French Vocabulary – Lost In A Sea Of Words!

FRENCH VOCABULARY…LOST IN A SEA OF WORDS! 

Students at this stage of the year usually find themselves lost in a sea of words! French Vocabulary. They have pages and pages of vocabulary, without a real knowledge of how to use them correctly. The first thing that students need to realise, is that the leaving cert French exam is naturally split into themes. (Please note that themes can vary, and do not, in any way, reflect what will be on the paper in 2018). It is important to realise that with all of these themes, it is the opinion of young people that is sought.

Recurring Themes…

 You have about 12  in the exam from year to year….Lost in a sea of words! French Vocabulary 

• Technology
• Politics
• Health
• Social Media
• French Language & Culture
• Sport
• Economy
• Education
• Social problems
• Equality & Inequality
• Environmental issues
• Holidays

 

Sub-Themes…

Each of these themes branch into sub-themes. For example, under the theme of Environmental issues, you have

• Types of Pollution
• Global Warming
• Recycling
• Natural Disasters
• Greener methods of transport

 

Politics…

Under the theme of Politics, you might have

• The right to vote
• Democracy v’s dictatorship
• War & Conflict
• Europe
• Brexit & Ireland

 

General Theme…

Of course, a lot of the sub-themes fit into more than one general theme. Addiction could be a question that would fit into either social issues or health. Global warming could be asked in an economic, environmental or social context. It really should not matter how a question is phrased in the leaving cert. Students are expected to have the vocabulary needed to deal with any type of question.

How Can They Do This?…

Very simply! Students should take a look at their copies and figure out where vocabulary naturally fits in. There are certain words that can only be used for particular written pieces, but a lot of french vocabulary accumulated, can be used in a number of situations. Take the word “La crise” for example. The word “Crise” meaning crisis, can express any number of situations:

• La crise économique  – The economic crisis
• La crise environmentale – The environmental crisis
• La crise financière – The financial crisis
• La crise morale – The moral crisis
• La crise de la dette – The debt crisis

 

Writing French Well…

The trick to writing well in French is a two-pronged affair. Firstly you must have an excellent handle on your verbs and secondly, you must be able to adapt learnt vocabulary. The real challenge of learning a language at senior level, is that you could be asked to write about absolutely anything. This should not fill students with dread! If you study in a clever manner, you will be absolutely fine. I have been running revision workshops over the last year, and I have noticed that the students are writing much more fluidly than at the beginning of the year. They are doing so, because they are working on a specific theme, and they have noticed how vocabulary and phrases are re-occurring the whole time.

As a typical 17 or 18 year old, examiners know that you do not have a limitless supply of words. Therefore, I suggest that you get out your copies and start putting your french vocabulary into themes.

Vocabulary On The Theme Of The Economy

Here is a list of vocabulary from our website, which is on the theme of the Economy. This is part 1 of 3 on the topic of the economy. Subscribed members have access to all three. I want you to read through this list of words and pick out suitable themes for each word. It takes a bit of time to get into, but you will be surprised (pleasantly) to find that a lot of the vocabulary can be used again and again and again.

 

L’économie	The economy	Lay-con-no-mee
Une crise	A crisis	Oone creez
Les enjeux	The stakes	Lays on-juh
Le chômage	Unemployment	Le sho-maje
La société	Society	La so-see-eh-tay
La production	Production	La pro-ducks-yon
L’échange	The exchange	Lay-shonge
La distribution	The distribution	La diss-trib-boose-yon
La consommation	The consumption	La con-so-mass-yon
Un démarrage	A kick off	An de-mar-aje
La croissance	Growth	La cross-sonse
Atteindre	To reach	Ah-tand
Les attentes	Expectations	Lays ah-tont
Être à la traîne	To lag behind	Etr a-la-tren
Hisser	To raise	He-say
La zone euro	The euro zone	La zone oo-ro
La conjoncture mondiale	The global situation	La con-junk-tewer mon-dee-al
Les pays émergents	Emerging countries	Lay payee em-mer-jon
Dans une moindre mesure	To a lesser extent	Dons-oone moin-dreh mez-zure
Une reprise	A recovery	Oone re-preeze
Les exportations	Exports	Lays ex-por-tass-yon
Se creuser	To widen	Se cruz-zay
Le renouveau	The renewal	Le reh-new-vo
Les entreprises	Companies	Lays on-tre-preeze
Peiner à	To struggle to	Pen-ay ah