Reading aloud
Reading a short text aloud so a French speaker understands every word, then talking about it.
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Reading aloud, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Know how the read-aloud task works and is marked
With AQA it is the second part of the speaking test, worth 15 marks: you read a short French text aloud (at least 35 words at Foundation, 50 at Higher), then answer four set questions on its topic. The reading earns up to 5 marks for pronunciation, and the four answers up to 10, marked together. With Edexcel it opens the test and is worth 12: a text of 35 to 40 words in five sentences at Foundation, or 50 to 55 in four at Higher, read aloud for up to 8 marks, then two short questions asking for your opinions in the present, worth up to 2 marks each.
Prepare the text during your preparation time
With AQA you may not read the text aloud while you prepare, so practise it in your head. With Edexcel, the last minute of preparation is in the exam room, where you may try it aloud. Either way, mark the silent endings, the nasal vowels and every place where a liaison joins two words.
Get the sounds the text is built to test
AQA's texts are written around the French sound-symbol links, and Edexcel's are marked on them. Words like fille, train, voir, question and heure are there on purpose, so those sounds matter most. Keep u and ou apart, and say é crisply.
Leave the silent endings silent
Ils parlent sounds like il parle, and the s at the end of les livres is not said. Sounding the -ent of a verb or the s of a plural is one of the commonest slips, and it makes the French harder to follow.
Keep the meaning clear and keep going
The mark weighs minor errors, which do not get in the way of communication, against major ones, which do. A slightly English vowel is minor; saying poison for poisson (fish) changes the meaning. If you slip, say the word again calmly and carry on at a steady pace.
Follow the punctuation and link the words
Pause briefly at commas and full stops, and let your voice rise at the end of a question. French gives each syllable nearly equal weight, with a slight stress at the end of a group of words. Read in phrases rather than word by word, sounding the liaisons, as in nous avons.
Develop your answers to the questions on the text
The teacher asks the questions exactly as written: four with AQA, where the top marks need every question answered clearly, at least two answers extended and another developed well, and two with Edexcel, where each answer earns its marks by giving an opinion and making it clear. Add a reason, an example or something you did: j'aime lire parce que c'est relaxant. Hier, j'ai lu un roman dans le train.
Answer in the tense the question uses
Listen for the tense of each question: qu'est-ce que tu as fait le week-end dernier ? wants the past, and qu'est-ce que tu vas faire cet été ? wants the future. Start with the same verb in the I form (j'ai fait, je vais), then add an opinion. Je voudrais and j'aimerais show range.
Reading aloud key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Pronunciation
- How you say the words. In reading aloud it earns up to 5 marks with AQA and up to 8 with Edexcel, judged on how often slips get in the way of the meaning.
- Major error
- A pronunciation slip that affects communication, such as poison for poisson, which turns fish into poison.
- Minor error
- A slip that does not affect communication, such as a slightly English vowel in a word that is still clear.
- Sound-symbol correspondence
- The link between letters and sounds, such as gn and the ny sound. The reading-aloud text is built to test these.
- Liaison
- Sounding a silent final consonant before a vowel, as the s of nous in nous avons, which is said with a z.
- Compulsory questions
- The questions on the text's topic that the teacher asks word for word: four with AQA, marked together out of 10, and two with Edexcel, asking for opinions in the present.
- Developed answer
- An answer with something added, such as a reason after parce que, an example after par exemple or something you did.
- Extended response
- An answer that goes well beyond the minimum, linking several developed ideas. AQA's top band needs at least two.
Common mistakes in Reading aloud
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Sounding the silent endings, as in the -ent of ils jouent or the s of les amis before a pause.
Verb endings in -ent and plural -s are silent. Sound a final consonant only in a liaison, when the next word starts with a vowel.
Saying the n of nasal vowels, so enfant and train sound English.
Send the air through the nose and leave the n unsaid. Mark each nasal vowel in the text as you prepare, and say it several times in your head.
Saying u as ou, so tu sounds like tous.
For u, round your lips for oo but say ee. The difference can change the word, so it can be a major error.
Rushing through the text, or stopping dead after a slip.
A steady pace keeps every sound clear. If you slip, say the word again calmly and carry on: a corrected word is better than a long silence.
Giving one-word answers to the questions after the reading.
The top marks need answers that are developed and clear. Add a reason with parce que, an example with par exemple, or what you did or will do, so each answer runs to two or three sentences.