How does Controlled Assessment work in MFL?
60% of the French and Spanish GCSE language course is controlled assessments in speaking (30%) and
writing (30%).All students will need to enter 2 speaking and 2 writing tasks, the tasks can be completed
throughout the course. At the KJS, we give pupils the chance to develop their exam skills by undertaking 3
speaking and 5 writing tasks and the best 2 will be selected and sent to the exam board(OCR) in May of
year 11.
Before the examination module, the class will have studied the grammar and the topic specific vocabulary
in class. They may also have written and prepared mock passages in French or Spanish. The final stage of
this process is when students are given two weeks’ notice of the final assessment with the controlled
assessment title. This is an examination board requirement.
The written assessment must be completed within a 1 hour lesson and will take place in exam conditions
in the theatre during French and Spanish lessons where students need to write an essay of 250 words with
the support of a dictionary. They are also allowed to bring 40 key words with them on a previously issued
pro-forma.
On the day of the speaking assessment, students need to either prepare a presentation or a conversation
on the covered topic. There will be some passages to learn and the class teacher will ask questions to
engage in a full conversation. This speaking test which takes between 4-6 mins is recorded and sent to the
exam board for marking at the end of the GCSE course in May of year 11.
In order to help your son/daughter to achieve the highest possible grade in the speaking assessment, the
exams often take place on Saturdays. This will ensure the school is a quiet environment; other lessons will
not be disrupted. The class teacher will arrange appointment times at 10 minute intervals and fit around
prior arrangements where possible.
What can I do to prepare myself for my controlled assessment task?
 look through your class work
 look back carefully at all the advice given by your class teacher
 use your exercise book(s) for ideas, corrected homework tasks and grammar structures to include
and the white workbook for key phrases and expressions.
 use online resources such as :
www.languagesonline.org.uk.
www.linguascope.com (ask your teacher for the username and login)
www.languageskills.co.uk
www.memorizenow.com
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Look at the additional resources on the Intermediate section of the VLE which include sample
essays, A/A* structures and sound files.
show your final draft to your teacher for advice on content, not for marking
once the final essay is your final best possible work you need to be confident you can produce all of
it from memory
Practice speaking aloud, record your speech onto your phone/MP3 and listen back to yourself.
Ask Mrs Rouyer Brown or Lorena to record your presentation for you so you can hear how it should
sound.
ask parents or other people to test you/help you
use different memory techniques suggested in order to learn your preparation work as suggested
below:
Memory Techniques
1. Write it out again & again, whilst saying it
2. Colour code paragraphs
3. Letter ladder
4. Record yourself or your teacher and say it back/write it
5. Mini-flashcards
6. Read, cover, write/say, check
7. Get someone to test you
8. Gesture/Movement
9. Jigsaw
10. Sticky notes
11. Mind – Map Story
12. Song, Rap, Rhyme
13. Use a mini-whiteboard – write out a chosen section from your final draft using a mixture of words
and pictures. Using this, write out and say your chosen section. Delete one word or picture at a
time, and each time, write and say the chosen section until you can write/say the section with no
words/only one or two words remaining from that section on the mini-whiteboard.(use
www.memorizenow.com to do this work electronically).
Only words may be used in the Controlled Writing Assessment, no pictures.
The MFL department share some ICT tools to help you learn in French and Spanish
but also to help revision in all subjects.
To learn chunks of text for the controlled speaking and writing assessments
http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/ - you can type text into the box, select the language you
would like, then click “say it”. The text below will be highlighted karaoke-style word by word as it
is read out. This speaks with a very good accent and you can change the speed it reads at - use it
to help you crack your pronunciation!
http://www.memorizenow.com/ - paste paragraphs of text in and label them with the title of the
paragraph (item name). Use the arrow buttons above to reveal/conceal more or less words. Hover
over the blanks to see the first letter of the missing word. Select the ‘letters’ tab to just see
the first word of each word.
www.cueprompter.com – paste in paragraphs and read them through from an autocue.
http://popplet.com/ / http://bubbl.us - create a mindmap with pictures / keywords / colour
coding to help you once you have started practicing your paragraph. Use it to jog your memory
and help you when you get stuck.
To learn invidivual words
www.memrise.com – create your own vocab list to learn (import words from excel or by typing
them into the website directly). Useful for inputting whole CA text to familiarise yourself or
topic-related words for learning and revision purposes. The site tests you in a variety of
different ways. Useful for spelling, meaning and pronunciation. There is also an app to download!
www.zondle.com – create games using words or phrases to help you practice, review, revise,
memorise vocabulary.
www.studystack.com – create wordlists then test yourself with flashcards or games that are
generated for you
www.quizlet.com – create flashcards with words/short phrases on. Download the app and practice
wherever you go!
Websites with pre-made activities for you to practice your French/Spanish
www.languagesonline.org.uk – select Spanish/French on the left hand toolbar and explore the
topics available.
www.linguascope.com – (ask your MFL teacher for log in details) Look in the linguastars
(intermediate) section for dialogues and texts to challenge you, or linguascope (beginner) for
basic vocab items.