Jeffers- SC 2022-23 - French, German, Hindi

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jeffers
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Re: Jeffers- SC 2022-23 - French, German, Hindi

Postby jeffers » Tue Mar 07, 2023 3:31 pm

Initial thoughts on my exam prep:
I intend to continue with my usual reading and watching/listening, except I'm currently ramping it up a bit. I'm about 400 pages behind on the Super Challenge and I hope to have that caught up by the end of March. Besides that, I'm toying with a few resources, some of which I want to set firm goals with, and others I will more likely dabble with. I keep getting ideas of things I think would be good to work on, and I feel like I need to set them out in a list so that I can filter them out and prioritize what will be the most useful. It might even be more useful to categorize my resources as well.

Target date: 2 June

  • Kwiziq -- get A2 score into the 90s (early April), get started on the B2 section
  • FUN Mooc Vivre en France - A1 -- I decided to use these moocs because they use a lot of DELF exam style questions. I've already done 11% of this course (2/16 lessons) in 2 days, so I expect to complete this in a few weeks. Although I'm not really learning anything new, it is helpful to use these basic skills in exam style questions. As I proceed, I'm sure I'll come across some things I don't know or have forgotten about.
  • FUN Mooc Vivre en France - A2 -- this level of the mooc is obviously more relevant towards doing the A2 exam. I plan to work on this across the month of April.
  • Le DELF 100% reussite: Livre A2 -- This is a targeted exam-specific revision guide. I intend to work on the listening and writing exercises pretty quickly (perhaps by the end of March?) and then spend a lot more time on the writing and speaking sections. I will probably save the actual practice tests for the final 2 or 3 weeks before the exams.
  • Other past papers: I found 4 past papers on http://www.delfdalf.fr/delf-a2-sample-papers.html, and a few more on https://www.french-exam.com/category/delf-dalf-exam-preparation/delf-a2/, although some of the pages on the latter site may be missing things. All these tests are based on the previous version of the DELF exam. I plan to work on some of these first, probably starting mid-April, and save the tests from my revision guide for May (since those tests will be closer to the new version).
  • Orthodidacte -- I still feel that spelling is a problem for me, and I'm sure I'll lose some marks unnecessarily because of this. My solution is to use the tried and true French method of doing dictées. I have completed 11/21 of the A1 dictées in the FLE section and I plan to finish these soon and then get working on the A2 level in which there are 27 dictées. After that I might try some of the dictées for native school children, or just work through the A2 FLE dictées again. The problem is: I have taken over a year to do those 11 dictées, so if I want to meet my minimum goal (complete the A1 and A2 FLE dictées), then I need to pick up the pace! :lol:
  • S’entrainer au TCF avec TV5MONDE -- a series of 17 podcasts designed for test prep for the TCF. Each podcast lasts around 15 minutes and the TV5Monde website has a pdf booklet to accompany each episode. As TCF is a single exam for all levels, I expect this will be a lot more advanced than what I need for the A2, but it might be worth dabbling in. Website: https://apprendre.tv5monde.com/fr/article/les-livrets-dentrainement-au-tcf-r-avec-tv5monde
  • Grammaire progressive du français -- I have the A1/A2 books as well as the B1 book. However, I've figured out I don't really like workbooks because if I make a mistake it's hard to go back and do the same question later. That's one thing I like about Kwiziq: make a mistake and you'll get the same question again later. Probably, with these books I should just take the "do it and move on" attitude, knowing I'll be tested on the same things by other resources. Also, a bit like PM, I feel like I've spent money on these books so I ought to use them. But these are currently firmly in the "dabble" category rather than priority.

    Regarding the four skills to be tested:
  • Listening-- I am currently listening to an audiobook or podcast while commuting, and listen to a 10-minute news bulletin from Europe 1 while walking the dog most evenings. Combined with the practice material from the DELF revision guide, this should be sufficient.
  • Reading -- currently I mostly read fiction, but I should probably start doing something like reading a newspaper article on regular occasions, and/or find more reading material which is more relevant to the exam.
  • WRITING -- bleedin heck, I really need to practice writing. Fortunately, the moocs have writing tasks, which are not marked, so I'm planning to put them on Lang-8 for some feedback. I've found a few exam prep websites with general tips for writing for the A2 exam, but really I just need to do it. I think one of the blockages is just getting started. It would probably help to find or make a list of potential A2 writing tasks, and work on them. I know there are a few specific things that I would be expected to write about, e.g. a letter or email responding to an invitation, and there are formal parameters (e.g. the greeting) which are expected to be used. The revision guide will be a good place for some help here.
    SPEAKING -- bloody hell, this is the real bugbear! I can't afford an online tutor, but I've always intended to start a language exchange "someday". That someday needs to become a lot sooner if I'm going to get some practice! In addition, I feel like I should take some of the things I write (see above), and keep practicing them orally. I'm considering doing some language islanding, and writing, memorizing and practicing out loud a series of standard paragraphs which could be models for both the writing and speaking sections.

