My lad is doing his GCSEs this year including French.

He keeps getting these exams/tests to do which count towards his GCSE. All fair enough so far.

But what he is being told to do seems to be totally ridiculous.

He has to first write out in French the answer to 5 questions on a topic in so many words (can’t remember how much but it is not inconsiderable).

The next bit is to me the totally daft bit.
He has to learn this text by wrote & then recite it off in a controlled test parrot fashion which all takes a considerable effort.

He’s a bright lad, very good at Maths & Sciences but this tedious learning really winds him up.

Languages always wound me up despite acing science and maths.

Does sound as though the teachers are trying to make them think about both the spelling/grammar in the foreign language and the pronunciation. What are they actually marked on?

repetition = muscle memory, that includes speech.

it’s a bit like music; lot’s of scales, more scales, and more scales.

when you think you’ve had enough, practise some more scales.

ha – i’ll tell him that – He’s got his grade 5 Jazz Sax exam in a few weeks.

As to what they are marked on – I believe he does not have to actually stick to his text. He basically just has to talk sense. Hard at the best of times for a teenager in his own language!

Sounds pretty easy, straight translation (with grammar) and then repetition. Seem to recall it used to be the writing part then questioned on it in the language and needing to respond likewise with a valid answer. That was the final verbal test though, so id ask if its the only test like this or are there many more.

They must need some elements of preparation – if you just asked GCSE students to answer questions in French, off the cuff, then you could only examine on a very basic level – Ou est le chat? Le chat est sur la chaise. That sort of stuff.

Writing out your own answer to something more substantial, then verbalising it correctly, sounds pretty normal.

If it is anything like my exams were (many years ago) then there was a section where you had to write a letter or describe a holiday in both the written and the oral parts. There were key phrases that you could used to maximise your marks.
Hopefully the teacher is working towards getting the class up to a basic level of ability but making sure they also pass their exams. If they are all fantastic conversationally but end up missing out on grades due to not being able to repeat the key phrases looked for by the examiners

I should add that just spewing out the phrases won’t help unless you can also string them together in a coherent sense…

non. mange tout.

Exams are easier then when I was a lad. Fact. Controlled assessments can also seem a bit pointless. Also a fact.

Well they say certain people have an aptitude for learning languages – I am not one of those people and have always struggled with it. My memories of learning languages is similar – repetitive memorising of phrases, vocabulary and structures of the grammar. I never got it – but then again I had a shocking education in English, so hadn’t grasped the technicalities and formal structure of my own language, let alone trying to learn that of another language.

I’m sure there is a better way, but I can’t help thinking age is the biggest factor and probably the biggest difference between us and other countries. When I was 4 we spent about 8 months in Holland and apparently I had a couple of Dutch friends an could speak fluent Dutch to them. I’m damned if I can remember a single word now.

Being good at languages is about being a good mimic and being able to copy the sounds. After that comes grammar and vocab. The best part of my modern languages degree was the language lab sessions, which was where I learned some quite subtle differences in French vowel sounds. For example the difference between eu and ou.

Hard at the best of times for a teenager in his own language!

You may just have hit the nail on the head. Whilst probably not the best way to become fluent at the language, it is possibly the best way to pass the exam, especially for 30 kids who don’t telly care all at once.

Haven’t been involved with gcse for three years but this seems standard. They have to prepare a written piece then do a spoken exam. If it there were no preparation then most would freeze which isn’t good for the spoken element which is recorded and sent off.

Oh and passing exams is just jumping through a series of hoops set by the examining authority. No one, apart from them, think it’s good. It just has to be done.

ha – i’ll tell him that – He’s got his grade 5 Jazz Sax exam in a few weeks.

As to what they are marked on – I believe he does not have to actually stick to his text.
Perfect for a jazzer.

It was the same when i did mine 14 years ago. We were even allowed in a crib sheet as long as it didnt use any french words. So mine was pretty much a ‘sounds like’ followed by 2 a4 pages of pictures.

You still had to do a conversation at the end which was random but on the same topic so as long as you didn’t contradict what you just said was fairly straightforward.