Opinion - Sport Notes | Leaving Cert French

In Leaving Certificate Higher Level French, sport is an essential cultural, social, and personal theme evaluated across all four examined skills: Speaking (25%), Listening Comprehension (20%), Reading Comprehension (30%), and Written Production (25%). Rather than treating sport as a simple list of pastimes, the syllabus requires you to defend opinions on contemporary debates—including the physical and mental benefits of exercise, commercialisation and elite salaries, gender parity in sports broadcasting, and youth participation. In Section II written production, marks are split equally between Communication (50%) and Language (50%), meaning success depends on addressing the exact stimulus with clear arguments, structured connectors, and accurate grammatical forms.

Sport Across the Four Assessed Skills

Sport appears across the entire examination paper and in the oral test. Understanding how each component tests the topic prevents surprises on exam day.

Component	Weighting	How sport is examined	Language of response
Speaking	25%	General conversation: personal exercise routines, club involvement, matches, followed by an opinion question (e.g. compulsory school physical education).	French
Listening Comprehension	20%	News reports, athlete interviews, tournament results, and public debates on issues such as injuries or funding.	English or Irish
Reading Comprehension	30%	Journalistic or literary texts covering sporting events, health, or social issues. Questions 1 to 5 test factual comprehension; Question 6 tests evaluation of authorial attitude.	Q1–5: French; Q6: English or Irish
Written Production	25%	Section II essays, reaction pieces, formal letters, informal emails, or diary entries on sporting topics.	French

Note on paper structure: The skill weightings are set by the syllabus. Specific question layouts and mark allocations (such as Question 6 in reading or the choice of prompts in Section II) reflect standard State Examinations Commission (SEC) paper design and should always be confirmed against your current past papers.

The Section II Written Task: Structure and Exploiting the Stimulus

In Section II, you typically answer one compulsory long task (Question 1, approximately 90 words, 40 marks: 20 for Communication, 20 for Language) and two shorter tasks (from Questions 2, 3, and 4, approximately 75 words, 30 marks each: 15 for Communication, 15 for Language). Pace yourself sensibly: spend roughly 12 to 15 minutes on the 40-mark task and 10 minutes on each 30-mark task, reserving a few minutes to check verb endings, accents, and agreements.

Exploiting the Stimulus

A pre-learned essay that does not answer the actual question will lose Communication marks, because Communication is judged on how well you deal with the stimulus you were given. Question 1 is frequently linked to a Section I reading passage. Exploiting the stimulus means engaging with its central idea in your own words, never copying chunks from the reading text.

Ineffective (direct quote): « Le nombre de touristes sportifs a augmenté de 15% »
Effective (own words): Le texte souligne l'importance croissante des événements sportifs ; en effet, ce phénomène dynamise l'économie locale tout en renforçant les liens communautaires.

Pay close attention to the operative question verbs:

Qu'en pensez-vous ? / Donnez votre réaction : Take a definitive side and support it with reasons.
Quelles en sont les raisons principales, à votre avis ? : Identify causes and explanations; simply agreeing with the statement will be off-task.
Faut-il... ? : Answer the yes/no question directly in your opening line.

The P-R-E-C Scaffold for Body Paragraphs

To secure high marks in Communication, build your main argument using this four-step sequence:

Point: State your primary claim (Tout d'abord, le sport constitue un exutoire indispensable pour les lycéens.)
Reason: Explain the underlying mechanism using car, puisque, or en effet (En effet, l'activité physique permet d'évacuer le stress accumulé pendant les cours.)
Example: Provide a concrete instance or cultural comparison (Par exemple, en Irlande, les clubs locaux offrent un espace de détente gratuit.)
Concession: Acknowledge an alternative perspective before reaffirming your main stance (Il est vrai que le temps manque en dernière année ; cependant, une heure d'entraînement par semaine reste un investissement salutaire.)

Format Flexibility: Letters, Emails, and the Diary Entry

Sporting prompts in Section II are not limited to discursive opinion essays. You may be asked to write an email to a friend about a match, a diary entry expressing personal feelings after an event, or a formal letter to an organisation.

Informal Email or Letter (Section II Q2)

Open and close with appropriate set expressions to secure full marks for register:

Opening: Salut Léa, or Cher Antoine, followed by Merci de ton message. Désolé(e) de ne pas avoir répondu plus tôt. Je t'écris pour te raconter mon dernier match de rugby...
Sign-off: Et toi, tu fais toujours de la natation ? Écris-moi vite ! Amitiés, or À bientôt,

Diary Entry (Le journal intime)

Use the first-person singular (je), dynamic past tenses, and strong emotion markers:

Opening: Cher journal, quelle journée incroyable ! Je n'arrive toujours pas à y croire.
Narrating the event: Nous avons disputé la finale régionale cet après-midi. Il pleuvait des cordes et le terrain était impraticable, mais notre esprit d'équipe a fait la différence.
Closing: Je suis absolument épuisé(e), mais tellement fier/fière de notre victoire. Allez, je vais me coucher. À demain, cher journal.