I have other thoughts bouncing around in my head, but I've run out of time! I think tonight I'll put together a tentative timetable on Excel. And then do some of the stuff listed above.
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Re: Jeffers- SC 2022-23 - French, German, Hindi

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Tue Mar 07, 2023 6:07 pm

Seems like a sound, thorough but workable plan.
Can you use ChatGPT or whatever it is called to correct your writing? I'm skeptical of ChatGPT because it does not seem to know what it does not know.
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Re: Jeffers- SC 2022-23 - French, German, Hindi

Postby jeffers » Tue Mar 07, 2023 9:01 pm

So I've whacked together what seems to me to be a reasonable plan of weekly study:
DELF A2 plan 2023-03-07 204351 sm.png


The shading shows when I plan to use each resource, and then I can write very brief summaries in the cells showing what progress I made or tasks I completed each week. My biggest concern with the plan is trying to do each of the 4 main sections of the DELF 100% book in 2 weeks, but having worked through a few pages of exercises yesterday and today it should be doable.

I have also considered a couple of other options for my communte: reviewing the full audio of Assimil, and/or working through several lessons of FSI. But on further consideration, I realize I need to keep it as fun as possible whenever I can, so I'll probably stick to audiobooks and podcasts for the commute. The Easy French Podcast is actually quite good, I'll download a bunch to listen to after I finish with Harry Potter.
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Re: Jeffers- SC 2022-23 - French, German, Hindi

Postby jeffers » Mon Mar 13, 2023 11:12 am

11 weeks to go. Target date: 2 June 2023

DELF A2 plan 2023-03-13 sm.png


When I made the progress spreadsheet it was more about working out how much time I have to complete each resource, rather than making detailed week by week notes. However, I'm finding it helpful to add in brief notes about what I've completed when I finish a study session. I've added a countdown of weeks to go and key dates such as when I have Easter break. I've also added a red wine column, where I can list the bottle of the week, because why not?

Study
I'm finding the A1 MOOC to be a good supplementary tool. On its own it wouldn't be very good because it isn't very comprehensive, but I think it is more designed for someone who is already at A1, and needs to prepare for an exam. The main benefit to me is to refresh things like vocabulary for shopping and hobbies, etc, because those don't actually come up very often in the French I read and watch regularly. The other big benefit has been to crack the nut of writing, because each lesson ends with 2 short writing tasks. I hope to have the mooc finished by the end of next week so I can move on to the A2 mooc.

I've been taking Le DELF 100% reussite at a slow and steady pace, completing one set of exercises (2-3 pages) per day. My initial thinking is that I don't want to complete the book too quickly, so that the contents will still be fresh by the time I sit the exam. However, I'm now thinking that it could be better to just whip through the book relatively quickly, and then I could either work through the exercises again, or find other practice exercises to use.

I'm beginning to get back into the swing of using Kwiziq several times daily, and I've also benefitted from doing a few dictées on Orthodidacte.

Reading
I completed Harry Potter a l'école des sorciers Friday, and have started reading Une chance sur un milliard by Gilles Legardinier. It's a thick book (432 pages) and I haven't been gripped by the opening chapters. It opens with an incident from the main character's childhood, which gave me the impression that it would be a book about a boy growing up, but the next chapter was about going out with his friendship group, which was a bit of a jarring juxtaposition for me. In the next chapter I think we're finally getting to the actual story, when the protagonist finds out something life-changing from a friend. I went to sleep after finishing that chapter last night, and elements of it entered my dreams, so I guess it's beginning to hook me. We will see tonight!

Listening
Daily news on Europe1, almost finished with the audiobook of Harry Potter a l'école des sorciers, and I'm up to about podcast 7 of Easy French.

Wine of the week
My wine of the week was La Vielle Ferme, a nice low to mid priced French red (£7.00). I rarely spend more than that on a bottle, and this wine was quite good for the price, similar to a decent Côtes du Rhône.
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Re: Jeffers- SC 2022-23 - French, German, Hindi

Postby Cavesa » Wed Mar 15, 2023 9:59 pm

I suspect you'll be the most prepared A2 DELF candidate ever.

