Students were forced to “think outside the box” for the Leaving Cert German exam at higher level which contained some steep linguistic challenges for weaker students.
However, most teachers say that it was an accessible paper overall which remained close to the style of previous papers.
Clodagh Mackle, a German teacher at Holy Faith Secondary School in Clontarf, Dublin and ASTI subject representative, said there were few complaints from students.
“The comprehensions were accessible and it was a very manageable paper, with no curveballs thrown,” she says.
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Debbie Ewing, German teacher at St Mary’s Knckbeg, Co Carlow, and a Studyclx subject expert, says that while it was accessible, students were pushed for time.
“The German Leaving Cert paper is a long paper with lots to cover and students regularly find themselves racing against the clock,” she says.
The exam started well, says Orla Ní Shúilleabháin, German teacher at The Institute of Education.
The first comprehension on the rise of a 15 year old gaming star was “accessible with straightforward questions”.
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“It was an enjoyable story with some humour and some students will relate to the final question’s theme of periods of change,” she says.
“However the grammatical tasks based off this text were notably harder than previous years as students were asked on labelling tenses and adjectival endings. While there is choice in this section, neither would lie within the comfort zone of the average student and weaker students will find themselves challenged.”
Ewing agrees, noting that some of the challenging vocab will have benefited the well prepared student.
Leaving Cert German, higher level
Second comprehension
The second comprehension was on a much more “alien” than students might expect, she says: life as a research assistant in the Antarctic.
“This was tougher as the vocabulary was dense and very specific to this scenario,” Ní Shúilleabháin says.
“This then has the knock-on effect for the opinion pieces that followed as one option asked students to see themselves within such extreme circumstances.”
While some of the necessary vocabulary could be plucked from the text, students may have struggled to adapt on the spot.
“The piece on diaries was much nicer and will be more popular with students but again demanded them to be inventive,” she says.
Students would likely have the requisite vocabulary to discuss the value of a diary in modern life, she says, but would need to take the time to arrange their thoughts creatively in order to convey this effectively – something that is easier said than done during a stressful, time-tight exam.
Schriftliche Produktion
The final Schriftliche Produktion was “definitely challenging”, she says.
The first option of the letter to the German friend had manageable tasks but peculiar framing devices.
“The only thing that really made these prompts cohere was the underlying linguistic challenge as the topics ranged from ‘breaking’ in the Olympics to a morning techno club and on to automated shops,” she says.
“The odds of any of these being part of a student’s prepared work are low and while they should have been able to adapt, they really needed to draw excerpts from disparate areas of their vocabulary.”
Ewing says the topics in the letter required students to think on their feet and there was little scope for pre-learned material.
They included: what sport would you like to try for the Olympics; cinema trips with a monthly card; wake up club where you dance all night but with no alcohol and your thoughts on this; your thoughts on shops without sales people; is personal contact important?; and finally festivals in Ireland and how you earned money recently.
“The language was approachable in the questions. The topics had some little twists that required students to read and understand the questions fully,” she says.
“The written section would have posed no problems to well-prepared students, able to express their own opinion and use a variation of tenses. There was largely positive feedback from the students to a paper that required you to really think on your feet.”
Mackle adds that her students felt the letter section “wasn’t the nicest” and the topics in many cases were quite specific and the question on the Olympics, for example, really pushed students to find the right vocabulary and think under pressure.
Aural
The aural was nice and accessible to all levels, says Ní Shúilleabháin, and used broad and general vocabulary delivered at a comfortable pace.
The first topic was BrotZeit a volunteer organisation providing breakfasts to underprivileged children – promotes community and integration.
Section 2, the note, tasked them with finding language expressing happiness, and they would have “found loads of options,” says Ní Shúilleabháin.
Section 3 had the “quirky” topic of a clothes exchange party and a typically interesting angle of the topic of sustainability.
Section 4’s news items covered a range of accessible topics with the occasional challenge mixed in.
Ewing notes that the aural was “challenging in parts” and a “very good knowledge of vocab was needed as always.”
Overall, Ní Shúilleabháin says the paper will certainly push students to think outside of the box more than they may have anticipated based on previous years.
“While some of the questions may have been standard or straightforward, the linguistic challenges posed by novel topics make for a very demanding exam, particularly for the weaker students.”
Leaving Cert German, ordinary level
Try this one at home:
Leaving Cert German, higher level, page 19
-Answer any of the five bullet points which relate to the photograph:
