french 9-12 (VCE)

perfectvelvet

Once again, I have a contextual prolix that can be summarised into a handful of questions. This discussion is about French for VCE. Busy people scroll to the end and focus on just the questions in bold. The context paragraph below might be helpful though...

o h m y g o d. I'm actually so cooked for French. I started French at the beginning of this year (year 9) since I joined a new school and I slacked off for the first half of the year. I recently found out how well French scales and I am tempted to do it in VCE. I'm paying more attention, and I am actually doing really well. However, no matter how deep I dig, I cannot find out any information about VCE French except for trauma venting and multiple exam-fearing ramblings. French sounds like something I should have written a book about when I was 5. Everyone is saying that the majority of people get 20–30 raws, which is CRAZY low. I have a couple of main questions regarding VCE French:

**Is French impossibly difficult and can someone in Year 9 who only started to take it a semester after they started the language be able to get a raw 40-45 in VCE (within the timespan of 3 1/2 years)
How can I practice French? I already listen to french music with french subtitles on the side, watch French cartoons with both French and English subtitles, read French articles in conversational French, and watch French YouTube videos.
What does VCE French even look like? What are the expectations and what are the assessments like? I've tried researching the internet, but everyone except for VCAA is quiet about French.
Should I take French as a VCE subject? I'm still going to continue learning it because I think it is very cool, but should I do it for VCE?**

Thank you so much. Good luck with all of your exams and SACs, you'll do great!

perfectvelvet

please send help

FinFin-2ndYearUni

Hi PV, I did French Year 7-12, and I can say that you might need to work hard to catch up in. French is a very competitive subject that a lot of people work hard to do well in. French scales very well, however it can be common to get a 20-30 raw study score. I received a 27 study score for it, despite struggling with it later on. Bu 27 was my highest score, so I like to think I did very well at it

In your case, I'd recommend getting a French tutor outside of school, to help you catch up before VCE. Focus on grammar and vocabulary, especially tenses.
It's good that you are listening to music and reading French subtitles too, that can help with listening, reading and speaking skills. I would recommend watching news articles with French subtitles too, as it can help you with contemporary examples. Year 12 French usually has an important topic that you'll be questioned on in your oral exam, in 2020, it was Islamophobia in the country. Try French picture storybooks too, they can help.
VCE Languages work a bit differently to all the other subjects, but I'll try to explain it as best as I can.
In each subject, there are three grades; Unit 3, Unit 4 and the exam, all roughly worth 35%. In VCE Languages, Drama and I think Music, the three grades are; Unit 3/4, oral exam and written exam. Your entire year of SACs and coursework is summed up by one grade. From memory, Unit 3/4 is 50% of your mark, the oral exam is 12.5% of the mark and the written exam is 37.5%. I can't remember too much about the assessments, because I did French in the COVID years, where the study design had to be altered. The oral exam is a 15 minute oral conversation between you and two assessors. 7 minutes are general conversation, such as what you expect to do after graduation, what your family is like, where you would want to travel to, etc. Then the next 8 minutes are about the social issue I mentioned before (mine was Islamophobia, it went horrible). The written exam is usually last on the exam timetable, there's a listening, reading and writing component, usually about something random (mine was rock-climbing, it was absolute bull).
It's really up to you, depending on how confident you feel once you get to the end of Year 10, then how you feel at the end of Year 11. It's a really fun subject to learn, and it also helped me out with my English skills too, in retrospect. If you know anyone who did VCE French, you could ask/practice with them

perfectvelvet

FinFin-2ndYearUni honestly a god. yeah french seems REALLY competitive and I want to get around 40–45 raw (yes, i know this is very unrealistic; its just how im wired). I am sucking up to my teacher so badly, and I think my french is rapidly improving. Not enough to excel in Year 9 French, but enough to pass by a satisfying (for a french beginner) margin. i want to take french as my "fun subjective" (i know this sounds counterintuitive, but studying for french or maths doesnt really feel like a chore. do you have any tips or resources that you can share with me? did any of your friends score really high in french? what did they do? once again, thank u so much. your replies have been SOO helpful

roly

Hi, a little disclaimer - I'm doing French in my HSC in NSW, but my teacher is amazing and used to teach the VCE. She gives us a lot of VCE practice papers, rubrics and other resources. The actual stuff you get assessed on (grammar, vocab, etc) and how you get assessed on it i(types of questions) basically in the same in both states, according to her. So, for studying, you can use HSC resources as well, and there's a decent amount of online HSC resources you can use.
With regards to actually learning French, just keep practising grammar and vocab DAILY. It's good that you're consuming French regularly, but really try to make it a habit. Also, be a total teacher's pet - that way, there'll help you a lot more. E.g. my teacher does mock speaking exams with us fortnightly, and these really help in improving French.
Also, try to find someone who speaks French regularly (even texting in French with Chatgpt works, just say aloud everything) and try to speak with them as often as possible - waiters, random ppl at school, tourists, etc (you'll be surpirsed how many ppl speak French).

In short, just practice french every day (even 10 minutes a day is better than 50 hours the day before the exam) and you'll be fine. I obviously can't speak to the way the Atar is done in VIC, but you should be fine as long as you practice often - you'll be shocked how many ppl lie about how bad they're doing or how much they study.

Good luck!

perfectvelvet

roly do penpals work? i cant find any french people in my neighbourhood that are willing to help. my local library offers a penpal program though so I can try to connect with a French person then.

FinFin-2ndYearUni

perfectvelvet It's good to see that you are taking French seriously
Some of my friends went on foreign exchange between Year 11 and 12 to France, and it really sharpened their skills. They gained fluency, and also got a lot of informal language, which can be good for conversational skills. I can't remember what scores they got, but I know they got decently higher than me.
It's always extremely important to do a "fun subject", because it always helps you with your motivation and development. Why bother frying your brain and mental wellbeing doing content heavy subjects like science and humanities, only to completely crash once you get to the exams? I did French and Drama in Year 12, and I loved them both. If I didn't do subjects that I enjoyed, I wouldn't have bothered studying for anything, and my ATAR would have been much lower

roly

perfectvelvet
A penpal would be good - that way you practice your French and can stay up to date with French culture. Be sure to ask them to use correct grammar/spelling/etc, as just like in English, French people will use slang that examiners won't like. I'd strongly encourage you to look into that.
Also, potentially enquire about a school trip (or a family holiday) in New Caledonia - it's only a 3 hour flight from Melbourne, great beaches, fully-French speaking and there's a centre (called CREIPAC) with excellent French-as-a-foreign-language teachers. Flights to New Caledonia can get as low as 400AUD roundtrip per person, if you book at the right time. Full immersion really is the best way to learn French.
Teachers don't expect perfect pronunciation, but they do appreciate effort to have the correct pronunciation - try to read texts aloud to your teacher or a native French speaker. They can help you improve your pronunciation. There are also some helpful Youtube videos that explain how to move your mouth to pronounce words properly.

perfectvelvet

FinFin-2ndYearUni thank you so much! My school does a foreign exchange programme, but it doesn't offer any financial aid and is too expensive. Is there any other way to immerse myself in French? How do I even score high in French? Do they expect native level fluency and pronunciation?

FinFin-2ndYearUni

perfectvelvet I'm not sure what else to suggest. Talking to French people online can be handy for you, and them for learning English. They don't quite expect native level of fluency, but they definitely want a conversation, with diverse vocabulary, grammar and ideas. Pronunciation is less important, but as long as you make an effort to roll your r's and figure out the tricky words, like "d'accueil" and "mille-feuille", the assessors will know you're doing well

perfectvelvet

FinFin-2ndYearUni got it, ill grind french and do well

perfectvelvet

roly omhg so peak tysmm. maybe ill ask my parents for that next year (sometime in vce)

Toy Planes

Hi there, and sorry for the late response,
I am also currently undertaking the VCE French course, thus do not have any 40-45 raw tips to relay, however, similar to roly and FinFin, my biggest tip for you, would probably be to immerse yourself in the language, as much as possible.

You may be struggling at the moment with reading and writing, but with time, this will inevitably improve.
The real challenge, is developing the more practice skills (i.e. listening and speaking).

Rather than seeking out native speakers, couldn't you just ask your teacher to meet up, one lunchtime per week, for a 5-10 conversation, fully in French?

If you have any questions that I may be able to answer, please feel free to ask!

P.S. Don't stress too much about only starting in Year 9, because before that point, it is mostly just learning different colours and animals (which aren't entirely relevant for VCE)

P.P.S Although a 45 raw would be fantastic, it is a significant achievement for anyone, (let alone someone who began learning in Year 9), so don't get too caught up in the numbers, and just try your best