We have teamed up with our French grinds teacher to give you tips on how to do well in Leaving Cert French.

• It is all about Vocabulary so make sure you constantly improve your range of vocabulary in French. Have a notebook in which you and jot down any new words that you come across. This will really help you with the reading comprehension and the aural. You might want to give yourself a target of learning 10 new words every evening.

• For the reading comprehension, it is very important to read the task: trouvez un mot means find 1 word only. Any extra material could be penalised. Une phrase means a sentence from a capital letter to a full stop. 

• For the oral, it is like an interview and you need to be well prepared. I always tell my students it is a 3 steps process:

1. Get yourself a copy and start writing the content.
2. Learn the content by heart.
3. Forget that you learnt off by heart and concentrate on the conversation.

Whilst it is advisable to learn off by heart to show off rich vocabulary and complex structures, you will also have to pretend you didn’t learn off by heart. IT IS A CONVERSATION!!!!! Any candidate who seems to have learnt off by heart will be penalised. What will prevail is the spontaneous use of language and authenticity in the exchange. 

• For the written part of the paper, make sure you pick the right question for yourself. For example, this year’s question on ‘faire un grand voyage’ was an easier question than the one on remote learning. It offered possibilities to bring in lovely idioms and rich vocabulary : des vues imprenables/ à vous couper le souffle/ se détendre/ se vider la tête/ profiter du soleil. You would have been well prepared on such a topic for your oral. 

• BUT avoid rote memorization at all cost. Be prepared to give your opinion and analyse the question. 

• For the AURAL, translate exactly what you hear and give plenty of (correct) details.

Et voila.