You need much less to pass, but I am sure this preparation will make the follow up levels much much smoother. A big part of problems at the intermediate phase, or even advanced, is actually not having learnt properly the basics. So, when new stuff piles on too fragile basics, people are suddenly struggling. I'd say it is a big part of the plateau.

Which is not gonna happen to you.

Just one piece of advice: Prefer to complete some resources, rather than half do all of them.
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Re: Jeffers- SC 2022-23 - French, German, Hindi

Postby jeffers » Tue Mar 21, 2023 3:33 pm

Cavesa wrote:I suspect you'll be the most prepared A2 DELF candidate ever.

You need much less to pass, but I am sure this preparation will make the follow up levels much much smoother. A big part of problems at the intermediate phase, or even advanced, is actually not having learnt properly the basics. So, when new stuff piles on too fragile basics, people are suddenly struggling. I'd say it is a big part of the plateau.

Which is not gonna happen to you.

Just one piece of advice: Prefer to complete some resources, rather than half do all of them.


That's excellent advice about completing some resources rather than half of everything. I am definitely taking that approach in my thinking: the two resources I intend to complete are the DELF prep book and the A2 lessons in Kwiziq, and these two resources take priority in my daily activities after listening and reading.

Having done some exam-specific preparation, I am sure that I could sit the A2 exam tomorrow and get a passing grade, but that was never my intention. The exam works for me as motivation to do more of the serious study that I have simply dabbled in the the past several years. I look forward with hope to passing the exam with flying colours, and I will be proud of the achievement whatever the mark, simply because I will have passed a milestone and have unassailable evidence of it. But the real point is to push my learning along.

Last week was a bit of a slow week for me, mainly because I had a lot of marking to do. All grades are supposed to be in by the end of tomorrow, so when I'm at home I will be able to relax a bit more and concentrate on what I want to do. I'm also looking forwatd to Easter break coming up. I intend to spend a lot of time catching up or getting ahead on my plan, and also have at least a couple of days out rambing with my dog, French podcasts or chat radio playing in my ears.
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Re: Jeffers- SC 2022-23 - French, German, Hindi

Postby jeffers » Mon Apr 10, 2023 1:59 pm

A long post as I've been thinking a lot and also haven't posted for a couple of weeks. As always, any and all suggestions are welcome!

Reading
Week before last I read La petite fille de Monsieur Linh by Philippe Claudel, which was recommended by Carmody on the French book thread. I found it to be a beautifully told, bittersweet story. Although Carmody said this was a book to take slowly, I read it in three days. Definitely a book I will read again sometime soon. When I finished it, I finally caught up with where I am supposed to be on the Super Challenge! I had a secret plan to catch up by the end of March, and I made it. Unfortunately, I only read a little last week so I am behind again! :lol: Currently I'm 50 pages behind, but at the beginning of March I was 450 pages behind, so that's not too bad.

Now I'm looking for the next gripping read. My top two choices are currently either restarting Hexagone. Sur les routes de l'Histoire de France, by Lorànt Deutsch, or re-reading Le Chapeau de Mitterrand by Antoine Laurain.

Watching/listening
I have been listening to a lot of the Easy French Podcast. I like it for a lot of reasons, and I think it is better than a lot of the rest of the field of podcasts aimed at intermediate French learners. For one thing, they talk at a fairly normal pace, a lot like I hear when I listen to chat shows on Europe 1. For another thing, the hosts are clearly having a good time and laugh a lot while talking, which increases the engagement in my opinion. The one downside is that they have a section with a question asked by a learner, but this is usually from a recording sent in. So for a minute or two we have to listen to a beginner, usually with an atrocious accent and often with poor grammar, and then hear the hosts coo and ahh over how good their French is before they answer the question. This is one of the things I hated about the Inner French podcast, and it annoys me that Easy French have done the same thing. Nevertheless, the rest of the podcast is engagine, interesting, and at a higher level than other intermediate French podcasts, so I'm sticking with it for now. Normally what I do is listen to an episode on the way to work, and then listen to the same one again on the way home.

Last week I watched the Netflix film 8 rue de l'humanité (English title: Stuck Together), a Dany Boon about life in a Paris appartment during the pandemic lockdown. It wasn't great but it was enjoyable, a lot like other Dany Boon films I've seen. Thinking about it, I haven't seen his most famous film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, something I guess I should correct.

