Hi everyone,

I'm going into the Social Science program and I'm not sure whether to take french 1z06 or 1a06 as an elective! I've taken french to a grade 12 level and I usually get 80s/90s in the class. I heard that 1a06 consists of a lot more oral components and conversational french, with novels to read and some presentations. And 1z06 is more basic grammar and speaking skills?

I don't know how strong I'll be in the oral components/presenting in front of the class, and I don't know if it'll be too much for me, which is why I'm having second thoughts...
Would 1z06 help me improve in conversing in french (like 1a06 probably would) or would it just basically be review?
I'm looking to further improve my french but also get a good grade!

1A06 has very little oral. You may have 1-2 presentations about random stuff. In my year the presentations were about 5 mins long. The first one was where we had to tell a story to the class that was the scariest/funniest moment in our lives. The second one was "what is your favourite French speaking city and why". And then in tutorial there was like a 3 minute presentation where you just talk about yourself or talk about anything that interests you. The only thing that you really need for 1A06 is the ability to understand French being spoken to you at a regular pace. If you came from a school where French class was taught in all French, then you'd be fine. If you came from a French class where you spoke English most of the time then you may have trouble with listening. But you really don't need to know how to speak properly. It's mostly grammar, reading and writing. The TA's in tutorials are from France and so they speak pretty fast and it's sometimes hard to understand what they're talking about. I had Grodek and what she would do is assess your French abilities based on the first presentation of the year that you gave along with the write up and she would mark you according to how she felt you should be performing at someone your level so it was fair. Like for this one person, she was really new to speaking and she had a very limited vocabulary so Grodek would go a bit easier on her oral skills and written assignments.

And although tutorials are where you're supposed to have the most oral exposure, I found it was really hard to participate because it was so damn boring. During tutorials you go through lists of vocabulary with the TA and learn what each word means... I don't need a TA for that shit, there's something called the Internet...

Actually, you are only allowed to take 1a06 because based on your description, you'll be almost guaranteed a 12 with little effort. 1z06 is for beginners (like someone who last took it in grade 9), people who have no background, or someone who hasn't done French in a very long time 5+ years.

^You mean I can probably get a 12 in 1a06 with little effort?? Or 1z06?
Thanks for the replies!

I meant for 1Z06, since it starts from the very beginning for french

You ought to take 1A06 if your goal is to learn something and to improve the skills you already have. There may be one or two novels for the class, a few presentations, but ultimately not much more than grammatical revision from what you should have learnt in twelfth grade , just more thorough. Taking 1A06 will also allow you to enroll in the other French classes past level 1 in subsequent academic terms.

I'v enrolled in 1A06 but still unsure if I should go with it... I thought about it and I don't think I'd like to take other French classes past first year. Would it still be useful to take it just in first year if I'm not planning to go on with it in the future?

Why don't you just take something else then? I took 1A06 during my first year and in a way I kind of regretted it because attendance was mandatory and that ended up dropping my final mark by a whole grade point and since it's a full year course, your mark you get in april is multiplied by 2. Although I was interested in French and I did enjoy it and there was a very light workload I could have replaced it with 2 separate courses where I could have gotten higher marks in. Just something to think about as it's not too late to switch courses.