Anybody's dc doing/has done GCSE Latin?

[Northernlurker]

In particular is anyone doing it as a condensed additional programme?

Dd1 has been offered the chance to apply for this as part of the G&T programme locally. She's not very keen at the moment. I'm not sure what to think.....Would be great to get any feedback of any sort!

[bouncingbluebells]

I had to do Latin GCSE at my school (eons ago!) and i know some people rave on anbout how it's the foundations of other languages, but i don't get it.

I found it extremely dull (we learnt a lot parrot fashion), it's not conversational as such, and i can honestly say i have never needed it since leaving school,or in my chosen career.

If it was my dd i would prefer them to channel their energies into something else.

[jetgirl]

I am a Latin teacher, though I have switched to wjec's level 2 qualifications whuch offer, imo, a better range of texts. I also tutor a girl who has almost finished all the language elements of the gcse/level 2.
I think your dd has a great opportunity. My class of 12 gave great feedback on completion of the course - improves thinking skills, analysis, complemented their English and mfl courses, were just some of their comments.
In a very competitive jobs and university market, the Latin helps students stand out. Russell Group unis are very keen.

How old is your dd and what form would the lessons take?

[BooBooGlass]

I did Latin and I enjoyed it. I took it to AS level and I would say it's a good basis for understanding many languages. Is it useful in every day? Is it hell. But tbh it looks very good on a CV and I know I got one job, in a very 'old boys club' sort of place, on the basis of that qualification, as ludicrous as it sounds. If anything, I think it suggests a certain standard of education, rightly or wrongly.

[BooBooGlass]

Agree with jetgirl about uni as well, I attended a Russell Group university and was accepted without interview (I went to a private school on a full scholarship). They were hardly secretive about their processes either, everyone I met with a private school background was accepted with no interview. Everyone from a comp had to come and be interviewed

[Northernlurker]

She's 13. Just coming up to end of Year 8. We haven't a lot of info at the moment but it looks like a two year course starting next year and running for two years - so year 9 and 10. It would take place at one of the local independant schools. Her French teacher reported that she thought she has an aptitude for languages when I saw her at parents evening and it's that more than anything that seems to make it a good idea to me.

[Malcontentinthemiddle]

Northern, my dd is doing exactly this - she's just finishing year 9 now, so halfway through it.

It is intense, and some kids have dropped out, but she mainly enjoys it and I think it;s a great thing for her to do - especially as she's thinking of Law at university.

If she's strong in languages, that will probably help - and then it can be reciprocal, after a while - I think Latin grammar has helped in French, for sure.

I'm Northern too, I wonder if it's the same place? Feel free to message if there's anything else you think I might be able to tell you about our experience.

[Yellowstone]

DD3 and DS1 both took it in 2009 as an additional condensed course sponsored by their school and done through distance learning/ video link to a university tutor. Both enjoyed it but DD3 found it reasonably hard, was inclined at one point to drop out but stuck with it in the end.

DD3 got an A and DS1 an A*. DD3 has a place to read Law next year at Oxford but I've no idea how much the Latin helped. It may have helped her in the LNAT I suppose.

[kalidasa]

I'm a classicist (at university level). If she enjoys structure/logic for its own sake she'll probably like Latin - lots of quite mathematical children get on with it well, as well as the more obvious strong linguist types. You notice this at undergraduate level - a wider range of 'types' of student - in terms of different aptitudes - come through to classics than do for, say, modern languages or English. It's not a conversational thing of course so if that's what she enjoys about French she'll miss that; on the other hand because there's no oral/aural element you get to read sophisticated literary texts earlier on (at least a bit at GCSE) than in modern languages.

Its quite a popular 'extension' subject for G&T clubs, and works well for that purpose. Even if she's not mostly interested in language/literature it opens up a lot of other areas - e.g. ancient history, philosophy, political thought, comparative religion - all aspects of ancient culture really. It's only directly useful for a handful of romance languages (Italian, Spanish, French) but indirectly so for learning any highly inflected language (e.g. German, Russian; or even Arabic or Sanskrit) just because it gives you a strong sense of grammatical categories and structure. Good for your written English too, though to some extent I think that's true of learning any foreign language to a reasonable standard - you have to think about your own more carefully in comparison.