Written Final Exam: Final Pre-Cap

Final Exams take place Wednesday, May 22 through Friday, May 24:

• Wed 5/22 Block 1: French 3, Maroon 1.
• Wed 5/22 Block 2: French 2, Maroon 2.
• Wed 5/22 Block 3: French 2, Maroon 3.
• Wed 5/22 Block 4: free for students, orals for CAH.
• Thu 5/23 Block 1: free for students, orals for CAH.
• Thu 5/23 Block 2: students take White 1 exams, CAH grades exams.
• Thu 5/23 Block 3: French 1, White 2.
• Thu 5/23 Block 4: free for students, orals for CAH.
• Fri 5/24 Block 1: French 1, White 3.
• Fri 5/24 Block 2: French 1, White 4.

Written exams for French 1, 2, and 3 will consist of three sections:

1. Vocabulary (4 pages)
2. Verb conjugation (2 pages)
3. Translation (2 pages)

Vocabulary sections will include 120 words/phrases, with one third from first semester's vocab lists and two thirds from second semester's vocab lists. Students will translate 60 words/phrases from French to English, then 60 words from English to French. 

Verb conjugation sections will test the following verb knowledge:

1. French 1: present and past tense conjugation (see pages R24–R27).
2. French 2: present, past, imperfective, and future conjugation (R38–R47)
3. French 3: present, past imperfective, future, conditional, and subjunctive conjugation (R40–R54).

Translation sections will offer the following challenges:

1. French 1: Translate 10 sentences from French to English, 10 sentences from English to French.
2. French 2: Translate 10 sentences from French to English, 10 sentences from English to French.
3. French 3: Translate 8 passages from assigned news articles from French to English.

Spelling, accent marks, articles, and gender count whenever students are answering in French.

Students must answer 4 out of 5 questions correctly on each page of the written exam to receive full credit for that page. In other words, students may skip 1 out of 5 questions... or guess wildly on 1 out of 5 questions with no penalty for an incorrect response. Students who answer more than 4 out of 5 questions correctly will receive bonus points. One exception: In the French 3 translation, students must translate 3 out of 4 passages on each page.

French 1, 2, 3: Monday, May 20 - Tuesday, May 21 2013 Final Lesson Plan

Finally, a movie!

Today we watch La belle verte (The Beautiful Green), 1996.

• Coline Serreau wrote, directed, and starred in La belle verte. 
• Serreau also composed the original music for this film.
• A decade earlier, Serreau wrote and directed Trois hommes et un couffin (1985), which was remade in America as Three Men and a Baby (1987).

Watch for images and symbols that come in pairs!

Extra Credit No, Bonus Points Yes

North Carolina Civics and Econ teacher Mrs. Cook offers in her syllabus this concise explanation of the difference between extra credit and bonus points and the rationale for offering the latter but not the former:

I DO NOT GIVE EXTRA CREDIT! You may be asking yourself “What’s the difference between extra-credit and bonus points?” I will try to clarify for you: Extra credit is more work for me because you chose not to do your part the first time. Bonus points are built in: I may ask an additional question on a quiz or test that can only help you, not count against you. Or we may do an in class activities that allow you or your group to receive some bonus points. The reasoning for my policy is that it is the student’s responsibility to keep up with their work and knowledge throughout the course and not rely on “extra –credit” to help them make it through. My job as an IB teacher is prepare them for college and real world experiences and, most likely, they will not encounter extra-credit after high school [R. Cook, MYP Civics and Economics syllabus, downloaded 2013.05.17].

I follow those principles in my class. Extra credit does not exist in my classroom. However, I set an 80% rule on my final exams: get 4 out of 5 right, and you get full credit. Get more than that right, and you get bonus points.

French 1: Friday May 17 2013 Lesson Plan

DUE: rien! We're reviewing for finals!

[30 minutes] Oral Exam Practice: focus on questions for CAH

[60 minutes] Grammar Review

1. First go over pages in textbook appendix for study.
2. Then go through as many chapter grids as possible, with practice sentences for students to write.

Les Devoirs: rien!  Keep studying!

French 2: Thursday May 16 2013 Lesson Plan

DUE: rien!

[45 minutes] Oral Exam Review

[45 minutes] Grammar Review: highlight pages in textbook appendix for study

Les Devoirs: Just keep studying!

French 3: Thursday May 16 2013 Lesson Plan

DUE: rien!

Review, review, review...

[30 minutes] Oral Exam Practice

[30 minutes] Grammar Review for Written Exam

[30 minutes] Reading Practice for Written Exam

Les Devoirs: rien! Étudiez!

French 1: Wednesday May 15 2013 Lesson Plan

DUE: rien!

[60 minutes] Verb Practice! We cover every verb on the special verb list, present and past tense.

[30 minutes] Oral Exam Practice!

Les Devoirs: rien! Just keep studying!