Further Help For The Revision Road- (2) Mrs Helen Billings (Head of German)

Continuing our series of help with revision, in response to freelance journalist Russ Thorne's research for an i paper article, Head of German Mrs Helen Billings provided some excellent advice for pupils studying languages.

There are a number of very useful websites which we have steered our candidates towards (e.g. GCSE Bitesize, Kakadu, Kerboodle, Klar, Languages Online, Lern Deutsch et al) and we advise the following:

To be effective, revision must be:

• Active- always work with a pen and paper, note down key vocabulary and test yourself. Never just sit down and read the textbook for a set period. Focus on tasks, not time. If you just read notes, you’ll only retain about 10% of the information.
• Organised- always ask yourself at the start of a study session what you want to have covered by the end. Have a short and long term plan! Try and organise your revision into topic areas.

Getting started!

• Where? Find a fixed place to study (a particular desk/ room at home, a spot in the library, etc.) that becomes firmly associated in your mind with productive work. All the equipment and materials you need should be within reach, and the room should be well lit and ventilated; but not too comfortable! Turn your room into a positive learning environment. Keep books and notes on the desk to a minimum and decorate your walls with colourful notes and key vocabulary (ask permission!). Music is fine as long as it helps you to study and blocks out distracting noises.
• When? It’s impossible to ‘cram for a Languages exam!’ ‘Little and often’ is the best policy when it comes to revision. Work out a system that suits you. Many people find that shorter revision sessions are much more productive. For example, you could start off by learning some vocabulary in the morning, do some listening before lunch and a few reading exercises in the afternoon. However, the most important thing is that you’re concentrating and working hard!

Remember that it's all about being active and focused on tasks, not time! Make the tasks specific and realistic, not vague and large.

Vocabulary

• Aim to learn 10 words per day. Use the vocabulary pages in the text book and other resources.
• It’s best to spend 10- 20 minutes in the morning revising them, then ask a friend or family member to test you on them at lunchtime or the end of the day.
• Make a list of all the words you find most difficult to remember and return to these every couple of days.
• Look at lists. Highlight the words you know. This can be reassuring as you realise you do know a lot. It also means that you can concentrate more easily on words you do not know.
• Write the words out and colour-code them (masculine, feminine, neuter nouns, plural nouns, verbs, adjectives, other words). Write them on Post-It notes (German on one side, English on the other) and stick them around the house.
• Remember to revise how the words sound. Use the Online Audio Dictionary or create a voki and type in each word. (You don’t need to save the voki each time.) Repeat it several times and try and write it phonetically.
• If you’re a visual learner, try making a mind-map for each topic area or sub-topic. Do this without your book/ dictionary first, and then allow yourself 2 minutes to look at your book before adding to it.
• Try and fill a piece of paper- see where the words take you…
• Make a quiz for a friend and ask them to do the same for you.

Listening

• Build up your listening stamina! Start with one listening exercise and then build up to three or four per revision session.
• Look at the question; make sure you understand the requirements of the question. What’s the topic? Which words can you expect to come up? How could the examiner try and catch you out?
• Watch out for people changing their mind.
• Numbers can be tricky. Listen out for ages, dates, times and prices and note them down.
• Always listen to a passage at least twice before committing to an answer. Try and repeat sentences to yourself more slowly, so the words sink in.
• Look at the transcript (if available) and write down any vocabulary you didn’t recognise.
• Try the old fashioned technique of transcribing what you hear and compare with the transcript.
• Try listening to German radio for a minute (increasing this with time) and make notes in English. Do this with a friend and compare what you’ve written! Listen for gist and then detail. Ask the questions... Who? Where? What? When? Why?
• You will complete many papers before the real exam and it is important that you don’t leave blanks. If you need extra help, then bring in your memory stick and upload some listening files to listen to on your iPod. Alternatively, look at the websites. There is plenty of listening practice available.
• Go back and use the Kerboodle site as well as the Oxbox listening resources in Langstore.

Reading

• The more you read, the more you learn! This section is a massive vocabulary and strategy test.
• Look at the question first. What’s the topic? Which words can you expect to come up? How could the examiner try and catch you out?
• Read the passage carefully. Identify key words, and then look for those tricky little words that can change the meaning of a sentence.
• Look out for negatives.
• Find the verbs. What tense are they in? Is the writer talking about the present (ich spiele), past (ich spielte ich ging, ich habe …gespielt, ich bin …gegangen), future (ich werde… spielen, ich werde… gehen), conditional (ich würde spielen, ich würde… gehen)...?
• Look out for separable verbs.
• If you’re reading a series of statements by several people, and the question asks you to write the name of one of the people, try writing a brief summary of what each person has said in English.
• Check your work thoroughly and write down any vocabulary you didn’t recognise.
• It is also worth spending some time looking at the shared area for German as you will be able to revise and look at work not only from the GCSE course, but also from lower down the school. Often it’s the basics that are forgotten and a little time looking at numbers, colours etc will be beneficial.
• Break long texts into short manageable chunks. If necessary, write a prompt word in English next to the paragraph to remind you what it is about.
• Read the questions carefully. They can often give you a clue as to what the text is about.
• Look for key words and don’t panic, if there is a word you do not understand.
• Read around the word you don’t know, concentrate on the ones you do and make an educated guess. Be sensible!

We thank Mrs Billings for this excellent, detailed advice. To follow Bablake Modern Languages on Twitter, please click here