Formal Letter (To a sports club or municipal authority)

Salutation: Monsieur le Directeur, or Madame, Monsieur,
Opening: Je me permets de vous écrire afin de solliciter des renseignements concernant les installations sportives de votre commune...
Valediction: Dans l'attente de votre réponse, je vous prie d'agréer, Monsieur, l'expression de mes sentiments distingués.

Essential Sport Lexis: Debates and Topical Arguments

Top marks in Language require replacing vague words like bon or mauvais with precise thematic nouns and verbs.

Health, Wellbeing, and Lifestyle

le bien-être physique et mental – physical and mental wellbeing
lutter contre la sédentarité – to combat a sedentary lifestyle / physical inactivity
un exutoire sain – a healthy outlet / stress release
évacuer le stress / se vider la tête – to relieve stress / to clear one's head
garder la forme / maintenir son équilibre – to stay fit / to maintain personal balance
le dépassement de soi – pushing beyond one's personal limits

Commercialisation and Elite Disparities

les salaires mirobolants – astronomical, sky-high salaries
l'emprise de l'argent (f.) / l'argent roi – the excessive influence of money / commercialism
le sport de haut niveau / le sport amateur – elite sport / grassroots, amateur sport
le bénévolat – voluntary work / volunteering
le dopage – doping / use of performance-enhancing drugs
ternir l'image du sport – to tarnish the image of sport

Women's Sport and the Media: Four Core Arguments

When questions focus on gender equality and media coverage, draw on these tested arguments:

Le temps d'antenne consacré au sport féminin reste dérisoire, ce qui entretient les préjugés sexistes. (The airtime devoted to women's sport remains negligible, which keeps sexist prejudices alive.)
Sans retransmission télévisée régulière, les clubs féminins peinent à attirer des sponsors majeurs : c'est un cercle vicieux. (Without regular television broadcasting, women's clubs struggle to attract major sponsors: it is a vicious circle.)
L'écart salarial entre sportifs et sportives de haut niveau demeure choquant, en particulier dans le football. (The wage gap between top-level male and female athletes remains shocking, especially in football.)
Il est vrai que les mentalités évoluent : les exploits de nos équipes féminines attirent désormais des foules record et fournissent des modèles inspirants pour les jeunes filles. (It is true that attitudes are evolving: the achievements of our female teams now draw record crowds and provide inspiring role models for young girls.)

Topical Angles: Mega-events, E-sports, and Ireland-France Links

Major events: L'organisation de grands événements sportifs coûte des milliards d'euros qui pourraient financer des infrastructures de quartier. (Organising major sporting events costs billions of euros that could otherwise fund local neighbourhood facilities.)
E-sports and screen time: Pour beaucoup d'adolescents, l'e-sport et les jeux vidéo ont supplanté la pratique sportive, ce qui aggrave la sédentarité. (For many teenagers, e-sports and video games have replaced active sports participation, worsening sedentary habits.)
Ireland–France sporting link: Le Tournoi des Six Nations constitue le lien sportif le plus vivant entre l'Irlande et la France : chaque année, des milliers de supporters voyagent entre Dublin et Paris, renforçant ainsi la fraternité et le tourisme. (The Six Nations Tournament is the most vibrant sporting link between Ireland and France: every year, thousands of supporters travel between Dublin and Paris, strengthening fraternity and tourism.)

Grammar Engine: Sports Verbs, Tenses, and the Subjunctive

Accuracy in a small set of recurring structures will protect your Language mark throughout your exam.

1. Getting jouer à and faire de Right

Getting these prepositions right is easy accuracy: jouer à and faire de come up in almost every answer about sport, so a slip here is repeated all over the page.

Use jouer à for team sports, ball sports, and structured competitive games (cards, chess). Remember the contractions:
à + le = au : Je joue au football / au rugby / au tennis.
à + la = à la : Elle joue à la pétanque.
à + les = aux : Ils jouent aux échecs.
Use faire de for individual pursuits, athletic disciplines, and general physical exercise:
de + le = du : Je fais du vélo / du jogging / du ski.
de + la = de la : Elle fait de la natation / de la gymnastique.
de + l' = de l' : Nous faisons de l'athlétisme / de l'équitation.
Pratiquer is a transitive verb taking a direct article with no preposition: Je pratique le basketball depuis trois ans.

