French Extension 2015 Thread! (1 Viewer)

[Tsonga]

I went to the Macquarie day last year for Continuers and it was a complete waste of time. They split the program up into the four sections (reading, listening, writing, speaking) and only for speaking did they actually have someone who knew what they were talking about. Basically, I came out of it saying to myself that I didn't hear anything that I didn't already know, just a matter of doing things and putting them into practice.
Having said that, the feedback for extension was slightly better but I think the best events to go to are the speaking ones. I think there is one being hosted in June/July at St Andrews in the Sydney CBD where they go through full questions from all topics in small groups, which I'll definitely be attending.

Also 8 days in between last exam and French Ext. it's going to be annoying when I see everyone finishing their exams and celebrating!

 

[nomieee]

I went to the Macquarie day last year for Continuers and it was a complete waste of time. They split the program up into the four sections (reading, listening, writing, speaking) and only for speaking did they actually have someone who knew what they were talking about. Basically, I came out of it saying to myself that I didn't hear anything that I didn't already know, just a matter of doing things and putting them into practice.
Having said that, the feedback for extension was slightly better but I think the best events to go to are the speaking ones. I think there is one being hosted in June/July at St Andrews in the Sydney CBD where they go through full questions from all topics in small groups, which I'll definitely be attending.

Also 8 days in between last exam and French Ext. it's going to be annoying when I see everyone finishing their exams and celebrating!

Is it really?! damnit it's on my birthday I don't want to sit through it if it's gonna be stuff I already know! Especially if I can be eating cake lol.

Yeah I think we're going to the speaking day at Blacktown Girls or something, just because half our class has a Modern study day on the same day as the St Andrews one.

Hahah yes so much feel! although a lot of my friends do VA and Food Tech so they're coming with me to the end!

 

[panicatthehsc]

Looks like we'll all see eachother at Macquarie!

Am I the only one here doing art as well as French Extension on the last day?! I feel so alone!!! xD

For some reason I'm actually feeling really confident about all my subjects, even though I'm not doing brilliantly in some of them...I think I've just dropped the pressure off the HSC completely.

 

[nomieee]

Am I the only one here doing art as well as French Extension on the last day?! I feel so alone!!! xD

oh dude that's rough!! Last two exams in the actual HSC and you got them both! At least there'll be others suffering right to the end with you, just not to your extent haha.

I'm quite excited for this Macquarie day even though it's supposed to be repetitive just because it's always good to get information from people who know what they're talking about - plus my teacher is the one organising it so I kinda have to go haha.

 

[nomieee]

How did everyone find the NAFT day at Macquarie? I actually found it really useful even if it was stuff that my teacher had already told me. Admittedly I did enjoy the extension lecture a lot more than the continuers one. How good was the sample empathy task?! I did that one as a practice for half yearlies and I was like omg if that's a 10 mine was a 2

 

[panicatthehsc]

The NAFT thing was okay - the extension part was SO much better than the continuers. But that part where we had to act out the quotes was extremely awkward o.o

Anyway, I don't know how you guys are going with your studying for extension, but I know that (being the only student in my class) I am really struggling with practicing. I have no one to bounce off ideas with!! Would anyone be comfortable meeting up for a study session at some point? To share notes, tips etc. and do a bit of peer marking? I'd find it super helpful! I can travel anywhere so I'd love to hear if anyone wants to join me!!

 

[oceans]

I would mayyybe be up for some sort of study day.. it's tricky because i've got something on almost every weekend in the foreseeable future, but if a few other people are interested it could be really helpful!

An unrelated question: for the essays/monologues, are people memorizing statistics for the relevant issues? As in, x% of marriages end in divorce... y% of france's population are immigrants... z% of australian teenagers say they have suffered from bullying... ??

and also, one of the biggest places I'm struggling with is in the essays, where my teacher says that i should be using a big range of tenses, not just present tense. and I totally understand why that's obviously going to earn you more marks, it's just.. it feels really unnatural to write with anything other than present tense. and when i'm spending too much time trying to force it, i lose time.

also, arghhhh monologues will be my downfall. i feel like lately i am making no progress at all - they're full of "ummms" and "aahhhhs" and i find it really, really hard to write my notes in a way that i can expand off them. i just read straight off them, because otherwise i go mind blanked.

that said, i am really enjoying french extension even though i'm the only one in my class.. even though it's challenging and difficult, it's just a totally different atmosphere to all my other classes, so it doesn't feel as stressful (even though it is)... sorry that probably made no sense though.

