What are LOTE exams like? (1 Viewer)

[seremify007]

As in- if you're a native speaker.. do you find them challenging or easy?

I always wondered that...

Anyhow this is the first post on this forum.. *populates it*

 

[frenchic]

Everyone assumes that if you are a native speaker they will be eaaasy for you, but I dont find it that way. But we shall see tomorrow how I go, I dont want to do these silly exams, no escaping now...arrrghh

 

[orchid_violet]

I have french continuers tomorrow and I'm not a native speaker... oh, listening is so challenging!!!! I have an exam everyday this week.... but finish next friday!! yay! yay!

 

[pLuvia]

Hardly anyone assumes you are a native speaker.

About the LOTE tests, they consist of Reading and Writing and Responding, Listening and Speaking. In my opinion Listening is the hardest followed by Reading and Writing then Speaking, which isn't hard at all.

 

[frenchic]

i dont like reading & responding part, it gets too confusing, an advantage is you write it in english. I shall go study now...

 

[seremify007]

I should ask.. is there much advantage in being native speaker or is it like English whereby sure we can all speak English- but it doesn't make studying Poetry & Shakespeare that much easier (apart from being able to understand it)

 

[Ems xox]

Lote

i do indonesian continuers by correspondence through the open highschool. does anyone else do language by correspondence?
I definately think in some languages being a background speaker is an advantage but in others like japanese if you are a background speaker you must do the background speaker's course which caters to the experience gained through being a background speaker therefore in this case it doesnt make a difference.
oh and i agree with whoever said listening is the hardest! by far! and speaking i thought would be harder but its pretty easy YAY!

 

[pLuvia]

Yeh being a native speaker you are not allowed to the continuers or extension course, you have to do the background speakers course. But I'm not sure why my friend who is Greek does the Greek Continuers and Extension I think is allowed . He does it through OHS, and is ranked first or second obviously, but he says that there are other native Greeks there lol

And his sister and himself have won a competition to go overseas to Greece, like writing an essay or something. And the advantage of being a native speaker AND doing Greek Continuers is that it scales so well.

But doing the background speakers scales down

 

[seremify007]

How do they know if you are BS'ing or not about ur background?

Btw... nice Sig Kadlil- I was like.. 12 days until HSC commences... and then read it carefully =P

 

[Superstar44]

I do Spanish Continuers. and i'm abit put under pressure cuz i mean if i don't get 100% i mean how bad does that look for me... i usually get 90s.. stills looks bad... i speak the laguage at home and still can;'t get 100% in my 1st lauange.. the reading and responding is easy.. like english bs all way through it... umm listening is tough .. write everything important down and use up 10mins to write it porperly and i get 100% in that section.. writing is where i hate.. i mean i can write it but... the little tricky lines accent .. can make u lose the amrks.. or just writing sumtihng as you would in english... cuz everything in other other lanauges is backward.. like how r u.. would be u r how.. lol.. well spanihs tommorrow.. italian will be harder.. next week followed by extension spanish.. even if i get my usual marks 90s are good.. although i studied more than when i did then.. good luck to all

 

[elisabeth]

There is no comparison between doing a continuer's course (NOT background speakers) and doing English like we do, if you're a native speaker.

It's not like you study texts or poetry or have to write long essays. It's a joke! A 6 mark question is something like: "Write a note to your parents explaining why you had to borrow the car". Imagine if we did our English papers like that!

I imagine it would be heaps easier and although I'm not a native speaker, I'd be ashamed if I did crap in something that should be so much easier. Especially if you're beaten by people who aren't fluent or aren't natives

 

[mishka]

Not all languages in the HSC have a background speakers' course, either. I did Spanish Continuers last year and when I had to go to Parramatta for my speaking, I was one of a few who looked like they didn't have a latino background (not saying anything bad about latinos ) but because there is no background speakers' course, all students with a background (regardless of whether or not they speak the language at home) must do the continuers' course.

I still managed to get a band 4 for Spanish Continuers, which placed me about top 55% (doesn't sound too good I know, but still in the top half of the people doing it!!) but I had only been learning the language since year 8.

I think it's great that the HSC allows you to explore languages - I would like to see more of a push for students to give languages a go.

 

[tama]

hi

i took Japanese background exam today n im native speaker. It was Ok but bit hard because i only got 2 hours for writing and we had to write 4 or 5 essays and do reading and response as well.

 

[PublicUser]

Yeh being a native speaker you are not allowed to the continuers or extension course, you have to do the background speakers course. But I'm not sure why my friend who is Greek does the Greek Continuers and Extension I think is allowed . He does it through OHS, and is ranked first or second obviously, but he says that there are other native Greeks there lol

And his sister and himself have won a competition to go overseas to Greece, like writing an essay or something. And the advantage of being a native speaker AND doing Greek Continuers is that it scales so well.

But doing the background speakers scales down

That's completely wrong - you can do the Continuers and Extension classes whether you're a native speaker or not.
My friend was born in France, speaks French fluently and she's in my Extension class. She told me that she started off doing the native speakers class but found that it was a waste of time, because those courses are aimed at people who are fluent in the non-English language but don't necessarily have a good command of the English language. In the Continuers and Extension courses, the assumption is that you are fluent in English - if you happen to also be fluent in French, well, that's just a bonus.

 

[elisabeth]

It just depends whether there IS a background speakers course. Obviously for the less well-known/popular languages like Hindi or Danish or whatever, there aren't beginners and continuers courses, just a background speakers one for people who want their native skills to count for something.

I don't think the BS courses are aimed at people who aren't fluent in English, only their chosen language... I reckon they're just aimed at people with native proficiency in the chosen language. I don't see what English has to do with much. Similarly, the continuers courses seem to suit people who are natives and people who have just been learning the language for a long time.

 

[VQ]

I just simply don't understand how these scaling thing going on..

This is my thoughts: if they put background speakers scaled low due to the fact that we have spoken the language most of our life, we should have found the course easy and can easily get a high mark (which is not really true as we may speak the language and use the language daily but can not quite analyse text and write a sophisticated essay), then why should they put ESL with low scale as well? I mean, the logic is, we did not speak English as much and we may have difficulties in getting high marks (different with the natives)....can someone explain this to me?

Anyway, I did Indonesian background speakers and it was 2h50mins full of writings...the listening part was fine and the rest was okay, but could not predict the marks...