French
Opinions
Can you write a reply to a magazine article that is saying some strange things about life in your country? This exercise will help you to practise saying what you think in a polite and constructive way!
Read this typical exam question and think about how you would answer it yourself. Then write your answer on a piece of paper. This would be the most difficult task on a Foundation paper, or one of the easier tasks on a Higher paper.
Tu as lu dans un journal français un article sur l'Angleterre. L'article s'appelle "Visiter l'Angleterre? Non, merci!"
L'article dit que:
les Anglais sont très paresseux - ils n'aiment pas travailler
la cuisine anglaise est très mauvaise - on ne mange pas bien en Angleterre
le temps est impossible - il pleut tous les jours
Écris une lettre (environ 90 mots) au rédacteur en chef du magazine. Dis-lui que tu n'es pas d'accord avec l'article. Justifie tes opinions.
Read the letter written by Sarah. It is a model answer which does not contain any mistakes:
Ipswich, le 27 février, 2008
Monsieur, Je ne suis pas d'accord avec l'article "Visiter l'Angleterre? Non, merci!"
Les Anglais ne sont pas paresseux. Ils sont travailleurs. Mes parents travaillent du lundi au vendredi. Je distribue des journaux tous les jours.
La cuisine anglaise n'est pas mauvaise. J'aime bien la cuisine traditionnelle, par exemple le rosbif. La semaine dernière, je suis allée dans un restaurant chinois. C'était super!
C'est vrai, en Angleterre il pleut beaucoup en hiver, mais en été il fait souvent très beau. Demain, il fera froid, mais il fera soleil.
L'Angleterre, c'est très agréable!
Avec mes salutations distinguées,
Sarah Williams
A good piece of writing at this level will contain:
the date and a signing off phrase
ne and pasin negative statements
simple sentences about your own thoughts and experiences
simple sentences about other people
use of the present, perfect and future tenses
Try to find examples of these features of good writing in the answer. Then move on to the next page to compare your ideas with those of the examiner.
The writing contains:
The date and a signing off phrase:
'Ipswich, le 27 février, 2008'
'Avec mes salutations distinguées'
The date and signing off phrases are correctly written. A good start and a good finish! Sarah made sure she could write the correct date on the day of her exam. She knew that there is normally no need to write out an address in full - she just put the name of her town before the date. She had also prepared a correct signing off phrase for a formal letter.
'Ne'and 'pas' in negative statements:
'Je ne suis pas d'accord'
'Les Anglais ne sont pas paresseux'
'La cuisine anglaise n' est pas mauvaise'
In these phrases Sarah placed ne and pas around the verb. She also remembered that when the verb begins with a vowel, ne changes to n' .
Simple sentences about your own thoughts and experiences:
'Je distribue des journaux'
'J'aime bien la cuisine traditionnelle'
'Je suis allée dans un restaurant'
These statements are simple and clear. Sarah then developed the sentences with phrases such as 'tous les jours' and 'par exemple'.
Simple sentences about other people:
'Les Anglais ne sont pas paresseux'
'Mes parents travaillent'
Phrases like these show that Sarah can write about others as well as herself. The correct verb ending of 'travaillent ' is very good at this level.
Use of the present, perfect and future tenses
'la semaine dernière, je suis allée dans un restaurant chinois'
'demain, il fera froid, mais il fera soleil'
Sarah used the present tense when she gave her opinions and wrote about what she does. She also found opportunities to use the perfect tense and the future tense.
You should start by thinking about the topics, in this case work, food and weather. What vocabulary and phrases can you use from these topics to help you write your letter?
You should also look at the French that has already been given to you in the question. How much of it could you use in your answer?
Plan an opportunity to write about - something that happened in the past, eg how about a visit to a Chinese restaurant? - the future, eg how about tomorrow's weather?
Gather vocabulary to do with work, for example the adjective 'travailleur' and the verb 'travailler'. Think of material that you might have prepared for your oral exam, for example 'je distribue des journaux'. Do the same with the topics of food and weather.
Take language from the question and recycle it in your answer. For example: 'Les Anglais sont très paresseux' can help you to write 'Les Anglais ne sont pas paresseux. Ils sont travailleurs.' 'La cuisine anglaise est très mauvaise' can help you to write 'La cuisine anglaise n'est pas mauvaise'. Using the question in this way is fine as long as you are keeping to the subject.
Check for agreements with adjectives such as 'paresseux(euse), travailleur(euse), mauvais(e)' - and also with verb endings, eg 'je distribue', 'mes parents travaillent'.
Make sure that you have dealt with all three areas mentioned in the article.
Don't write too few words. When you are asked to write 90 words, writing less means that you are wasting opportunities of getting marks for quality of language. On the other hand don't write more than 20 words above the stated length. You won't get credit for going way over the limit.
Don't take risks with language. Use what you know and keep in control.
Now try a Test Bite