I also watched an episode of Dix pour cent, but once again I wasn't really enjoying it that much. I've realized that I'm not quite at the level to watch native TV, so it's a bit more work than enjoyment. I watch with French subtitles, and I tend to watch fairly intensively, meaning I pause to look up unknown words or phrases. The result is that I am watching a lot less French TV than I was a few years ago when I was watching with English subtitles. Perhaps I should just let it go, and watch without pausing, but I'm not sure.

Exam prep
7 weeks to go. Target date: 2 June 2023

I've finished 6 weeks since I started exam prep for A2, and I have 7 weeks to go. Surprisingly I feel like I am on track, although there are a few things I wish I had gotten further with than I have.

Besides keeping up with reading and listening, my main preparation strategy has been focused around two main things: Kwiziq for grammar, and Le DELF 100% reussite, a revision workbook. I am up to 84% on the A2 section of Kwiziq, although I've been at 84% for about a week. I'm in a section of lessons which are a bit tricky for me, and so my score on them goes up and down. The proper use of "Sentir bon" vs "Se sentir bien", for example, or nailing down the present forms of cueillir. I hope to get that percentage up into the 90s this week, and then I'll do a review of A0 and A1. I intend to dabble a bit in the B1 lessons at some point, but I am trusting the teachers at Kwiziq that they have a sense of what's actually needed for A2. During the exam I want to have a firm grasp of basic idioms such as uses of sentir, and I don't want to make stupid spelling mistakes with words like cueillir. When speaking and writing I want to make sure that I demonstrate that I can handle the tenses expected at A2: present, imperative (positive and negative), passé composé (making sure I use the right auxilliary verb, avoir or être, not to mention agreement when needed!), l'imparfait (including the slightly tricky "I was doing x when y happened"), and the future proche. I think those are all the tenses they expect at A2. The writing only requires two pieces of work of 40-60 words each, and the speaking sections are only a few minutes, so it would be tricky to work all of those tenses in anyway. Basically, I need to be ready to say/write things along the lines of "When I was young I used to X, but now I prefer Y. I will do Z at some point". I expect most of it will be first person, but I need to be prepared for other persons in case the examiner asks questions which require this (e.g. "And what about your wife/family? What will/did she/they do?").

I've finished the listening and reading sections of Le DELF 100% reussite and have just begun the writing section. Although my original plan was to start that section a week ago and finish it this week, my plan has enough flexibility that I'm not concerned at all. So far, the revision guide has convinced me that I am definitely beyond A2, and the listening and reading comprehension test ought to be super easy. Assuming I might drop occasional marks due to poorly worded questions (yes, I will blame the test :lol:), I will be disappointed if I score less than 23/25 on each of those sections. The speaking and writing sections are not as daunting as I was imagining a couple months ago, but I still need to do a lot of work on them. So far I've written bits and pieces and done some self-talk (mostly in my head, unfortunately), but I really need to formalize my work on both.

For the writing, I have a list of topics and I just need to start writing short paragraphs for each topic. For the speaking I intend to do basically the same thing, write some paragraphs for each topic, and I will practice speaking out loud whatever I wrote for both sections. I have still never arranged a speaking partner, but I have recently remembered an old acquaintance from France who speaks no English at all, and I'm planning to ask him today if he'd be willing to meet up on zoom to let me practice on him. I met him a couple times when I was on the continent for events in the AR game Ingress, and I've just verified from the game map that he is still active, so I'll ping him this afternoon. My worry with any speaking meetup is wondering what to talk about that I am capable of talking about! I've always avoided the kind of small talk needed for the exams because I've found them dull, e.g. describe a person, describe your hobbies, things to do in a town, etc.

I've basically stopped working on the Moocs, but I might pick them up again. The lessons were good for giving specific writing exercises which I detest but should work on. I've completed all 21 of the A1 dictées on Orthodidacte, and now I'll start working on the A2 dictées this week. I started making notes of my mistakes, and the main mistakes have been with accent marks and leaving off the "s" for plural. E.g. "récreation" should have been "récréation", "beaucoup d’histoire incroyable" should have been "beaucoup d’histoires incroyables", and I wrote "je jeux" for "I play" instead of "je joue". I really feel like working on dictations has been a great way to fix these problems, and it is definitely an example of the idea that practice makes perfect. As a bonus, the texts being read are those "describe a person", "describe a place" types of texts which are dull but they're short and very relevant to the exam.

