#macroblote

Hi there,

Thanks for your encouragement.

Love,

Hey there,

Please check out our Year 9 FAQ (http://friendsatmacrob.tumblr.com/yr9), and the (http://friendsatmacrob.tumblr.com/tagged/macrobyearnine) tag for all things year 9. 

For information about LOTE and German specifically see the LOTE tag (http://friendsatmacrob.tumblr.com/tagged/macroblote), and this page (http://friendsatmacrob.tumblr.com/search/german)

Hope this helps!

Hey there,

First off, choosing to stand with your culture and language as opposed to doing what everyone tells you to takes amazing courage and resilience. It’s hard to go against the norm but it may be even more difficult to give up a part of your identity which is completely understandable.

Unfortunately, Cantonese is one of the languages some people are averse to and is in particular harder to learn because of the lesser amount of resources available to students since it’s one of the less popular languages. If you need help regarding learning the language, approach one of the senior school teachers to see if they may be able to direct you to where you may receive assistance. Perhaps talk with your parents about how you’re learning Cantonese and maybe you’ll be able to find better learning environments for yourself.

Even so, what those Chinese teachers say do not change who you are or what an amazing language Cantonese is. You are strong enough to stand above their negative opinions. A good thing about this school is the large number of Cantonese speaking students. If you have any Cantonese-speaking friends (I know a surprising amount of people who do speak), you could practise speaking or get them to test you on various things.

Hey there,

First of all, good luck!!!! You’ll probably hear this a billion times, but get some good sleep the night before and eat breakfast! Don’t want your stomach to be rumbling in your oral! Take some deep breaths, try to have a clear mind and listen carefully to what the examiners ask, take a second or two before you answer to collect your thoughts. Wear something neat and casual, don’t wear school uniform or anything else that might identify where you come from!!!

Also remember to bring in the slip that you would’ve received from Ms Liu a while ago

Here are some links which go over experiences and advice for oral exams:

-http://friendsatmacrob.tumblr.com/post/123851365502/tips-for-lote-orals

-http://friendsatmacrob.tumblr.com/post/129777422342/current-year-11-chinese-oral-is-next-month-and-i-http://friendsatmacrob.tumblr.com/post/161535406202/ughhhh-my-german-is-sooo-bad-we-have-lots-of-oral

-http://friendsatmacrob.tumblr.com/post/179133870192/im-getting-scared-and-nervous-for-the-upcoming

-http://friendsatmacrob.tumblr.com/post/175977002572/fam-please-give-me-some-advice-on-how-to-overcome

-http://friendsatmacrob.tumblr.com/post/161462420707/i-practised-so-much-for-the-japanese-oral-and

Hope this helps!

Love,

Hey there,

It usually depends on what the subject is as there are obviously many studying techniques that are more effective for some subjects and not so much others.

For maths:

COMPLETE CHAPTER REVIEW - sometimes it’s impractical to do ALL questions but it’s definitely good practice and even doing every second one is better than none at all

Practice tests! - usually you’ll be given a practice test before a test and this will often be the topic test for the previous year. Definitely don’t disregard it because it is quite useful and it’s testing the skills you should be able to apply in your upcoming test

Hello,

No, none of us have taken/ are undertaking Korean Second Language so we can’t give any insight. Perhaps ask on the VCE Discussion Space on Facebook or look it up in the ATARNOTES forums? From what I’ve heard, Korean Second Language is almost as hard as first language since it’s only recently been developed (and we all know how hard VCE first languages are…).

I didn’t do Korean SL but I did do Chinese SL so I’ll just talk about doing a language for VCE 3/4 and hopefully this can give you a bit of an insight. Doing a language is definitely hard (especially if you don’t speak it at home which was the position I was in) but very worth it in the end. As it was one of my 3/4s I put in a lot of effort to improve my Chinese which I have found is so beneficial beyond VCE. Speaking was my weak point, so I made sure to try and speak to my parents in Mandarin as much as possible. Also for detailed study and general conversation, definitely having that prepared before going into 3/4 was so helpful as all I had to do was memorise my content whereas some other students in my class were still deciding on a topic/ writing theirs. I highly recommend writing your own and not buying someone else’s as it will help you memorise it but of course just have your teacher/tutor go over it.

