Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GRADES
TRAINING
PACK
OCR GCSE
FRENCH
B – A*
Rationale
The aim of this pack is to enable you to focus on the skills necessary in order
to achieve a top Grade (B – A*) in your GCSE French examination.
These two skills with Listening combine to a value of 75% of the GCSE
examination.
Contents
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The French Speaking Test constitutes 25% of the overall GCSE
examination.
You should aim to start your practice for the speaking test at the beginning
of September in Year 10.
Your teacher will run extra sessions at lunchtimes in Year 11 for you to
practise the test with them. It is well worth taking advantage of these
sessions, as your teacher will be your examiner in the final examination.
Role play 2
Learn the vocabulary and key phrases for these role plays.
Practise each week, both out loud at home and at school at the extra
sessions.
Work your way through all of the practice role plays contained in this pack
until you can do them all from memory – it is likely that you will get
something very similar in your examination.
Role Play 3
Learn the vocabulary and key phrases for these role plays.
Practise each week, both out loud at home and at school at the extra
sessions.
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Work your way through all of the practice role plays contained in this pack
until you can do them all from memory – it is likely that you will get
something very similar in your examination.
1 Minute Presentation
Your teacher will help you to prepare a one minute presentation based on
one of the topic areas from the orange conversation booklet. You should
choose an area that you feel confident talking about, and try to be as
original as possible with your content. You will be asked questions about
your presentation at the end.
Think about the kind of questions that lead naturally from what you have
said in your presentation – you can almost predict what they will be if you
think carefully. Prepare answers to these questions and learn them!
YOU MUST NOT TALK FOR LONGER THAN ONE MINUTE - anything
that you say beyond this point receives no marks.
Tenses are also very important in your presentation – make sure that you
refer to the past, the present and the future in what you say – failure to
do so will result in your maximum mark for this section being the
equivalent of a grade C only.
You can take 5 cue cards into the examination room with you to help you
to remember your presentation. These cards can contain 5 short
sentences in French – no more.
When you have finished your presentation, your teacher / examiner will
ask you questions about your presentation.
You will then be asked questions on TWO more topics from the orange
conversation booklet.
The best way to practise for this section of the exam is out loud! You can
listen to a tape of the questions and practise answering them walking
down the street, in bed, in the bath – wherever – it doesn’t matter as long
as you are speaking French!
Make sure that you have answers written into your orange booklets
for all of the topics and that you have learned them. Your teacher will
help you to prepare these answers in class.
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Practise with a friend or parent – take it in turns to ask and answer all of
the questions in the booklet. The more familiar you are with the questions,
the better you will perform in the exam.
Role play 2 is all about surviving in everyday situations in French. You will
have to say 4 short sentences in French as part of a conversation with the
examiner. You will see three of these in English before entering the exam
room, and will have 12 minutes to prepare them along with role play 3.
The fourth sentence will be in response to a question that the examiner
will ask you. You will not know what this question will be beforehand, but it
is possible to predict the kind of thing that you will be asked. What is the
logical question? Think about this during preparation time and prepare a
couple of logical answers.
Useful Vocab and Phrases – these are taken from past examination papers
from years 1999 - 2005:
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Je suis malade depuis deux jours / hier / ce matin – I have been feeling ill for
two days / since yesterday / since this morning
Je n’ai rien mangé aujourd’hui – I haven’t eaten today
Je voudrais des medicaments / des pastilles pour la gorge / des comprimés –
I would like some medicine / some throat lozenges / some pills
Lost Property
At the Hotel
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Ma chambre est trop petite / il fait trop chaud / trop froid dans ma chambre –
my room is too small / too hot / too cold
Je voudrais changer de chambre – I would like to change my room
La douche / la télé / la climatisation ne marche pas – the shower / the TV / the
air conditioning is not working
Mon lit / le frigo / l’armoire est cassé(e) – my bed / the fridge / the wardrobe is
broken
Je voudrais payer par carte de crédit - I would like to pay by credit card
At the Restaurant
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Je le / la / les voudrais en coton / cuir / jean / soie / rouge / bleu / vert – I
would like them in cotton / leather / denim /silk / red / blue / green
Je voudrais les / l’essayer – I would like to try them on
Je voudrais payer par carte de crédit / par cheque – I would like to pay by
credit card / by cheque
Je le / la voudrais en taille 12 / 14 / 16 – I would like it in size 12 / 14 / 16
A job interview
Breaking Down
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Le pare - brise est cassé – the windscreen is broken
Les phares ne marchent pas – the headlights are not working
On est au centre–ville / prés des magasins / du jardin publique / de la poste /
du supermarché – we are in the town centre / near to the shops / the park /
the post office / the supermarket
Sending an email
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3. Section 2 Role play practice
Work your way through the following role plays. They are taken from the
examination papers from 1999 – 2005. Make sure that you can do them all
from memory – you will get something very similar in the exam.
