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Secondary education

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any french / MFL teachers ?

2 replies

katiestar · 13/05/2009 16:28

DS who is in 3rd year has had to do a 2 minute presentation without notes as part of his French oral using the 4 tenses they have learned so far. He is ,shall we say ,reluctant at French but it is compulsory up to GCSE at his school.He is in the bottom set at his school.
This has been a real challenge as he is not much into public speaking either.He put it together with the help of Babelfish and a bit of help from me and then written it out and asked a French neighbour to check it through.He has practised it through several times a day for a couple of weeks.Something amazing has happened.It has really really helped him with his French generally particularly his conversation which seems to flow a lot better now eg verbs in right tense and much more confident.
However he is really really worried that he has cheated with the presentation by using Bablfish and getting it checked (although French friend made very few alterations)
He says the teacher didn't say they couldn't but are always going on about cheating and this has made him now worry as it is not strictly his own translation.Any advice ?

OP posts:
robino · 13/05/2009 16:45

I have been out of this for 2.5 years due to mat leave/ moving but unless things have changed I would say that it's probably a bit unethical but not "illegal" for speaking. It would be completely wrong if he were to use it for written coursework.

I know of schools where speaking test policy has been far worse.

frAKKINPannikin · 14/05/2009 14:52

I don't think Babelfish is any different to a dictionary, which when I did my GCSE you could take into the exam with you. The getting it checked - would the teacher have checked it through if he'd asked? If so then I'm sure that your French neighbour is fine.

It's not like it's his GCSE presentation/coursework, you/babelfish/the neighbour didn't write it FOR him so it's still his own ideas. If dictionaries were banned then yes it's definitely cheating but asking for help to make sure he gets it right, give the boy marks for initiative! I hope he does well.

disclaimer: I am not a teacher (yet)

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