Do any other MFL teachers feel that the controlled assessment

[Howaboutthisone]

is just too difficult for all but the most able and most motivated pupils?
I posted a while ago for ideas on helping the pupils get it into their heads. They're actually trying really hard with the topic we're on now but all bar the high achievers are struggling. At least with the old style coursework it was a bit more accessible to the mix of pupils.

[noblegiraffe]

That's why teachers cheat.

[Howaboutthisone]

I'm aware I'll sound ridiculously naive now even after being in the job for years but I just can't sit there and let them copy something across from their books. I'm actually trying to get them to learn it and it's getting us nowhere but weak results year on year. Are other schools really doing this? They must be I suppose unless they have classes full of these high achievers or kids with photographic memories.

[bananapuddles]

Agree with above. That's why they cheat. I'm so happy that when I go back after maternity they won't be done anymore, I hate being asked to compromise my professionalism and ethics all the time.

[Howaboutthisone]

I'm in wales so we're not getting the new style GCSE yet. I'm in such a muddle over it. It seems unfair to have them on such an uneven playing field but there have been past issues in other departments in the school for similar things so I just can't bring myself to do it!

[bananapuddles]

I would be grateful that your school takes it seriously. Teaching the pupils that hard work doesn't matter, someone else will do it for you and having adults telling you or helping you to cheat is not on.

With regards to your situation, have you looked at texitvate? Are you in the Facebook group secondary MFL matters? With lower ability, I found it more useful to teach them basic structures and then how to use the dictionary effectively in the time to personalise them. Verb tables are their friends! Can you get them to memorise in chunks? Record on their phones? Make use of the prior teaching to get the bulk written or drafted (not against guidelines) so they have the two full weeks to memorise? Make sure the task and topic is true and relevant so it's easier to remember. I found the pupils struggled to write about an imaginary school exchange, but it as much easier to review a film they had actually seen l.

An exam marker friend says a lot of it is about length, so getting them to use cognate adjectives, and more than one of them as they would in English.

[Howaboutthisone]

Thanks that's really helpful! I've never heard of texitvate but will look into it. I'm also not on Facebook but will try to have a look via someone else's account.
They do draft different little bits of writing along the topic. It's the retention that's a killer for them.
Your other suggestions for lower ability are also very helpful- thank you!

[FithColumnist]

As an MFL teacher, I think the controlled assessments are pointless in every way. They don't test language ability, they test memorisation. So much teaching time is lost throughout KS4 just preparing for them, re-drafting and working on "memory techniques". And then even the most able can fuck it up, because they just have a complete blank. I cannot wait until we go back to terminal assessment.

We used to think that children having hundreds of lines of pointless poetry "by heart" was the very exemplar of having a good education. That was back in the 1800s. Have we moved on so little since?

[leccybill]

The rote learning and sheer pointlessness of the controlled assessment in MFL is the reason I have recently left teaching.
It was so hard to see such dispirited pupils on results day each year who worked so hard for two years and yet it all boiled down to memory in the end. Not fair.

[IguanaTail]

I agree with you all. It's just a memorisation exercise. Having said that, I liked the way students had 60% of the exam under their belts by the time they went into the exam.

[miaowroar]

I am certain that because I wouldn't cheat that is why my results were so bad. In other subjects kids would redraft and get stuff marked and returned - surely the rules are the same for all subjects. I agree with FithC that things will be better when we go back to end of course assessment - but I still wonder how much some schools will manage to cheat on the speaking.

I took VR a year ago and am now in Primary.

[leccybill]

I took VR too and I am making my first steps into Primary MFL. Hope it's going well for you, miaowroar.

[miaowroar]

The teaching is going fine thanks leccybill, but it's all this writing policies and being a subject leader (even if it's only leading myself) which puzzles me. Apparently I will have to write a report to the governors about progress.

[MrsUltracrepidarian]

I have seen blatant cheating when I was a PGCE student 2 years ago - and the HT said 'everyone does it'
Ironically, despite that, that school had (and still has) the worst results of any on the locality (leafy London suburb).

[Maladicta]

I'm so glad dd's school moved to iGCSE and a terminal exam rather than controlled assessments. Watching her friends memorise chunks of text of which they had no real understanding was bizarre.

Dd wants to take French to A-Level, I'm sure having a more spontaneous oral exam will be a much more useful guide to her ability.