2. The Negative Rule with faire de (and Two Exceptions)

In negative sentences, the partitives du, de la, de l', and des reduce to de or d':

Affirmative: Je fais du sport tous les jours. -> Negative: Je ne fais jamais de sport.
Affirmative: Elle fait de l'équitation. -> Negative: Elle ne fait plus d'équitation.
Two crucial exceptions:

After the verb être, the article does not change: Ce n'est pas du vrai sport. (That is not real sport.)
The restrictive construction ne... que ('only') is not a negative, so the partitive remains: Je ne fais que du jogging le dimanche. (I only do jogging on Sundays.)

3. Duration: depuis + Present Tense

Where English uses "have been doing / playing", French uses the present tense with depuis:

Je joue au football gaélique depuis huit ans. (I have been playing Gaelic football for eight years.)
Elle fait de la natation depuis 2021. (She has been swimming since 2021.)
Alternatively: Cela fait huit ans que je joue au tennis.
Never write: J'ai joué au foot depuis huit ans.

4. Telling the Story of a Match (Passé Composé vs Imparfait)

When recounting a match in an email, diary, or oral examination, use the imparfait for background setting and feelings, and the passé composé for sequential actions:

Samedi dernier, le temps était affreux et le terrain était boueux (background). L'arbitre a sifflé le coup d'envoi et nous avons marqué un but (actions). Notre capitaine s'est blessée en seconde mi-temps (reflexive agreement: -ée), mais nous avons gagné le match (action). J'étais ravi(e) (state of mind).

5. Indicative versus Subjunctive Boundaries

A few well-controlled complex structures show the examiner your range. Two or three are enough—accuracy matters more than quantity.

Conjunctions like bien que, pour que, afin que, and impersonal imperatives like il faut que govern the subjunctive mood:
Bien que la pratique d'une activité physique soit exigeante, elle reste bénéfique.
Il faut que le gouvernement fasse des investissements ciblés.
By contrast, même si and affirmative expressions of conviction (je pense que, je crois que) strictly take the indicative:
Même si la pression scolaire est lourde en dernière année... (Indicative!)
Je suis convaincu(e) que l'exercice aide à surmonter l'anxiété. (Indicative!)
Compare this contrastive pair: Même si l'entraînement est difficile... vs Bien que l'entraînement soit difficile... (Identical meaning, different grammatical mood).

Opinion Bank: Connectors for Stance, Contrast, and Debate

Syllabus item 1.10 prioritises managing discussion, defending opinions, and establishing nuances. Memorise two or three versatile connectors from each category below.

Stating a View and Defending Conviction

À mon avis / D'après moi / Selon moi – In my opinion / According to me
En ce qui me concerne / Pour ma part – As far as I am concerned / For my part
Je suis convaincu(e) / persuadé(e) que – I am convinced that
Il me semble que – It seems to me that
Force est de constater que – One has to acknowledge that / It is undeniable that

Agreeing, Disagreeing, and Making Concessions

Je partage entièrement ce point de vue – I fully share this point of view
Je ne suis pas du tout d'accord avec cette affirmation – I do not agree at all with this statement
J'accepte ce que l'on dit, mais... – I accept what is being said, but...
Il est vrai que..., cependant... – It is true that..., however...
Certes..., mais il ne faut pas oublier que... – Admittedly..., but one must not forget that...

Structuring Contrast and Sequencing

D'une part... d'autre part... – On the one hand... on the other hand...
D'un côté... de l'autre... – On one side... on the other side...
En revanche / Par contre – On the other hand / In contrast
Cependant / Néanmoins / Toutefois – However / Nevertheless
Par conséquent / C'est pourquoi – Consequently / That is why
En somme / En fin de compte – All in all / In the final analysis

Sport in the Oral and Listening Examinations

Sport is one of the most reliable and conversational topics in both the oral and listening components.

Sport in the Oral Examination (25%)

The syllabus allots fifteen minutes per candidate; the general conversation itself is shorter, so your answers need to be dense: two or three sentences with a reason, not a memorised speech. If your school prepares a project or document on a sports topic, this gives you control over the vocabulary you use.

Prepare crisp responses for these frequent questions:

Faites-vous du sport ? Quel est votre sport préféré et pourquoi ?
Depuis combien de temps jouez-vous ? Êtes-vous membre d'un club ?
Parlez-moi de votre dernier match ou de votre dernière compétition.
Combien de fois par semaine vous entraînez-vous ?
Y a-t-il assez d'installations sportives pour les jeunes dans votre quartier ?
Regardez-vous le sport à la télévision ? Avez-vous un sportif préféré ?
Pensez-vous que le sport devrait être obligatoire à l'école jusqu'au Leaving Certificate ?

