There were some tricky idioms to decipher at Higher - a challenge welcomed by June Cocksedge, Dunoon Grammar modern languages teacher.
She believes some past papers were too straightforward and that candidates should expect to be stretched. So the use of unfamiliar and informal language was a “good thing”.
Some words in Paper 1‘s reading passage required candidates to consider the context to infer what was meant. “Daher”, “dazu” and “da” (“that’s why”, “in addition” and “there”) were potential stumbling blocks.
Both papers were “well done”, with topics easy to relate to and candidates given plenty of opportunity to show their knowledge.
Paper 1‘s reading element introduced a German girl working as an au pair in the United States, covering themes such as relationships and free time. Directed writing was about a house exchange with a German family.
Paper 2‘s listening passage (a 10-minute recording bisected by two minutes for note-writing) was about a girl who had spent a year in Scotland. While the theme was straightforward, the relevant information was not easily spotted and candidates had to “dig for details”.
