Year 11 MFL GCSE Revision Guide 2017 We believe that this guide will not only help you, achieve your best in your upcoming MFL GCSE Exam but also help your parents support you with your MFL revision. Make sure that you read it carefully and that if you have any questions, speak to your teacher or to Mrs Finlay. With all your hard work, your Parent(s) help and our support you will fly through your exam and achieve the grade you have been dreaming of. Make it a reality! Remember you are not on your own! Bonne chance! Viele Glück! Mucha Suerte! The MFL Team MFL REVISION PROGRAM SUMMER 2017 These sessions will be after school from 3.30pm Tuesday 2nd May Wednesday 3rd May Friday 5th May German/RLA/R53 French/BB/R57 German/RLA/53 French/BB/R57 Spanish/HF/R55 Spanish/HF/R55 Monday 8th May Tuesday 9th May Wednesday 10th May Friday 12th May German/RLA/R53 Spanish/HF/R55 German/RLA/R53 Spanish/HF/R55 Spanish/HF/R55 French/BB/R57 French/BB/R57 Monday 15th May Tuesday 16th May Wednesday 17th May Thursday 18th May German/RLA/R53 Spanish/HF/R55 German/RLA/R53 German/BB/R57 French/BB/R57 German/BB/R57 Spanish/HF/R55 Spanish/HF/R55 Monday 22nd May Tuesday 23rd May Wednesday 24th May Thursday 25th May German/RLA/R53 German/BB/R57 German/RLA/R53 German/BB/R57
Controlled Assessments: Well done if you have completed both your Speaking and Writing Controlled Assessments successfully and achieved your target grade. Any student who wishes to improve their assessment will need to speak to their teacher in the first instance or see Mrs Finlay. This work will have to be done after school and at an arranged time. The deadline for any improvement is Friday 17 th March. Your examination board(s): French: AQA (http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/gcse/french-4655) Spanish: Edexcel (https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcelgcses/spanish-2009.html) German: Edexcel (http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcelgcses/german-2009.html) Remember that your GCSE is composed of these four parts, regardless of the examination board: Speaking Controlled Assessment: 2 tasks, each worth 15% Total= 30% Writing Controlled Assessment: 2 tasks, each worth 15% Total=30% Listening Exam (either Foundation or Higher): worth 20% Reading Exam (either Foundation or Higher): worth 20% Your exam dates are: French: Tuesday 16 th May am. Spanish: Friday 19 th May am. German: Wednesday 7 th June am.
Now some tips for Exam Success: First of all remember that you are not alone. There will always be somebody to support you with your revision: your teacher, your parents and your friends. It is a team effort! Ask someone at home to assist you with your revision. They don t need to know the language you are studying to help you prepare flashcards and test you on key vocabulary. Attend as many revision sessions as you can and pay attention in class. All those reading and listening exercises are to give you the confidence you need and help you develop your skills and strategies to deal with the question papers. A little revision and often will go a long way, don t leave it to the last minute to cram as much vocabulary as possible. It doesn t work! You need to learn your vocabulary regularly, test and re-test yourself and finally practice as many exercises as you can. Have a vocab list on you so that you can learn some vocabulary in car or on the school bus. Employ a range of language learning strategies: look, cover, write, check, study buddy, cue cards, post-it notes, visualise the words as a picture in your head, use vivid colours, etc Use the rule of three: do a little bit of revision, and then come back to it three hours later, three days later, three weeks later If you keep coming back to things (even if only for a short amount of time) your brain will remember them better. Little and often is the best way, spend 10 minutes a day going through vocabulary will have a great impact. Listen to the advice your teachers give you on how to deal with the exam papers. They have years of experience. Make notes of strategies to employ. Make sure you have at least your target grade in your speaking and writing controlled assessment. If you have achieved at least your target grade than you are more likely to achieve a good grade in the final result in August. On the day of the exam have a black pen and a spare! You can use a highlighter but only on the text part of your paper but do not use it on your answers Write neatly and clearly. Remember the examiner does not have a lot of time to spend on your copy. Yours in one amongst hundreds, make sure they can read it. Never, ever leave any answer blank!!! Always have a go; it will make a difference between two grades! Look at the number of marks allocated to that question. This will give you an idea on how many details to include in your answer.
Tips for the Reading Exam: Learn vocabulary you have been given vocabulary booklets, as well as links to Memrise which you should use to help you learn this vocabulary. There is also vocabulary at the end of every module of the AQA Textbooks on Kerboodle.com. If you have lost or forgotten your login details see Mrs Finlay or Mr Barnes. Read articles of interest on www.yahoo.fr or www.yahoo.es. In the exam read the instructions, the questions and the title carefully. This will give you a general idea of what the passage is all about. Look at the example, it shows you how to answer the question. Don t forget to check that you are answering in the correct language! Look out for key words and think of the topic this is relevant to. Don t worry if you don t understand every word. Make a note of what you think each paragraph is about. Watch out for negatives or different tenses as they can give you false answers. Don t panic if you can t find the answer straight away. Re-read the passage and have a guess. Answer every question; an intelligent guess, using your common sense is better than no answers at all. The next question may be easier and you can always come back to it if you have time towards the end of the exam. Tips for the Listening Exam: Most of the advice for the Reading Exam applies to the Listening Exam as well. During the five minutes at the start of the exam, make sure that you read all the questions and instructions carefully. Write down any words that you may need to listen out for (don t forget to cross out anything you don t want to be marked). Don t worry if you don t understand every word, look out for key words. Try not to rush it and stay focused. If you miss the meaning the first time it will be repeated. If you miss it the second time, don t waste time worrying about it concentrate on the next question. You should make notes on the first playing of the extract and only answer the question once you have checked it on the second playing. Be careful with the use of negatives and different tenses.
Some Useful Revision Tools: Listen to French, Spanish and German radio, often and for a few minutes. Watch foreign films. Use the internet and apps: Linguascope.com BBC bitesize, and the mind-map creator Languagesonline.org.uk French/Spanish/Germanabout.com Kerboodle Slownews.de/fr/sp Gut/zut/oye which you can use free of charge after 4pm Make sure that you stay focused during your revision and do it regularly. It will pay off! Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. Robert Collier