Grrr, so annoyed with Academy

[dingit]

Year 7, students do introduction to MFL, so term of Spanish, French German. Then in Year 8 they choose one to learn through to gcse.

So you can imagine how surprised we were to be advised last week that now they all study French, but can do after school clubs, one term of Japanese, Spanish and German. Ds was excelling in Spanish, and this had really boosted his confidence. Felt very pissed off, but what can you do. ( and realistically how many are going to want to do an academic subject after school, who are they trying to kid?)

So this week, I open Ds s French book, and first lesson is Je m'appelle.... Etc. They were studying this at primary ffs.

Most other schools choose their MFL from the outset, and many are ready for early entry by year 9. Ds will be back at the beginning!

I smell a rat however. I think they have a lack of resources and the extra lessons are just to make it look better.

I emailed school, and got a lengthly reply, which may as well have said tough shit.

Rant over.

[BlackMogul]

Did you not have a choice of school where languages were taken seriously? I guess you may not have done. It is a shame when schools obviously think no-one would do two languages competently to GCSE and beyond. This is, of course, why so few do languages to GCSE - too many schools don't care. I would say though that he should do the languages even if it is after school. Currently if you tag a language onto a subject for dual honours, many universities give a lower offer. If you want to study languages at degree level, the offers for dual honours tend to be lower,although French and Spanish are the most popular. If he is really good at languages, keep going and be committed. We had to fight for DD to do Italian A level alongside French A level. She got all 5 offers from chosen universities and this was a way better strike rate than friends who wanted English, History, Medicine or Vet for example. Encourage him to do it after school. Doing GCSE in year 9 is no bonus if they do not get an A* as you should aim for the gold standard. Take an extra year or two if need be because they will be better equipped for A level. No-one round here, and we have grammar schools, takes languages 2 years early. They consolidate learning and get the very high grades. If he loves languages it will not be a hardship to do an after school club, although I would hope the quality of teaching is good. In my DDs old school they did put the children into sets for French. French is the best foundation language however. DD had never done any languages until age 11 and did not do Italian until 12. Still got a place at Oxford. Shame on your school though. I would be very cross too.

[Unexpected]

Is your son in Yr 7 or 8? It's not clear but I am assuming Yr 8 so he has already done his one term of various languages and therefore would normally have been making a choice between them this September. I don't therefore understand why they are still doing a term of different languages in Yr 8 after-school. Is this just a fun languages offer or will there be a possibility of doing a GCSE in one of them? If so, and your son likes the Spanish language, he will be motivated to take it.

I wouldn't worry yet about the low level of French being taught this year. Assuming that some of the kids in his class have not studied French at primary and have only done one term (?) in Yr 7 the teacher will have to dust off what they do know. You may find that the pace will pick up considerably in a few weeks.

There is no benefit to doing the GCSE early and your son won't get extra credit for having taken it early so he might as well take it in Yr 11, there's plenty of time to cover the course.

[friday16]

Most other schools choose their MFL from the outset, and many are ready for early entry by year 9

As BM says, this is only worth doing if you get an A. One of my children has a reasonable facility for languages (is doing an A Level in one and is predicted A) and got A in two at GCSE. But that was at the end of Y11, having studied them since Y7, and they were by some measure the GCSEs she had to work hardest at. How many of the people you see taking them in Y9 get A? If not, why are they taking them early?

[dingit]

Thanks all for your input. What you say makes perfect sense. I have calmed down a bit now, but still believe the school have handled it badly. Dd took her maths early in year 9 and was three marks off an A*, so she will be retaking, as you say, they dont get recognition for taking it early.

I will encourage Ds to go to after school lessons, but don't rate my chances!

[BlackMogul]

Dingit. Please get him to try. If he is good at it, it makes a lot if sense and will boost his self esteem. You never know he may be really good at languages. Too many schools never give linguists a chance to see whether they can do more than one language but would never consider only one science was good enough!