HSC? Is the work demanding?

the work is very demanding in the hsc. i keep forgetting tt u are still only doing year 11. Year 11 is easy pretty as most of it is revision at the start. Year 12 gets hard doesnt help when i am the only non speaker in my class oh well