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Secondary education

French GCSE - reluctant student!

4 replies

Imbroglio · 12/06/2014 20:39

My otherwise bright and able son has flunked his Y10 French. Every single controlled assessment. I know he can get a pass with some effort.

I want to support him to do some catch-up work at home with me. Any ideas for resources? Or for stimulating his interest? He just seems set against learning anything.

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clary · 14/06/2014 01:09

How many CAs has he taken? The board we do at our school requires 2 speaking and 2 written. Can he retake them? (some schools do extra ones in case).

When you say he has flunked, what grades has he got?

I recommend websites like BBC bitesize or games on sites like linguascope or atantot (his school should have a password) or a site called Zondle is good as well. That one has an app you can put on your phone.

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Imbroglio · 14/06/2014 08:29

He's done 4 hand has been getting Fs and Gs, which is completely out of line with his other grades, and others are doing ok so it's not the teacher. Teacher says he is capable. He can redo some but we need a big improvement.

He doesn't seem to be able to learn things or reproduce what he knows in the CA.

I'll have a look at those resources.

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clary · 14/06/2014 17:31

Oh that's not so good. What is the problem? The two main issues my weakest students had this year were 1) not writing anything like enough and 2) not putting any verbs in their sentences.

If he can keep his sentences very simple, but make sure he uses verbs and a few connectives (simple ones, et, mais etc) and two opinions with reasons for them and then he writes 200 words, that's a C grade.

Is it a learning issue? Try sticking the key bits up all over the house so he is reading them while brushing his teeth. Record the draft to his MP3 so he can listen to it on the bus to school.

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Imbroglio · 14/06/2014 17:55

Thanks Clary.

He seems to have decided he 'can't' learn and he doesn't enjoy French. He reads stuff over and over (I know this isn't a good technique and we've discussed this but he's reluctant to do anything else) and of course it doesn't go in.

But he's getting As in other arts subjects so it's not a question of ability.