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New A-level translation booklets

Gianfranco Conti and I have been working on new resources for the new A-levels (although they could easily be used with the current specifications). The main focus is on translating into French, but each unit/booklet contains a range of tasks:
  • Pre-reading vocabulary, morphology, syntax and translation exercises.
  • An article with comprehension exercises (e.g. true/false, tick the correct sentences, questions in TL).
  • An oral communicative task.
  • Translation into English.
  • Grammar manipulation drills.
  • Post-reading vocabulary and pre-translations tasks (matching, gap-fill, definitions etc).
  • Three graded translations into French. All the previous tasks are designed to lead up to these. At first glance they will look hard, but after doing all the preparatory tasks, students should find them more than do-able and hopefully will get a sense of mastery and achievement.
  • Answer key
Topics posted so far; family (AQA, Pearson) , Cyber-society (AQA), World of work (Pearson), How criminals are treated (AQA).

The answer key means these could be handed out for independent work/revision.

The unit respects some of the principles we laid out in our handbook The Language Teacher Toolkit, namely lots of TL comprehensible input, repetition and recycling of language and focus on language form. Whilst the focus is ultimately on the skill of translation, the unit features a good range of tasks, some more focused on comprehension and speaking. Each unit will feature drills on a particular aspect of grammar, e.g. the subjunctive, si clauses, relative pronouns and passives.

The first unit consists of 9 pages of dense A4, plus an answer key. It could be used for classwork, homework or as an independent study/revision resource. Our first topic is Comment on traite les criminels - a theme from the new AQA specification. Others will follow soon.

We are charging £3 per unit and when there are a set of 10 each for AS and A-level, we shall eventually charge £25 for a bundle of ten. These are photocopiable resources which could be used over several years, so we think the cost represents excellent value. We have done our best to ensure that the language used is challenging, accurate and well matched to the needs of A-level exams. We both bring a good deal of experience to the task.

Go and have a peek at the TES site for a preview here:

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/a-level-french-unit-10-how-criminals-are-treated-11259343

You'll need to be registered to download.

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