When you are practising there is no need to write anything down, just speak
your answers out loud and then check back to the previous section to see if
you were correct.
1999
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5. You are in a restaurant in France where you would like to work
as a waiter / waitress
You will have to:
• Say why you are there
• Give your name and age
• Answer the question
• Say why you are a good candidate for the job (interests?
Experience? Personal qualities?)
• Say where you will stay in France
2000
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5. You are discussing what you do in the evening
You will have to:
• Say that you watch television
• Give your opinion of the programmes
• Say how long you watch TV for each evening
• Say what else you do (music? Computer?)
• Reply to your penfriends question
2001
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5. You are at a restaurant in Belgium
You will have to:
• Say that you have made a reservation
• Give your name and spell it
• Say where you would like to sit
• Say which menu you would like
• Reply to a question
2003
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3. You are at a hotel in France
You will have to:
• Say that you have made a reservation
• Give your name and spell it
• Reply to a question
• Ask about facilities at the hotel
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2004
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7. You are at the lost property office in France
You will have to:
• Say you have lost a coat
• Give to details about the coat
• Reply to a question
• Say when you can return (e.g. tomorrow, next week )
2005
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5. You are staying in a hotel in France and have a problem
You will have to:
• Say you arrived yesterday
• Say what is wrong with the room (e.g. hot / small / the shower
doesn’t work)
• Answer the question
• Ask if you can change rooms
8. You have gone to the police station in France as you have lost
your passport
You will have to:
• Say you have lost your passport
• Give your name and nationality
• Answer the question
• Say when you will return (e.g. tomorrow / next week / at 3 o’clock)
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4. Section 3 role play vocabulary and phrases
The section 3 narrative role play is all about telling a convincing story about
an experience abroad in a French speaking country.
You are given this role play to prepare outside the exam room along with role
play 2 – you have 12 minutes to prepare both role plays.
2. You will be given a series of pictures to help you to tell the story –
make the most of them and add as much detail as possible
3. You will be given some French phrases to help you to tell your story.
The verbs in these phrases are always in the infinitive form – you
must be able to put them into the past tense - practise this a lot!!
4. The examiner will interrupt you and ask you questions to help you
along – listen carefully for the tense of the verb in the question and
use this to help you to answer
This role play is marked out of 8 points acording to how well you
perform in the above.
The time frame for the role play is 3 minutes – you don’t need to worry
about this too much when you are preparing outside the exam room – your
teacher will either keep you talking or stop you as appropriate during the
exam.
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J’ai fait un stage dans un magasin / un bureau / un hôpital / une colonie de
vacances – I did a work experience placement in a shop / office / hospital /
holiday camp
J’y suis allé(e) en vacances avec ma famille / ma soeur / mon frère / mes
copains / mes copines / mon école – I went there on holiday with my family
/ my sister / my brother / my friends / my school
J’ai passé une semaine / une quinzaine / un mois en France chez mon /
ma corréspondant – I spent a week / a fortnight / a month in France at my
penfriend’s house.
Les oiseaux chantaient dans les arbres – the birds were singing in the
trees
Useful Verbs
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J’ai / Nous avons pris le petit déjeuner à……heures – I / we had
breakfast at………o’clock
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J’ai / nous avons / on a joué – I / we played
C’était – it was
J’étais – I was
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Snazzy ways to finish your story
Tout va bien qui finit bien – all’s well that ends well
The reading examination constitutes 25% of the final GCSE grade. The
exam paper is made up of different sort of texts in French, which you must
read and respond to.
The examiners’ reports for the last 5 years state that the most common
mistakes made by students are:
• failure to tick the correct number of boxes as a result of not reading the
question properly
• not realising that they can use the same letter twice, where stated in
the question
• writing more than one answer / letter in the hopes that they will both be
taken into consideration - this receives no marks automatically
• answering in French instead of English and vice versa
• in open - ended answers to write brief and relevant answers
• Failure to attempt all the questions
Take note of the above and don't fall into the same traps!
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The reading examination is marked out of 50. The amount of points available
for each question is written at the side - use this to guide the length of your
answers.
1. Read the question once, then the possible answers, then the question
again before making your choice.
3. When matching the beginning and end of a sentence - as above look at the
type of word required to make sense. Does the sentence need a verb? an
adjective? a noun? does the word need to agree with the subject of the
sentence? masculine? feminine? plural?
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