By Ms. E. Hallissey - 5 minute readExpert teacher, Ms. E. Hallissey, shares her advice on how to succeed in your Junior Cycle French CBA 1.
Classroom-Based Assessments (CBAs) in Junior Cycle French are important learning opportunities that will set you up with essential skills for the Senior Cycle and beyond so it's important to give it your best shot.
In 2nd year, you will complete CBA 1 which assesses your oral communication (how well you speak French). This guide will give you a better understanding of what to expect and includes suggestions and recommendations on how to achieve your best result in your CBA 1.
Throughout your Junior Cycle French course, you will need to complete two CBAs. Your CBA results will appear on your Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA) and for each CBA, you will be awarded one of the following descriptors:
Exceptional
Above expectations
In line with expectations
Yet to meet expectations
The purpose of this CBA is to develop and improve your ability to speak French as well as to communicate information/a message clearly through this language. This is an important part of your language learning as languages are meant to be spoken. From this CBA, you should learn/improve the following skills:
Pronunciation (can I say words correctly in French?)
Clear communication (do my teacher and classmates understand what I'm talking about?)
Language (is my grammar generally correct and do I use different vocabulary?)
CBA 1 allows you to work towards the following learning outcomes:
1.9 Pronounce words accurately enough to be understood, with appropriate intonation.
2.10 Convey simple descriptions, presentations or announcements on familiar topics.
2.2 Apply all language learning to creative activities such as producing simple poems, posters, presentations, games and drama.
3.7 Analyse similarities and differences in relation to their peers’ lives in the target language country/countries in areas of daily life and present them using a range of media.
Source: https://www.frenchnotes.ie/learning-outcomes-for-students-in-modern-foreign-languages/
For this CBA, you may carry out one of the following tasks (you might choose from this list yourself or your teacher might decide for you):
An interview
A role-play
A presentation followed by a Q&A session.
A conversation in response to a stimulus (a text, image, video, etc.).
For this task, you can work on your own, in pairs or in groups (again, your teacher may decide this). You will be expected to speak in French for 3–4 minutes and if you are part of a group, you must show that you did your part. Finally, you will need to write a reflection on what you learned from this CBA.
No matter what you're doing for your CBA, you will need to plan and be prepared. Here's some advice on doing just that:
Think about which task you're doing and brainstorm what you need to do. Don’t be afraid to ask your teacher questions and for advice.
If your teacher has given you a theme or framework, read this very carefully and make notes. If your teacher has given you complete freedom, make sure to work on a topic which interests you, e.g. I love football so I pretended to interview my favourite footballer.
You will need to research your topic and look up some new vocabulary. Once you have all of your information, you need to write out what you plan to say.
You may need to rewrite and redo parts of your CBA but the more preparation that you do at this stage, the easier it will be.
Have your research and planning done and have what you're going to say written out. You could use flashcards/cue cards for this, just make sure not to write too much per card.
Practice saying your presentation to friends and family and consider the feedback that they give you. You can make little notes to help you with pronunciation.
During your presentation, stand up straight with your shoulders back and look your classmates in the eyes (try not to look down at your notes for the whole duration). Take and deep breath and you'll be fine!
Reflecting on what you have learned from writing and presenting CBA 1 is an essential part of the process. While completing this CBA, it's a good idea to write down your thoughts and brainstorm what you learned. This way, you can reread your notes, review them and re-draft them if necessary. I also recommend considering the following:
How was your pronunciation? Did you speak clearly?
Did you have to refer to your notes?
Did you practice enough?
Did your classmates understand you?
What did you do well?
Would you do anything differently if you had the chance?
Single words: Wordreference.com
Phrases: linguee.com
Help with pronunciation and learning off lines: naturalreaders.com
To learn off lines, try taking an image with Google Lens and having it read the lines back to you.
Do prepare.
Do write and re-write.
Do improve your work with feedback from your teacher/others.
Do work on pronunciation.
Do record yourself and watch your presentation back.
When reflecting on what you learnt, be specific on tenses, adjectives, vocabulary, etc.
When reflecting on how you would improve your work, be specific on whether you would use more adjectives or use other verbs than 'être'.
Don’t say that you would do everything the same again. Otherwise, you’ve learned nothing.
Don’t ignore your mistakes. When you see a mistake, correct it.
Best of luck in the Junior Cycle! You will be great.
Ms Hallissey is an experienced French teacher.