Revising MFLs

[TeenAndTween]

Any y11 parents out there who can tell me how DCs are meant to revise MFLs?

(It alright, this isn't a last minute panic, this is a y10 parent thinking ahead!)

I teach MFL. It is a hard subject to revise for. I suggest weekly learning if vocab as that will really help with the listening & reading papers. Edexel have a vocab list online so DC could would their way through it. Now would be a good time to start! They could also use websites such as linguascope.com to practise vocab especially the listening. There are some apps as well ( I can't remember what they're called) which help with vocab recognition.

Meant to add little & often is the best way with mfl

Thank you - I'll look out linguascope

Are the GCSE revision guides useful for MFLs? We have them for Science, English and History but have not yet invested for French and Spanish.

I really like the pearsonschools MFL revision work books www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/Secondary/Revision/Modern-Languages/GCSE-Modern-Languages-revision.aspx - exam questions from a range of topics in a range of grades. There are some different questions for different exam boards but they are largely the same (you can get them on amazon too - might be worth looking for a cheap AQA & OCR one post GCSE that's barely been used to get more practise in!) I haven't used the co-ordinating revision guide much but it does contain a few more listening activities to have a go at. I second linguascope too - your DC will have a log on from school. The co-ordinating apps for apple (maybe android too?) are also really good but you'll have to but those yourself.

My dd1 has used memrise a lot. There's quizlet as well.

And dd2 liked the Pearson books, revision guide and workbook in each language.

My stepmum used to go for a walk with me in the evenings and as we walked she would test me on my vocabulary. Those evening walks are one of my fondest memories.

Yy to vocab learning. Split it into topics (look at AQA or Edexcel website for list) and maybe write down a few words that group together and learn one list of 10 words per week.

Have key phrases written up about the house. Get them to say little bits in French (or whatever!) instead of English, eg talking about food, what she has done that day, what she's watching on TV etc.

Tenses are so key so make sure they are up on past and future and how to form them.

Linguascope, Atantot, Zondle are all good online resources. Yes GCSe revision guides are well worth having.

I like Duolingo - you can download it free to a phone (mine and DD's are Android, but I can't believe there isn't an iPhone version). It makes a bit of a game out of revising and is easy to keep up with every day.

There's an AQA vocab app that's quite good.

Back in the mists of time I had a Collins gem French vocab book. 5000 words. In little sections - like the AQA app. I learnt the entire book. Cover to cover. Plus grammar rules. I got an A, and I was genuinely crap at French (my BF was gifted at languages, so I had an easy comparator of someone who could 'do it'). Having all that vocab in the bag helped my confidence and helped me pick up marks to compensate for the ones I lost by being turgid and lacking flair. I know French is tested differently these days, but I suspect vocab is still a big element. And as I said - knowing you know it boosts your confidence. And that is worth more than you'd think.

DD1 never really 'got' the message about vocab. DS has, and seems to be on track for a better result. I am going to start DD2 on the French vocab app as soon as her SATs are over. It's a series of quizzes and she likes quizzes so hopefully she will have a decent grounding in knowkedge (without being able to apply it, sure) when she starts at secondary school in the autumn.

I think it's quite useful to break it down into the different skills.

So reading - practice is useful here. Lots of online resources. BBC Bitesize. Practice papers for the various boards (don't worry about them being for your particular board - the more the merrier.

Writing - learn some useful phrases for getting those good grades. They can generally be used in any setting. Practice writing a piece on a topic (homes, family school, holidays - whatever), getting those phrases in. Make them second nature. Get those different tenses in!

Listening - again go online.

Vocab - there should be a prescribed list. Go through and remove everything your DC knws or can make a good guess at. Learn what's left. Though this might be a bit late !

Thank you all, lots of good ideas. We'll look at the online stuff and invest in some GCSE books.

TheWordFactory hopefully not too late, she's only y10 at the moment!

Ah, sorry, I though you were year 11 and the GCSE was upon you.

Not too late at all!

Memrise is a good resource for learning/testing vocab. Second the suggestion of doing past papers from any board. My ds took German in year 7 and he did all the past papers I could find - excellent practice for the real exam.