A balanced, high-scoring spoken response blends your routine with reflection: « Je joue au football gaélique depuis huit ans et je m'entraîne deux fois par semaine. C'est mon exutoire : après une longue journée de cours, cela me permet de me vider la tête et de garder la forme, même si les devoirs sont parfois difficiles à gérer. »

Sport in the Listening Test (20%)

Sport features in athlete interviews, news reports on championship results, and vox-pop opinion segments. You answer in English or Irish, meaning you need rapid auditory recognition rather than productive spelling. Watch for scores, times, and these common terms:

faire match nul / un match nul – to draw / a draw or tie; remporter / gagner / perdre – to win / to win / to lose
une blessure / se blesser / être blessé(e) – an injury / to injure oneself / to be injured
s'entraîner / l'entraînement (m.) / un entraîneur – to train / training / a coach
une équipe / un(e) supporter / un stade / un terrain – a team / a supporter / a stadium / a pitch
le classement / un tournoi / une médaille d'or (d'argent, de bronze) – the league table / a tournament / a gold (silver, bronze) medal
les Jeux olympiques (les JO) / la Coupe du monde – the Olympic Games / the World Cup
un licencié / les frais d'inscription – a registered club member / registration or membership fees

Reading Comprehension: Question 6 Evaluation Technique

In Higher Level Reading Comprehensions, Questions 1 to 5 require factual answers written in French. By contrast, Question 6 specifically tests your critical evaluation of a character's attitude or a text's central theme and carries 10 marks (two points worth 5 marks each).

Strict Rules for Question 6

Language: You must write your answer exclusively in English (or Irish). Writing your response in French earns zero marks for that question.
Structure: Provide a direct answer followed by two distinct points supported by evidence from the text.
Citing evidence: Quote a concise French phrase and immediately explain its meaning in English. Never provide two variations of the same point.

Mini Worked Model: Sport Text Question 6

Question: "Do you think the journalist has an admiring attitude towards modern professional football? Support your answer with two points from the text." High-scoring response: "No, the journalist is critical of modern professional football rather than admiring. Firstly, he highlights excessive greed, describing player wages as 'des salaires indécents' (indecent salaries) that damage the sport. Secondly, he condemns superficial player attitudes, remarking that young professionals 'ne pensent qu'à leur image médiatique' (only think about their media image) instead of respecting the game. Both points demonstrate disapproval rather than admiration."

Key terms

L'esprit d'équipe (m.): Team spirit; the sense of solidarity, collective purpose, and cooperation among squad members.
Un exutoire sain: A healthy outlet; an activity that allows an individual to relieve stress, anxiety, or study pressure.
La sédentarité: A sedentary lifestyle; living with little or no physical activity.
Les salaires mirobolants: Astronomical or eye-watering salaries; used when critiquing wealth disparities in professional sports.
Le dépassement de soi: Pushing beyond one's limits; personal growth, perseverance, and discipline achieved through athletic training.
La parité homme-femme: Gender equality; equal media coverage, pay, and institutional recognition for female and male athletes.
Le bénévolat: Volunteering; unpaid voluntary service that sustains amateur clubs and community sports leagues.
Le dopage: Doping; the illicit use of prohibited performance-enhancing substances in athletic competition.
Depuis (+ présent): Temporal preposition used with the present tense to express an action that started in the past and continues in the present ('have been doing for...').
Bien que (+ subjonctif): Subordinating conjunction meaning 'although', which strictly commands a subordinate clause in the subjunctive mood.
Même si (+ indicatif): Conjunction meaning 'even if' or 'even though', which strictly takes the indicative mood, never the subjunctive.
Se vider la tête: Idiomatic phrase meaning 'to clear one's head' or unwind from mental exhaustion.

Check yourself

Translate into French using 'depuis': 'I have been playing camogie for eight years.'
'Je joue au camogie depuis huit ans.' (Use the present tense of 'jouer' because the activity is ongoing).
Which mood (indicative or subjunctive) follows 'même si' in French?
The indicative mood. For example: 'même si c'est difficile' (never 'même si ce soit'). In contrast, 'bien que' requires the subjunctive: 'bien que ce soit difficile'.
What is the correct negative French form of 'Je fais du vélo'?
'Je ne fais pas de vélo.' (In a negative sentence, the partitive 'du' reduces to 'de').
Explain the exception to the negative rule in this sentence: 'Ce n'est pas du sport.'
After the verb 'être', the partitive article does not reduce to 'de'; it remains 'du', 'de la', or 'des'.
In Section I Question 6 of the Higher Level reading comprehension, what language must you write your answer in, and how many distinct points are required?
You must answer exclusively in English (or Irish) and provide two distinct points supported by evidence from the passage.
In an athlete interview on the listening test, what does 'Les deux équipes ont fait match nul' mean?
It means 'The two teams drew' or 'The two teams had a draw' ('un match nul' = a draw/tie; 'faire match nul' = to draw).

Opinion - Sport