French Beginners 2023 HSC exam pack

Students should:

• be prepared to communicate about a variety of topics relating to their personal world
• elaborate and provide relevant details to address the questions in a way that engages with the examiner
• use a range of vocabulary, expressions and language structures to respond appropriately to the questions
• provide information, express ideas and comment on their personal world
• be prepared to respond to questions from a different perspective
• be prepared to respond to questions that relate to past, present and future aspects of their personal world
• avoid repetition of the same vocabulary, phrases and expressions
• manipulate the language to fulfil the requirements of the question
• be prepared to be interrupted by the examiner
• use French to ask for repetition and/or clarification of the question.

In better responses, students were able to:

• use a wide range of language accurately and authentically
• provide clear responses to questions with minimal hesitation
• use opinion expressions such as, je trouve que, je pense que, à mon avis
• provide relevant answers to unexpected questions rather than giving a rehearsed answer
• respond appropriately with correct pronunciation and intonation, including for English cognates, such as, mafamille, je comprends, j’étudie, mes parents
• use correct tenses relevant to the intent of the question
• conjugate and use a variety of verbs across past, present, future tense and conditional forms, for example, j’ai commencé, je suis allé, nous sommes restés, c’était, je m’entends, nous aimons, je vais aller, je voudrais, j’aimerais
• elaborate and justify ideas and opinions using authentic and personalised examples relating to past, present and future aspects of their personal world
• demonstrate the ability to use negation correctly, for example, je n’ai pas voyagé
• provide a variety of adjectives, for example, intéressant, strict, ennuyeux, amusant, accueillant
• demonstrate a good understanding of various grammatical points including adjectival endings, and use of modal verbs, for example, la cuisine française, elle est petite, je veux voyager/visiter/étudier,je dois faire mes devoirs, je peux améliorer, nous voulons
• develop ideas by using connectives, adverbs of frequency and contrasting connectors, for example, en général, normalement, par contre, donc, souvent, toujours
• use time markers and adverbs to add complexity to answers, for example, de temps en temps, souvent, cet après-midi, après l’école, l’année dernière, la semaine prochaine, vraiment, chaque weekend, d’habitude.

Areas for students to improve include:

• knowing the difference between je préfère and ma matière préférée
• using the verb visiter with a place and rendre visite à or voir with people
• understanding key question words like où, quand and qui as they were often misunderstood
• revising the pronunciation of je and j’ai, beaucoup, temps, famille, ennuyeux, je préfère
• using the correct verb to state an age, j’ai 18 ans, mon frère a 12 ans
• using reflexive verbs correctly, for example, je m’entends, nous nous disputons, je voudrais me détendre
• revising the conjugations of common regular and irregular verbs, such as, j’étudie, je fais, je vais
• revising the formation of tenses, such as, je vais aller, je suis allé
• avoiding one-word answers, for example, oui, non – and instead using full sentences
• avoiding the use of English in answers
• providing sentences with justifications, opinions or examples
• revising the correct use of pronouns, ma soeur, elle est timide, not il est timide
• preparing full answers to possible open-ended questions about the syllabus topics of family, friends, school, free time, future plans and so on
• revising the use of negatives and particularly their placement in the passé composé, for example, je n’ai pas déjà voyagé.

Students should:

• read each question carefully
• make notes in the Candidate’s Notes column on the right-hand side of the page
• transcribe their response onto the lines, using the space provided for each question
• use the lines provided as a guide to the length of the response required
• ensure that their responses are clear and address all parts of the question
• use their own words and respond in English
• avoid translating text as part of their response.

In better responses, students were able to:

• clearly address the question, providing evidence from the text to support their answers
• distinguish between words of similar meaning
• answer all parts of the question for example, two ingredients (Q1)
• identify the location ‘Paris Métro’ as well as other supporting details, for example, moins de 30 ans (Q2)
• recognise that the pool water was cold and clearly state it was the pool water which was cold, not the weather (Q3)
• use vocabulary in context
• address the requirements of the question, for example, ‘summarise’ (Q5) and ‘compare’ (Q9).

Areas for students to improve include:

• providing specific evidence to support their answers
• developing a broad vocabulary, for example understanding il faut (Q1)
• reading the question carefully and translating accurately as a result of correct dictionary use
• learning to predict meaning from context
• recognising tenses, for example the past tense j’ai acheté (Q1)
• revising numbers (Q4)
• understanding false cognates, for example, ensuite (Q5)
• ensuring the multiple-choice question has the correct number of ticks.

Students should:

• read the whole text(s)
• address all parts of each question
• use the lines, table, chart provided for their response
• respond fully to the question by including details as required
• support their responses with evidence from the text where required
• use their own words rather than giving a literal translation
• use their dictionary appropriately to find the correct meaning of the word(s) in context.