Stats and stuff
Kwiziq brainmap 2023-04-10 sm.png

The areas currently in yellow in the A2 section:
  • Stress pronouns with même (I definitely struggle with which ones to use in which situation)
  • Pronominal verbs- passé composé conjugations (e.g. reflexive verbs all use être and agree with the person)
  • -aindre, -eindre, -oindre verbs in the present (I think I've nailed them, but given time I get them wrong again)
  • negation - ne ... personne (I always want to use ne ... pas personne)
  • comparisons - de plus en plus de, de moins en moins de (I often forget the final "de")
  • sentir bon vs se sentir bien (yeah, this just needs practice and review)
The yellow bit in the A1 section is "Faire de/jouer à with sports and hobbies", which is absolutely crucial for the exam! :shock:

Kwiziq achievements 2023-04-10.png

As mentioned above, I want to get the A2 into the 90s, then review A0 and A1. Once I get the A2 over 95% I'll probably start dabbling in B1 lessons.

DELF A2 plan 2023-04-10.png

Things are moving along nicely. I totally forgot about making brief notes of what I'm reading and listening to, and I'm not going to back fill those.
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Re: Jeffers- SC 2022-23 - French, German, Hindi

Postby Carmody » Mon Apr 10, 2023 2:44 pm

Congratulations on all the great work that you are doing!
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Re: Jeffers- SC 2022-23 - French, German, Hindi

Postby badger » Tue Apr 11, 2023 12:27 am

bon courage ! I will be following your prep with interest. where have you booked to take the test, if you don't mind sharing ? I'm almost tempted to take an A2 test just for the practise of taking a DELF test - or maybe I'll save the money for a B1 re-take. :D
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Re: Jeffers- SC 2022-23 - French, German, Hindi

Postby jeffers » Tue Apr 11, 2023 10:31 am

badger wrote:bon courage ! I will be following your prep with interest. where have you booked to take the test, if you don't mind sharing ? I'm almost tempted to take an A2 test just for the practise of taking a DELF test - or maybe I'll save the money for a B1 re-take. :D

If you don't absolutely need the B1 paper, I would encourage you to consider sitting the A2 test for practice, but also to build up your confidence. From my preparation, I've confirmed my suspicions that B1 would be the appropriate level for me to test at; although I would definitely have trouble with the writing and speaking parts, I am sure I could pass overall. However, the experience of preparing for A2 has been good, enjoyable, and as I've said before, since I don't actually need a qualification I would rather take a lower qualification and ace it than barely pass a higher level.

I haven't yet decided whether to take the test in Oxford or in London. Oxford is a bit closer, but I always like a day out in London! I wonder if there's any difference between the centres, and also if there's any way to find out which is better. Does anyone know?

Another thing I'm thinking about doing for preparation is writing a little bit every day on the Reddit WriteStreak (français). There is a sujet du jour, although it looks like this is optional, and people are happy to supply corrections if you want. I notice there are write streak subreddits for a lot of other languages, with the language as part of the url, so I guess the French one was the first one! The link is: https://www.reddit.com/r/WriteStreak/, and I'll make a stab at it after this post. I'm thinking if I get into the habit of writing even just a sentence or two on the sujet du jour every day, I might actually make some proper progress.

Regarding the French acquaintance I mentioned yesterday, I messaged him and he replied this morning that he would be willing to help. Ominously he said, "On verra si on trouve assez de sujets de conversation." Which is my exact worry! :lol: I think I need to have a cheat sheet of topics to bring up, and on the first session I'll probably ask him a lot of questions, which I can also have on my cheat sheet for reference if needed.


EDIT: here's my first writestreak. I'll cross post them here when I remember to do them!
Streak 1 : La calculatrice nous a-t-elle rendus stupides ?
Aujourd’hui c’est la première fois que j’écris un « writestreak ». Je suis apprenant de français, je lis beaucoup en français et j’écoute souvent les podcasts et les infos en français, mais je n’écris jamais, ou presque.
Et maintenant, le sujet du jour. Je pense que la calculatrice est un outil très efficace, elle nous aide à faire des choses qui sont difficile pour les humains, mais facile pour une calculatrice. Cependant, c’est important de savoir faire des choses pour nous-même. Moi, je tente de faire des calculs simples moi-même, mais la plupart des gens préfèrent utiliser des outils même pour des taches très simple comme 250 divisé par 125. Alors pour eux, la calculatrice les rend stupides.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WriteStreak/comments/12ig7um/streak_1_la_calculatrice_nous_atelle_rendus/
I used Google translate to figure out how to say "do calculations" and "the calculator makes them stupid". I wrote on Word for the French spelling corrections, but I think I got all the spellings correct by myself anyway. Tell me if I'm wrong about that!
7 x
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)


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