Skip to main content

GCSE video listening resources

From the feedback I receive from French teachers, a popular resource on my site are the video listening worksheets. Finding appropriate video material for this level is a bit of a challenge, certainly harder than sourcing A-level video clips. In nearly all cases the worksheets would suit pupils aiming for Higher Tier at GCSE. I base the choice of videos on a number of factors:

- Interest level of the material
- Clarity of language
- Difficulty of language
- Length of video
- Relevance to GCSE topics

With these criteria in mind I have built up a set of worksheets linked to external videos. Here they are:

Future tense – song Octobre by Francis Cabrel
Conditional tense – song –Mourir demain – Pascal Obispo
Environment – eating meat
Why learn French?
Health – making vegetable soup
Technology – Ariane rocket
Migrants
Jobs – cartoon short film
Health/sport – roller blading in Paris
Health/sport – Papa Cochon fait de l’exercice
Home life/food – Peppa Pig – les crêpes
Home life – Peppa Pig – Noël
Home life/DIY – Papa Pig accroche une photo
Home life – Peppa Pig – une chasse au trésor
Home life – Philippe describes his daily routine
Perfect tense/holidays – silly song Si t’as été à Tahiti
Holidays – Visit to Venice
Holidays – favourite holidays
Holidays – a French camp site
Family – a mother describes her daughters
Health/sport – walking
Hobbies – tags and graffiti
Food – a “vinstub” restaurant in Strasbourg


The exercise types I use for each worksheet depend to some extent on the nature of the recording, but include true/false/not mentioned, gap-fills, comprehension questions, matching tasks and word lists to complete. In all cases the exercises require close listening to the texts and several listenings. The videos can be done in a computer room independently, led by the teacher or set as homework. I provide answer keys.

I imagine that teachers find other ways to exploit the clips apart from the exercises I suggest.

I am always on the look-out for good videos, so if you have any links do let me know. I should also mention that I have a number of videos on the Y8 and Y9 pages of the site which may also suit GCSE classes. On occasion links to videos go dead, so I also ask teachers to let me know when this happens. It's often possible to find the same clips elsewhere.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What is skill acquisition theory?

For this post, I am drawing on a section from the excellent book by Rod Ellis and Natsuko Shintani called Exploring Language Pedagogy through Second Language Acquisition Research (Routledge, 2014). Skill acquisition is one of several competing theories of how we learn new languages. It’s a theory based on the idea that skilled behaviour in any area can become routinised and even automatic under certain conditions through repeated pairing of stimuli and responses. When put like that, it looks a bit like the behaviourist view of stimulus-response learning which went out of fashion from the late 1950s. Skill acquisition draws on John Anderson’s ACT theory, which he called a cognitivist stimulus-response theory. ACT stands for Adaptive Control of Thought.  ACT theory distinguishes declarative knowledge (knowledge of facts and concepts, such as the fact that adjectives agree) from procedural knowledge (knowing how to do things in certain situations, such as understand and speak a language).

The 2026 GCSE subject content is published!

Two DfE documents were published today. The first was the response to the consultation about the proposed new GCSE (originally due in October 2021) and the second is the subject content document which, ultimately, is of most interest to MFL teachers in England. Here is the link  to the document.  We are talking about an exam to be done from 2026 (current Y7s). There is always a tendency for sceptical teachers to think that consultations are a bit of a sham and that the DfE will just go ahead and do what they want when it comes to exam reform. In this case, the responses to the original proposals were mixed, and most certainly hostile as far as exam boards and professional associations representing the MFL community, universities, head teachers and awarding bodies are concerned. What has emerged does reveal some significant changes which take account of a number of criticisms levelled at the proposals. As I read it, the most important changes relate to vocabulary and the issue of topics

La retraite à 60 ans

Suite à mon post récent sur les acquis sociaux..... L'âge légal de la retraite est une chose. Je voudrais bien savoir à quel âge les gens prennent leur retraite en pratique - l'âge réel de la retraite, si vous voulez. J'ai entendu prétendre qu'il y a peu de différence à cet égard entre la France et le Royaume-Uni. Manifestation à Marseille en 2008 pour le maintien de la retraite à 60 ans © AFP/Michel Gangne Six Français sur dix sont d’accord avec le PS qui défend la retraite à 60 ans (BVA) Cécile Quéguiner Plus de la moitié des Français jugent que le gouvernement a " tort de vouloir aller vite dans la réforme " et estiment que le PS a " raison de défendre l’âge légal de départ en retraite à 60 ans ". Résultat d’un sondage BVA/Absoluce pour Les Échos et France Info , paru ce matin. Une majorité de Français (58%) estiment que la position du Parti socialiste , qui défend le maintien de l’âge légal de départ à la retraite à 60 ans,