In better responses, students were able to:

• understand the gist and supporting detail in the text
• understand that English expressions can change the meaning of the response, for example ‘the honey is unique because it comes from Notre Dame’ versus ‘the honey is uniquely from Notre Dame’ (Q10a)
• differentiate between verbs and adjectives, for example grandir and grand(e) (Q11)
• accurately translate in context, for example fier (proud; adjective) versus se fierà (Q11)
• directly answer the question, for example include an extent judgement (Q12b)
• state that the ideal candidate is a university student (Q13)
• correctly identify at least a number of characteristics that university students would have to possess and justify these characteristics with reference to the text. For example, they must accept cats or should not have an allergy as one of the flatmates owns a cat; must tolerate loud instruments as one of the flatmates owns a trumpet (Q13)
• attribute correct information to the correct person in the text (Q14)
• address the requirements of the question such as ‘compare’, that is, providing a clear comparison of the three people’s opinions (Q14).

Areas for students to improve include:

• reading over answers to make sure they are cohesive and their expressions in English make sense
• understanding false cognates, for example, partie (not ‘party’); incendie (not ‘incident’) (Q10b); la fumée (‘smoke’ not ‘fumes’ in this context)
• using their dictionaries to look up for unknown words, for example sans ascenceur (without an elevator) or prix par mois (price per month)
• translating quotes included in the question (Q11b, Q12b)
• selecting information relevant to question rather than translating the whole text (Q11a, Q12b)
• paraphrasing the text in English instead of quoting it in French
• answering the questions based on the text rather than on their general knowledge for example, mentioning what they know about Notre Dame rather than what is in the text
• addressing the requirements of the questions such as ‘explain’ (Q11b).

Students should:

• write to the word length required
• address the audience, purpose and context required by the question
• apply the conventions of the type of text indicated in the question
• use the appropriate register throughout the response
• use a range of tenses and sentence structures and a variety of vocabulary
• avoid repeating the same expressions throughout the response
• use the dictionary correctly to access vocabulary and expressions that are meaningful in the context of their response
• avoid listing
• edit their work
• plan their composition prior to writing.

In better responses, students were able to:

• answer all parts of the question, for example, providing reasons why they are thanking the person, mentioning that they are travelling and expressing gratitude in their wording such as je suis reconnaissant, j’apprécie… (Q15)
• plan a response appropriate to the audience, for example, a family member (Q15), purpose (thanking the family member for their support), and context (travelling after completing the HSC)
• use the correct text type, for example a postcard (Q15), a diary entry (Q16) and an email (Q17)
• use a range of vocabulary and language structures with controlled spelling and verb/tense conjugations
• use prepositions and pronouns appropriately, for example en France (in France), à Paris, avec toi, not avec tu (Q15, Q17)
• use noun gender appropriately, for example le français (Q15)
• write consistently with the appropriate register, for example, addressing a family member and friend with tu not vous (Q15, Q17, Q18)
• refer to an aspect of the HSC year, for example, mes études, c’était stressant (Q15)
• use language appropriate to the text type, for example, j’ai la pêche to say how they feel at the beginning of a diary entry (Q16)
• use connectors, for example en plus, donc…
• include a range of adjectives instead of repeating intéressant (interesting) or génial (great) all the way through (Q17).

Areas for students to improve include:

• using their dictionary appropriately to find the correct spelling and translation for the word(s) in context, for example, the noun ‘support’ was translated incorrectly as the verb soutenir rather than le soutien (Q15)
• checking that all adjectives agree with the noun they describe, for example the use of tout, toute, tous, toutes
• conjugating verbs in a variety of tenses
• using tenses correctly, for example the future tenses and using the appropriate auxiliary with the perfect tense and agreeing the past participle if necessary
• using English syntax when constructing sentences in French, for example il fait beau/froid not c’est froid; j’applique instead of je fais une demande de
• avoiding anglicisms, for example, une interview (an interview of a celebrity or someone) versus un entretien (a job interview) or je suis excité instead of j’ai hâte de
• translating sentences word for word from French into English
• spelling words correctly, for example, le travail and travailler
• using paragraphs and appropriate expressions to structure the narrative, for example, parce que (because), mais (but), puis (then), de plus (moreover) (Q17) and then expanding on each idea
• using correct word order with direct and indirect object pronouns, for example saying tu ne comprends pas moi instead of tu ne me comprends pas
• presenting information relevant to all parts of the questions, both advantages and disadvantages (Q17)
• using clear and concise sentences
• using possessive adjectives, that is, ton/ta, for example, ton amies should be tes amies (Q17).