Having a look at previous exams/ exam reports can also give you a better idea of what to expect and whether Korean SL is for you.

Hope this helps,

Hi there,

FAM member 1: Learning language for me is similar to learning music, when there are no shortcuts and you just keep practising until it becomes natural to you. A good way to practise is reading, even if you are only reading picture story books, reading will expand your vocabulary and solidify sentence structures and expressions as you come across them. Another thing is listening to audiobooks/podcasts/news if you are up to it. When you’re always listening to the language whether actively or passively, you’ll be able to pick up on things like mannerisms and pronunciation!

If it’s regarding vocab, just writing the word numerous times and saying it out loud is a good way to practise. Everyone has a unique sort of learning style that suits them. Some people love flash cards, some learn better by ear, some by writing, some by watching and some by reading. The best way to do well in a language is to identify which learning style suits you, and then doing heaps of practise: writing many essays, listening and speaking it when you can, and constantly revising vocabulary.

If there’s a particular part you find hard, eg. grammar, go over your notes again, and if it doesn’t help, ask your teacher or peers.

The process of learning a language isn’t easy to define since it all the small things that contribute to your learning. If you’re always doing something related to your language, that’ll help you improve, whether listening to music, reading vocab, making sentences in your head.

FAM member 2: I find that actually speaking with someone who is fluent in the language is so beneficial because you can work on your accent and well as getting speaking practise who can correct you straightaway. This is also helpful because I think being able to speak the language is so important because this is what will help you get jobs or just help if you decide to travel to the country. When I was studying for Chinese, I just made a conscious effort to try and speak as much Mandarin with my parents as possible and that helped me a lot. Since I wasn’t really interested in Chinese shows, I would actually go on Netflix under the subtitles/audio and search for English shows that offered Chinese audio to improve my listening skills. Netflix is good because they will always offer English subtitles as well. Netflix shows with a wide range of languages so give that a try if you want listening practise. In terms of studying I really liked to use Memrise or Duolingo to consolidate my learning

Love,

Hey there!

FAM Member 1:

I don’t do any French, but looking through ATARNOTES (best site for general advice) French Forum, I think would be best to ask a French student for what vocab you should learn since I would’ve given you a different answer. Here’s a response from someone who got 40 in French: “I think it would be useful to learn some specific vocab - not just for listening, but also writing and reading. To make sure that the vocabulary you are learning is relevant and may be more useful, I think there is a section in the study design which tells you what topics the exam may refer to, so I think you should check that out. Also, if you want to improve listening, I think it is important to revise basic vocabulary such as colours, animals, clothes etc. These are vocabulary that are very likely to appear, and you don’t want to be wasting time trying to find it in the dictionary. That said, if you know what topic your listening SAC may be on, I think it would be advantageous if you did revise some specific vocab.”

Here’s a link to resources: https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=136390.0 and apparently this is for readers around a lower level: http://www.momes.net/contes/boucledor/index.html#suite1 – Focused for younger readers

There’s another response from the forum:

:Like the others said, exposure to french will help your vocab.

I’d suggest reading as well as news/radio, to hit on all the learning types.

The City Library in Flinders lane in the city has loads of magazines and graded readers in french (beginner, intermediate, advanced). You can borrow some that reflect your interests, or with the readers, ones with the text types you may have to do during the year, eg. dialogue, letters etc. They’re usually pocket sized so you can carry them around and read. It helps your vocab a lot because you’re seeing words in context.  Make a note of common phrases in a notebook, and practice using them in sentences.”

However, if none of this is relevant to you currently, then it would be best to study generally used vocab like family/ school/ transport/ eating.

FAM Member 2:

Personally, it’s helpful to use news sites like francetv.info or newsinslowfrench.com to help you with your French if you use the websites on a daily basis. It helps to develop your vocabulary and also your knowledge of French news, which is incredibly useful if you intend to do French for VCE in Year 12. FluentU is also a website I use quite a lot, however, you have to pay $10 a month to get the full FluentU experience.

Hope it helps!

Love,