Leaving Cert & Junior Cert French Papers Review

Leaving Cert & Junior Cert French papers review 2019

Leaving Cert Exams are the pinnacle of the Irish Educational System….

There was definitely a mixed reaction to the French papers, at both Leaving & Junior Cert level.

Overall, I think that the papers for both Junior and Leaving cert French were very much in line with previous years. However a lot of students contacted me following the exam to say that they were very disappointed with the Aural or listening part of the exam. In the Leaving Cert, they found the last 2 sections particularly challenging, and in the Junior Cert, the students found that the recording, in some parts, was very fast.

The following broad themes were addressed in the Leaving Cert Honours French exam:

• Environment
• Culture/Language
• Drugs/Social Problems
• Voting/Politics
• Concerts
• Education
• Sport

I have always emphasised the importance of learning around a theme or topic in French, and this paper has validated a topic-based approach to learning.

LEAVING CERT HONOURS PAPER

Q.1 Obligatory Questions…

A lot of students would have been disheartened not to have had the Yellow vest demonstrations on the paper. The Environment featured in the obligatory choice of questions, so a lot of students would have prepared vocabulary and sentences on the general theme of the Environment. A word of caution though: the question was quite specific; it asked students: What are your little everyday habits that you should change in order to save our world?

Be careful that you referred to the question here, as it was on the theme of the environment but was specific to people’s habits and what they should change.

2nd Choice…

The 2nd choice for the obligatory or compulsory section asked students their thoughts on how an act of kindness, even a small one, is never lost. This presented an ideal opportunity for students to write about a time when they did something kind for someone or were on the receiving end of an act of kindness. There would of course have had to have reference to how acts of kindness are intrinsically good things to do.

Diary Entry & Email…

In both of these writing tasks, students would have been able to draw on their oral notes, and I know that my own students would have had absolutely no difficulty with either of these questions.

If you are going into 6th year and are confused about how to go about doing a diary entry, take a look at this sample

Other questions dealt with Drugs, the part that sport plays in development and peace through tolerance and respect, the advantages of learning a foreign language and finally, He who does not vote does not have the right to complain about the results.

Reading Comprehensions… 

• Food wastage – Finding a pronoun – Quite accessible text
• Hitch-hiking – Pronominal or reflexive verb – Again not a difficult text

ORDINARY LEVEL LEAVING CERT EXAM…

Reading…

• French Novels
• How to save the planet
• Interview with cartoonist
• Malia has just arrived in Paris to live with her friend Gisèle
• The language and questions were very accessible to any leaving cert ordinary level candidate

Written Section…

No surprises and students could draw from their oral notes in answering the form, which was about a house swop.

The postcard, message and diary entry were very much in line with previous years, and teachers would have covered all of the points asked. The formal letter to a tourist office seeking information was also a letter that would have been done in class.

JUNIOR CERT HONOURS…

This is the final year of the old Junior Cert exams as we know it. Next June the first paper for the new Junior Cycle will be examined, but as of yet, there are no sample papers. For its final year, the Exam would not have upset the candidates at all. There was a recipe as usual, and the reading comprehensions were not difficult. I had said that a postcard was the most likely option, rather than a note and there was a postcard. The letter was also very straightforward.

JUNIOR CERT ORDINARY…

This was a very accessible paper, where basic vocabulary was being tested throughout. There was a choice between a postcard or a note, and the letter was all about daily life at school and at home. Very fair paper.

LEAVING CERT FRENCH PLAN…

If you were to sign up for our  Leaving Cert Annual Plan you would have access to..

• Over 500 sample topic sentences on a wide-range of topics
• Approximately 60 sample opinion pieces.
• Diary Entries
• Narrative writing technique & Phrases
• Grammar section
• Grammar exercises
• Reading comprehensions
• Verb drills
• Study guides
• Comprehensive oral section with videos
• Expressions & key constructions
• Letters and much more…

JUNIOR CERT FRENCH PLAN…

If you were to sign up for our Junior Cert Annual Plan, you would have access to:

• Worksheets
• Audio section
• Oral questions & Role-plays
• Powerpoint presentations
• Comprehensive vocabulary lists
• Verb drills
• Grammar section
• Reading Section
• Written section with postcards, notes & letters