National 5 Languages in a nutshell All your questions answered .... hopefully!

What topics will I cover for Nat 5? There are 4 contexts: Society: how you get on with your family, friends,arguments, peer pressure etc... Employability: jobs , work and CV Learning: preparing for exams, what subjects you like, dislike, comparing school in France and Scotland, learners responsabilities Culture: this is very broad and includes planning a trip, festivals abroad, film and TV etc...

What skills will I use? The 4 usual skills you have been using since you started learning languages, so nothing new or different!: Reading: texts, blogs, emails, paper articles, poems etc... Listening: to conversations, ,monologues, songs etc... Writing: writing personal responses to situations, with opinions and reasons.

and last but not least! Can you guess ? TALKING! This is one of the most important, valuable and useful skills to have, to allow communication to take place.

What will I be assessed on in the May SQA exam? Your 4 skills will be assessed: Paper 1 is a Reading ( 3 texts) and a Writing (job application). You will be given 6 bullet points 4 of which will be predictable, and which you will have learned over the year.

and what else? Listening: you will listen to a monologue and a conversation and answer questions in English. You hear the CD 3x. Talking: this will take place in March and not in May. The Performance will be recorded for SQA. Your teacher will record and assess you. You will do a presentation which will last between 1½ and 2 minutes, followed by a conversation (4½-5 minutes).

Writing Assignment You will write an essay in class, which will be 120 – 200 words long, and which will demonstrate an ability to use accurate language. You will be allowed to use a dictionary and a word list, and you can have a second shot at writing it once the teacher has applied a correction code. The finished version will be sent to SQA for external marking before Easter.

What are the marks for the SQA exam? Reading: 30 marks (scaled to 25%) Writings (Assignment and job application); 40 marks (scaled to 25%) Listening: 20 marks ( monologue = 8, dialogue = 12) (scaled to 25%) Talking ( Performance): 30 marks (scaled to 25%) Your exam is graded A to D.

What about homework? You will get homework each day mostly you will be given vocabulary to learn, revise, grammar notes ( verbs and tenses) sometimes you will be answer questions on a text, write an essay or prepare for a Talking or Writing assessment.

But remember....! To be successful you need to: 1) learn your vocabulary and verbs regularly, 2) use Scholar to practise reading and listening and “languagesonline” to focus on grammar accuracy 3) be active and attentive in class and always do the best you can !

Any questions? Please ask the teacher!