French translation?

[bkgirl]

Hi there, I don't know where to ask online, I am embarassed asking on here (again).
My son is in yr 11 and has an important homework to do for french. I was lucky to get into double digits in french exams myself and don't know who to ask for help.
Can anyone read it and tell me if there are any bits that do not make sense/bad grammar? Sorry for asking...eeek!

Bonjour, je m'appelle James. Mon école est nomme XXXX College. C’est Un grande et vieux scolaire. Je ne aime pas les couloirs étroits, c’est difficile a trouver mon route autour, il n'y a pas beaucoup d'espace
Ma matiere prefere a l’ecole est l’histoire, parce que ce est intriguant. Il est aussi plus facile que les mathematiques. Je ne supporte pas la chimie, parce que c’est ennuyeux. j'aime l’histoire parce que c’est facile et j’ai un bon prof . J'aime la Geographie parce que c’est interessant et amusant.
Dans mon college. Nous je porton uniforme. Je porte un blazer rouge, en cravate rouge et bleus, une chemise blanc, pantalon noir, et chaussures noir. Malheureusement, ma blazer est tres inconfortable.
Le bus arrive a 08h20 et j’arrive a l’ecole a 08h50. Je ai généralement deux heures de cours avant l'assemblage et un heure avant le dejeuner. L’ecole finit a 15h40.
Je naime pas qu’en on doit apporter le material al travail necessaire a l’ecole, car il rend on sac tres lourd. Je pense qu’il est une regle stupide. Je pense aussi que vous devriez être capable de manger de la nourriture dans la classe si vous venez d'acheter à partir de la cantine.
Dans l'avenir, je prévois d'être un écologiste ou un historien. Je ne l'ai pas encore obtenu de nombreux plans.

[fourcorneredcircle]

That looks suspiciously like his controlled assessment. The best "help" I will offer is that you shouldn't be helping him and he should stop using google translate.

[brusselssprout81]

Hello there, I am French (and new here). I teach GCSE myself and it is the 'controlled assessment' most definitely. It seems like someone else has looked at the text for him ?

[bkgirl]

Thanks, I think it is indeed. Thing is I know other parents holiday in France, have holiday homes there or even can just speak it well themselves, other kids do get help at home. I can't which is why I asked. He has managed the best way he can, I feel I am letting him down by not being able to offer anything. I would have loved for him to go on the school trip too but finances won't allow.
I would just love to know if there was anything wrong.

[skylark2]

I agree - he's got to stop using Google Translate. It does individual words. He needs to write some French phrases or sentences which he can manage, not write English sentences and then try to translate them literally.

[TheFirstOfHerName]

Je ne supporte pas la chimie, parce que c’est ennuyeux

Je pense qu'il ne aime pas français non plus.

[brusselssprout81]

Skylark - This is what I would advise as well !

[bkgirl]

Oh dear. Now very worried. Thank you. I will have to find someone to help him.

[brusselssprout81]

Bkgirl - I can look at it and give you some ideas but I will not be able to correct it of course.

[Tisy10]

If it's controlled assessment he is not allowed to get someone else to help him. He needs to use his exercise and texts books and he can use a dictionary. His teacher should have taught him everything he needs to put into it. Google translate is not allowed and is rubbish for translating anything more than words anyway. If he needs an online dictionary, wordreference.com is far better (it's a dictionary online not a translator). What he has written will score very low.

[TheFirstOfHerName]

He needs to write some French phrases or sentences which he can manage, not write English sentences and then try to translate them literally.

This is what DS1 has done for his German controlled assessment. At first he was trying to compose something in English and then translate it into German, but his German is not great (we are not a family of linguists!) and he was getting much lower marks than he did in speaking, listening or reading.

Now he has changed his strategy, and for the recent CA he learned whole phrases in German rather than individual words.

[titchy]

Here's a random thought - it's his GCSE, maybe, oh I don't know, HE SHOULD DO IT HIMSELF.

[fourcorneredcircle]

Brussel please don't do that. You know it's against the rules if you teach GCSE. You're just feeding in to inflated grades etc. We all want the best for our students but cheating isn't the way forward.

I presume he has a French book(s) full of corrected work including giving opinions about his school subjects, talking about his uniform, describing his future plans etc. The teacher wouldn't have set him a CA on something that they haven't been working on in class (probably since September). He needs to look at what he has in his book and go from there.

[brusselssprout81]

Tisy10 - SPOT ON !

[fourcorneredcircle]

X Post with Tisy10!

[TheFirstOfHerName]

To be fair, titchy, some 15-16 year olds need a little more guidance and support than others. Pointing them on the right path (and away from google translate) is not the same as sitting exams for them.

[brusselssprout81]

Fourcorneredcircle - yes you are absolutely right ! I think wine maybe is affecting me tonight

[LoopyLoopyLoopy]

Firstly, you absolutely should not be trying to get help for him on the internet- it won't actually help him at all, will it? If his CA were actually perfect, would his teacher submit it? I doubt it.

It looks to me like he has got frustrated and thrown everything he has been taught out the window, then cheated with google translate. I would not accept this CA because it's very obviously not his work.

He needs to sit down with the task sheet, any vocab sheets given, his exercise book and text book if he has one. He then needs to plug away phrase by phrase (not word by word).

Please don't try and do his work for him. The end result of his education should surely be that he has learned something. Him cheating, or you cheating for him, wont help anyone.

[steppemum]

this is an example of why translating from what you have written in english to french word by word doesn't work:

To ask what your name is in French you say Comment s'appelle tu? So if I was doing a word for word translating from french to english I would end up with the phrase:
How do they call you?
Which makes no sense in English. You have to learn the whole phrase that is used in the language, in this case What is your name?

So in order to write well in french he has to learn those whole phrases, and not learn word by word.

Does that make sense?

[bkgirl]

I don't want anyone to do it for him and no I won't be doing it. I need him to understand what he is doing so thanks I agree with the strategy....keep away from google translate, find full phrases from his text book and lace them together - wordreference.com looks good. He was bullied a lot and lost confidence and won't speak much in class. I need someone who can teach him a little and he won't be scared to ask a question.Thanks everyone for all your help.

[TheFirstOfHerName]

Does the French department at his (big, old) school have an LSA who could give him some support? They might be able to build his confidence a bit.

[VanillaHoney]

bkgirl

I would bin that piece... Sorry.
Not sure if you have BBC bitesize but from what I can remember there are some good pieces in those books one can adapt. If he is not confident writing the piece himself he could "borrow" some sentences from his school books or bitesize and put them together so they make sense..

[fromparistoberlin73]

main pourquoi to fair les devoirs pour ton fils? c'est affreux OP

mon dieux - mon francais est tres tres merde de nos jours

[bkgirl]

It's binned :) Just spoke to him and he is starting again. His confidence in everything is in bits so that's definately the way to go - full phrases. I do appreciate the advice, just ashamed of my own incompetence. Anyway, got a cunning plan now and I am so glad you were all honest and helpfu. Thanks :)

[Boysandme]

Good to see that he's starting again.

Remind him to check that he is using the right form of the adjectives depending on whether the word he is describing is masculine/feminine and singular/plural too.

[bkgirl]

I will indeed, thanks. Maybe I will get him to teach me! Looking at the online resources...amazing really.