 

[nomieee]

I feel that so much. Every single monologue practice I do is like 3 minutes with roughly 1.5 minutes of euhhh... I have my trial monologue next Monday and now our class is down to 4 people and those four people are like way ahead of me with the whole monologue thing as they all have some degree of fluency due to a) being native speakers or b) having spent time in France for exchanges. So like I'm pretty screwed. But I am hoping to improve on my 7 from the half yearlies. I'd be ecstatic with an 8. I've just kind of accepted my fate to be last so I'm just gonna do my best not to drag everyone else down.

The way I jump into different tenses in essays is using a past statistic. Like you could say "Par exemple, en France en 2008, x% des jeunes ont dit qu'ils ont eu des problems avec ses parents." (PC) or "Par exemple, en Australie en 1956, c'etait moins probable pour les homosexuels d'etre aceptes dans notre societe" (Imperfect)

Those are just examples that come off the top of my head and of course the use of PC and Imperfect would depend on what type of essay question it is. Also if the question is on something that needs to be changed (ie. racism) "Il faut qu'on fasse quelque chose pour l'ameliorer" which is what i've rote learned haha.


Anyways something crossed my mind the other day after doing a monologue practice session with my teacher the other day - what if the examiners misunderstand you when they're listening to your monologue... Like I was discussing racism and used the example that my mum was Jamaican and the racist attitudes that she experienced when she moved here and my teacher thought I was saying Germanique and Germaniquenne thinking I was trying to say Germany and German and I was actually saying Jamaique and Jamaiquenne and like I was pronouncing it pretty clearly as well and when I clarified with her at the end she was like "OH! Yeah you were saying that right but I didn't have Jamaica in mind" Do you reckon this could happen in the HSC? What if one examiner thinks it's one word and goes "damn listen to this kid trying to say Germany" and then because they have Germany in mind everyone else goes "as if she doesn't know the word for Germany" and I'm not even saying Germany! Sorry probably totally unfounded paranoia but it makes me scared!

 

[Alisarter]

Hello,
what does this expression in french "se remettre en question" means in english?

 

[Tsonga]

Any thoughts on the speaking questions for Saturday?

I think something from the Relationships issue (family, school, community)

 

[nomieee]

I will jump out the window if both questions are relationships.

I am PRAYING for it to be a question on Racism or Access to Education or like any other tolerance question because DAMN THAT WOULD BE GOOD!

Where are you guys going for yours? I'm at Shore at 9am so I don't even get to sleep in :/

 

[Tsonga]

I think all extension students were told to arrive at 9am.

Considering last year was exclusion (rejection of others) and origins/future (social class) I think it's likely to be tolerance/relationships.
Just out of curiosity, what areas would you focus on for racism?

 

[nomieee]

ITS OVER!!!

Which question did everyone choose? Imo they were both pretty shit but I chose the first one because I was just blanking on the second one which was the worst because I really didn't want to do relationships at all! I feel like it went okay, but mostly just happy it's over!

 

[shay_la7]

Hey guys idk if anyone will reply hahahah but I'm just wondering whether or not to take up French Extension moving my number of units from 13 to 14.

At the moment I take Ext Maths, Adv English, Chemistry, Biology, French Continuers and Spanish Beginners. I wasn't considering it before but after learning that it will only be one morning class a week and considering I already wake up pretty early in the mornings and live close to my school it won't be much of a hassle. Also I feel like it will improve my continuers even if I only take it for a bit. I'm doing decent in all of my subjects at the moment (except English but I can't drop anyway ) and I also enjoy all the subjects I'm doing. Is doing 14 units even for just a bit a bad idea?

 

[m3medes]

Hey guys idk if anyone will reply hahahah but I'm just wondering whether or not to take up French Extension moving my number of units from 13 to 14.

At the moment I take Ext Maths, Adv English, Chemistry, Biology, French Continuers and Spanish Beginners. I wasn't considering it before but after learning that it will only be one morning class a week and considering I already wake up pretty early in the mornings and live close to my school it won't be much of a hassle. Also I feel like it will improve my continuers even if I only take it for a bit. I'm doing decent in all of my subjects at the moment (except English but I can't drop anyway ) and I also enjoy all the subjects I'm doing. Is doing 14 units even for just a bit a bad idea?

Jesus...... please don't take 14 units it'll completely kill you. French extension is a great course, but what is your extra 2 units? I only count 11. Extension helps massively with vocab and speaking (monologues......) but it is alot of work if you wanna get the benefits of it. Need to do your own research and there aren't many resources. I would recommend the course but don't do 14 units. I'm on 11, (currently doing HSC) and i did 4 x the amount of work for extension that continuers during the term and for assessments, but i still copped 75% for my extension marks as oppossed to high 90's for continuers.

 

[m3medes]

*EDIT*

I realise Ext 1 maths involves 2U as well. Sorry. But please drop 2 of your units, I'm not sure how you're performing but I'd say Spanish Beginners is good to drop as beginners languages scale bad compared to your others, it's alot of work for vocab etc.