Junior Cert French

JUNIOR CERT students emerged happy from their French exams early yesterday afternoon. Those who had done their work would have been fine, according to teachers who welcomed the “topical and accessible” papers.

There were no surprises and overall reaction to the papers at both higher and ordinary level was positive. ASTI representative Máire Ní Chiarba said she thought students felt they had done well.

With eight comprehension passages and questions to read and answer, Junior Cert French is something of an endurance test at higher level. “As long as students remembered that they didn’t have to understand every word in every extract, they would have been fine,” said TUI representative Ann Weafer. The aural CD exam is common to both higher and ordinary levels – different questions are asked for each – but there were no problems with it.

“There was quite a spread of topics,” Ms Weafer said. “Anyone who had done their preparation would have had no problems.”

Teachers approved of the higher level comprehension questions which, like the Leaving Cert exam, were topical and relevant.

Extracts about part-time jobs, books aimed at teenagers, young peoples’ experiences of school and Monaco as a tourist destination were among the topics in the extracts that followed. “All of the topics were quite pertinent to the age group,” Ms Weafer said.

Ms Ní Chiarba said students were pleased with the written expression section.