Suggestions for improving French A level grade - particularly improving accuracy

[gloriagloria]

DD is in year 12 doing 3 A levels. For two she is doing really well, but is finding French more challenging. She missed quite a bit of school during her GCSEs which I think is not helping - we got her to a good GCSE standard (7) with a tutor but think there is still some stuff missing. She says she loses marks with small errors - accents, spelling but they all add up. Does anyone have any ideas of apps etc. that would be useful for improving accuracy? She has continued to have a tutor but is still not at a similar level to her other A level attainment, and that will limit her choices.

Would it be within your budget to send her to a French residential camp for a week or two? It did absolute wonders for my DD because they are completely immersed in the language and have daily lessons. It helps them to see it used in daily life.
CIA offer a variety of different courses, some with activities like watersports French language camp in Antibes | Program for kids and teens

Thanks for the recommendation. Yes we'd be happy to do that, but not sure she would go. I think something like that would be really good over the summer. I've suggested a revision course over Easter (just in the UK) but she says there are specific things she needs to focus on rather than the more general.

DD1 did a week’s course for sixth formers doing A level at the Institut Francais in London, and found it excellent.

@FartyPrincess that's an idea - she may be more prepared to do that than go to France by herself, which is a shame.

Some good ideas here @gloriagloria

It’s great that she is taking an MFL (my subject) for A level so well done her. A 7 is a very good GCSE grade in general of course, but IMHO it’s the minimum for MFL A level, as it is a qualification that so much builds on GCSE - and less than a 7 as a rule implies to me that some key elements are lacking. So it’s a good plan to try to look at any issues now.

A lot of the grammar and vocab needed to do well at A level won’t be covered in classes - so are her verbs and tenses secure? Is she strong on genders and plurals, adjective endings and use of prepositions?

There are language apps like Duolingo and Memrise (actually not sure if there is an app, but it’s a useful website). The best way to progress tho imo is to identify where you are getting things wrong and then learn the right answer. However you do that best - post its around the house, look cover check, flashcards, someone testing you. Dd was not great at adjective agreement, it was a real blind spot for her. It’s just practice you often need but there’s no magic answer. Luckily she has lots of time.

I think lots of reading in french is the best way for spelling and grammar. Whatever she enjoys and finds easy to read eg translations of harry potter or crime novels, newspapers.

Thanks everyone - I wasn’t actually keen on her doing French as it wasn’t one of her stronger subjects and there are gaps. She needs the minimum of a B for what she wants to do - she’ll get higher hopefully in her other two subjects. I think she’ll get there but am more worried about her predicted grades as they’re set quite soon. I think she just probably needs to go over stuff again and again. Will suggest flash cards. She uses Duolingo already.

But reading fiction is not that helpful because it's written in the passé simple which is not what is required for normal writing/speaking.

French a level is really hard. Well it was when I did it in 1996!
the one thing that helped me enormously was going to stay with a (lovely) French family for two weeks in the summers between years 12-13. They weren’t complete unknowns though, the mum was a friend of my teacher.

unless you know a family in France this could be difficult and it sounds like your dd won’t be keen.

If it’s the accuracy stuff like spelling and accents, then rewinding to the good old basics of how learn the equivalent in English is worth trying.

In primary, plenty of people learn spellings by writing the word out many times, then the look / cover / check.

You have the list of words, she sits with paper while you cook and chat. Call them
out and practise.

Oh watching French stuff on Netflix , even if keeping the subtitles on, is great. Lupin is a good start.

As is reading the French versions of English novels that she already knows.

And realistically, this is probably a paper and pen activity - not an app one.

Duolingo may not be particularly helpful, as it’s pretty forgiving on minor errors.

You reading from a French text, and her writing it down dictation style then checking is another way.

It won't help with the writing - that's just a question of learning and remembering I'm afraid.
But get her to listen to the Inner French podcasts. They are excellent.

I agree with @ScaryM0nster - if it's spelling and accents where she's losing marks then traditional methods of doing lots of writing is best at addressing that.

When I was learning languages pre-internet apps, there were books (usually American) of verb and grammar drills with exercises that you just keep repeating. Repetition is key.

Dictation exercises like @ScaryM0nster suggests would be great. If no one at home can read the passages aloud, she could try finding suitable recorded materials and play them at slow speed. There might even be specific dictation exercises available commercially.

Even repeatedly copying written passages would help - I used to do that and learned new vocabulary at the same time.

Yes I agree with @ScaryM0nster too, this is about drills and learning. I often find with threads about MFL posters recommend watching French TV which is fine, and fun, and can’t do any harm - but it ain’t going to get her to learn spellings and endings and tenses. Sorry but there is no quick fix here. She needs to learn them, most likely in a dull way. Luckily as I said she has IDd the issue and has lots of time to work on it.

My son is learning a foreign language with a native speaker via online platform Verbling. It's his 2nd foreign language. I highly recommend Verbling. Much cheaper than UK based tutors too

Thanks all. I think drills are the thing, although she hates them! She does have weekly spelling but my guess is once she's done the spelling test she doesn't revisit much.

Can she write in French cursive? Give her somes seyes paper and a blue pen for the full French student experience.

When I did A level French in the old days before the internet, I bought a little book of verb tables like this Collins Gem book of French verb tables and would literally open it at random and test myself on them. Also helps with learning a wide range of verbs you might not normally come across. Just the plain old look/cover/write/check drill. It’s probably one of the easiest and best revision things you can do.

Spending time in France is by far the best way to improve. Particularly if she is spending most her time in a french-speaking environment, rather than with English people.

Beyond that, she could try to do as much immersion as she can from home. Watch movies and tv shows in french, set her phone and apps into french, read french books or comics, find a french conversation partner who wants to practice their English to chat online (there are sites that set this up).

I think that Duolingo is quite good - I was a lazy learner & did 2 language A levels, I am brushing up my French & learning a new language & I find that having to keep repeating exercises until I get sentences right very effective. As a teen I’d have kidded myself that I’d come back to them.

If she says the problem is spelling I bet it's actually grammar. Things like adjective agreements with gender and number, and verb endings when they all sound the same. She could ask her teacher for more exercises on these, and practise writing out conjugations of all the main groups of regular verbs in the present tense, etc.

Netflix. French subtitles on everything you watch in English. But watch some stuff in French if you can.