Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

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LanguageLearner0007
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Re: Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

Postby LanguageLearner0007 » Sat Apr 30, 2022 9:46 pm

Alright, after procrastinating for a day, I managed to finally finish the written comprehension part. All activities and exercises completed. :geek:

Generally, I either answer all questions correctly or make 1-2 errors max (mostly because I didn't understand a word/sentence).

I encircle new words and translate them afterwards with deepl.com (much much better than Google Translate, but not perfect).

Overall, I find that this part of the exam is definitely the easiest for me and I'd count on it to reach my 50/100 on the exam.

Now I will move to the other parts of the exam, using the same book.
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LanguageLearner0007
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Re: Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

Postby LanguageLearner0007 » Sat Apr 30, 2022 10:42 pm

After reading a lot about Kwiziq, decided to complete a full test and I got 25/53....

Pretty humbling result, apparently it thinks that I'm still far from being at B1, but at least A0 level is cleared, that's reassuring :D

Will add Kwiziq now to my preparation playbook, in addition to the official book.

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LanguageLearner0007
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Re: Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

Postby LanguageLearner0007 » Sun May 01, 2022 11:43 am

For me, there is a striking difference in difficulty between oral comprehension and written comprehension. Oral comprehension is extremely hard, considering that the speakers talk very quickly and often do not adhere to correct French pronunciation.

I feel exhausted even after doing 1 oral comprehension exercise, whereas I could complete several written comprehension exercises without feeling tired.

It appears that the oral comprehension will be the hardest part of the exam and my goal will be just to get the minimum (5/25) on this section.

Now that I finished the written comprehension, I've decided to move on to the next section, which is written production.
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LanguageLearner0007
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Re: Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

Postby LanguageLearner0007 » Mon May 02, 2022 12:09 am

This Sunday, I didn't make a lot of progress on written comprehension, just did the first 2 activities, it was a bit odd as both of them literally asked to count the number of words in a text.

So, I'm on the activity 3.

But I got quite hooked up on Kwiziq and completed a good number of lessons and quizzes. It was good to close the gaps I have in the A1 level. Probably, the best way to update on this is to share the "brainmap".
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LanguageLearner0007
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Re: Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

Postby LanguageLearner0007 » Mon May 02, 2022 4:53 pm

Kwiziq all time activities: 76
Kwiziq A1 Achievement Score - 24.82%.


So, actually, Kwiziq made it obvious that my current knowledge of French is not very consistent. I happen to know some C-level stuff but still have gaps in A1-level.


For the context, I have very little exposure to French in my day-to-day life. I work in English and speak English at home. News and entertainment are also almost exclusively in English. I tried to read stuff in French but I cannot really relate, the topics in French newspapers aren't really interesting for me.

The only thing I actually managed to watch in French is Lupin (on Netflix).

I could be interested in Macron - Le Pen debate, but I couldn't find the transcription of that debate online (if someone can help with that, would be really appreciated), without transcription it's difficult to understand.
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galaxyrocker
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Re: Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

Postby galaxyrocker » Mon May 02, 2022 5:35 pm

Grammar wise, I'd suggest going through a book like Grammaire Progressive to help fill in those gaps. It's very systematic, and lines up with the CEFR and gives quite a bit of practice.
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LanguageLearner0007
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Re: Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

Postby LanguageLearner0007 » Mon May 02, 2022 5:54 pm

galaxyrocker wrote:Grammar wise, I'd suggest going through a book like Grammaire Progressive to help fill in those gaps. It's very systematic, and lines up with the CEFR and gives quite a bit of practice.


Yep, it's the one we used in the university. But even in such structured environment, we only managed to do a fraction of all lessons in the book.

In my situation, I only have limited number of hours during the week outside work and family commitments, so going through such book properly is a big ask. Effectively, I am using Kwiziq as a shortcut.
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LanguageLearner0007
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Re: Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

Postby LanguageLearner0007 » Mon May 02, 2022 11:16 pm

Burning some midnight oil here.

Had to wait until everyone is asleep to continue with my French... It was certainly easier back in my student days.

Made it to 100 activities at a brisk pace. Things that I never quite understood slowly start to make sense. Kwiziq is definitely a winner.

Kwiziq all time activities: 100
Kwiziq A1 Achievement Score - 33.61%
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Amandine
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Re: Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

Postby Amandine » Mon May 02, 2022 11:23 pm

Love Kwiziq. What I have been doing is, every one I get wrong going through that grammar lesson and writing it out in a separate notebook. One thing I love about Kwiziq is the grammar explanations are so compact, they really get to the point and there's no huge introductions you have to go through to get to the meat. The sample sentences are excellent too, more true to life than a lot of resources.
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LanguageLearner0007
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Re: Learning French log (Road to DELF B1)

Postby LanguageLearner0007 » Mon May 02, 2022 11:28 pm

Amandine wrote:Love Kwiziq. What I have been doing is, every one I get wrong going through that grammar lesson and writing it out in a separate notebook. One thing I love about Kwiziq is the grammar explanations are so compact, they really get to the point and there's no huge introductions you have to go through to get to the meat. The sample sentences are excellent too, more true to life than a lot of resources.


True, I wish I found it earlier. Concise and to the point. Also it is specifically designed for English-speakers in mind, so it is a lot easier to understand.

Writings things in a separate notebook is good - requires a lot of diligence.

Repetition really does work. Even without talent for languages (in my case), you are unlikely to repeat the same mistake more than twice.
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