SOME TIPS FOR LEARNING YOUR WORK AND REVISING

Pupils often say things like
"I don’t know how to revise for tests"
“ I read over it but it doesn’t sink in”

Parents often say
“ I can’t really help him/her to revise as I never did French at school”

Did you know that we only retain 10% of what we read!! It’s no wonder, is it, that pupils who just ‘read over’ their work before a test find that it doesn’t ‘sink in’. We do, however, retain 70% of what we say, and 90% of what we do!! So to make things ‘sink in’ we need to SAY them, and DO something rather than just read.

Here are a few tips to help you learn more effectively and do better in tests.

Always learn French to English first – it’s much easier; learn the words English to French after you know them French to English.Learn words and phrases in chunks of 3, 4 or 5 – no more. When you know these, go on to the next chunk of 3, 4 or 5.Get someone to test you when you have learned them, not before . They say the English and you say the French and spell the words. Even if your ‘tester’ does not speak French, they will know if YOU know the French word and they can check your spelling on your vocabulary sheet.

Work with a friend. It makes it more fun, and you can help each other with some of the techniques suggested here.

Use games on the suggested revision websites to learn and practise your vocab and grammar. This is best for people who like the "doing" part of learning, rather than those who learn best through hearing something.

Cover and check (only French to English): Write vocabulary in two lists. For the first 3 or 4 words, read the French and the English side by side, cover the English, say the English, then check that you have got it right.
L A S A C A W A C for English to French:
This stands for :
Look(at the English and French)
And Say(the French word)
And Cover(the French word)
And Write(the French word)
And Check(that you know the word and have spelt it accurately)
Practise with 3 or 4 words until you get them right, then go on.

Make vocab cards
- 1. Fold and tear a piece of A4 paper or card into 8 or 16 squares. On one sidewrite the French word (with the le, la or les if it is a noun) and on the other side write the English, or, if you like drawing, draw a picture / symbol.
-2. French to English: Place the cards French side up and shuffle them. You should have a neat pile of them. Select the first 4 or 5.
-3. Look at the first French word or phrase, say the English, turn over to check that you have got it right. Put it to the back of your pile of 5 and repeat withthe second card. Continue until you have done them all, shuffle and repeat. Go on to the next 4 or 5 when you know the first clump very well. At the end,take all the cards, shuffle and work your way through.
-4. English to French: shuffle all the cards and turn the pile over, so you have the picture or English facing up. Select the first 4 or 5.
-5. Look at the first picture or English word or phrase, say the French, spell it out and turn over to check that you have got it right. Put it to the back of your pile of 5 and repeat with the second card. Continue until you have done them all, shuffle and repeat. Go on to the next 4 or 5 when you know the first clump very well.
-6. At the end, shuffle the entire pack and work your way through all of them. If there are still words you don’t know well, isolate those and work just with them.

Record words and phrases onto tape: say the French word, leave a gap, then say the English. Repeat with the next word. When you listen, aim to say the English word before it appears on the tape. Do this with the English as well. When you listen, aim to say the French word before it appears on the tape.

Stick French labels onto things in your room.

Some people learn best by drawing Mind maps :
-1. Put the topic heading in the middle.
-2. Add words and phrases around the centre word, maybe with the English in a different colour
-3. Use lots of colour and symbols or drawings.
-4. You may find it helps to crayon around the boxes and colour in the background to make interesting shapes – that way you will be able to picture the mind-map in your head when you need to remember the word. You can use this for any subject, not just languages.

So – there are lots of different ways to help you revise effectively.Try them out and see which ones work best for you. But remember – don’t just ‘read over’ your work and hope it ‘sinks in’. Most of it won’t - your brain needs more help than that