Hello.
I studied French Continuers through the OHS from 2009 to 2010.
1). I never studied a language at school before, so I can't really tell you the differences between doing distance education and studying at school. I'll tell you how dist. ed. works anyway.
What happens is that you get sent a workbook and a couple of extra exercises that your teacher wishes for you to do. S/he writes on a purple coversheet what your objectives exactly are for that week or fortnight. I think the workbook you'll be using is 'Noir Sur Blanc'. Once you finish your exercises, you give them to the teacher at school who is in charge of all this OHS business who then sends the work to OHS. This teacher should also give you the new set of work and also the corrections from your previous set of work sent by your French teacher.
Phone lessons are a weekly thing. I know of some students in my class who only got one fortnightly though. They don't usually last long, 10-20 mins a week max. However, I sometimes got mine to go on for 40-60 mins because speaking was my weak point, and my teacher wanted me to improve a lot on that. Some teachers also phone you from their home to give you some extra practice, so it's a roll of dice if you're going to get a dedicated enough teacher like this.
2). Look above.
3). Basically like the ones in the HSC past exams. They should send you past exams for practice anyway; I did. I think for year 11, there was just one exam at the end for assessment. My memory might be faulty though. During the HSC exam, you'll get assessed on each aspect of the French exam throughout the year. A listening exam and a speaking exam in the second term, then a writing and literary comprehension exam in term three, and finally the big one in term four.
4). In my year 11 OHS French Continuers class, there were around 75 students. By the time of the HSC, only 44 students were left.
5). Yes, well, at least in my opinion.
6). The teacher just asks you questions that will be in the speaking exam and corrects your pronunciation and grammar, as the teacher is meant to.
If you are really passionate about learning French, it shouldn't really be a problem. It might seem a shock to you to be suddenly given this independence to take charge of your own learning, but some good can also come out of it. You get free periods in your school timetable to study for French, but since no one's looking over you, you can do whatever you want during this period. This is particularly useful for school exams, where you can use that period ostensibly dedicated to OHS study for cramming. There is that danger of procrastinating during these free periods, but then again time spent enjoying yourself is not time wasted, I guess. Personally, I adored learning French by OHS. It was the best subject I enjoyed studying out of all my other subjects during the senior years, and I look back on it very fondly, I must say, but that's me, and I'm quite weird. It was also good prep for uni, as the way of learning by OHS is essentially how you would learn at uni--no teacher is there to guide you through your way at uni, except in small language courses though. Oh, and by the way, sometimes the teachers at OHS read these forums, so be wary of what you type.
All the best, and sorry for typing a long message. I'm meant to be studying for a chem exam, but this is good procrastination.
