Is Taking two languages to GCSE really too hard?!

CAs were all about learning tracts of language off by heart so they were not a good test of language. It didn't make them easier or harder: it was a different skill. Some kids I taught were really good linguists but found it hard to learn off by heart. Some were not that great but could learn well by heart. Ridiculous test.

DD1 has nearly finished her iGCSE French and German, and is doing Latin GCSE too. She is also planning to do all three for A level, plus History or Maths. No problems at all. None either for DD and her friends in year 9 who are doing all of the above plus Spanish. If your DD likes languages, she should be fine.

My concern is more whether there is any point in doing so many languages in a post-Brexit world. But if that's what DD1 wants to do, I don't want to discourage her.

ontop I hear you and yes of course that's true. And equally of course, current year 9s and 10s haven't done a GCSE MFL so they don't know what they are missing as it were (unless they have older siblings).

All the MFL teachers I know hate CAs and are glad to see them go, so open to abuse and hence never a level playing field. But I am concerned about the level expected by the new GCSE.

Translation into English is one thing, but translation into German or free writing in German seems to be a big challenge. However, we need to frame our teaching to make sure students have the tools.

And I stand by my first post - if you can do once language well, a second will be easier than a totally different subject, as you will be using similar tools/skills, there will be correlation between the languages (even French and German) and your flair (assuming you have one!) will surely transfer. :)

In my experience, the more languages you know and understand, the easier additional ones are to learn. Lots of kids at our school take 2 or more language GCSEs (current year 10).

Learning the CAs made the previous GCSEs easy though, rather than not learning CAs being hard. What I mean is it's only hard in comparison with what sounds like an easy spec before. My children have done IGCSEs and there's no advanced learning there apart from a short presentation for the oral. Otherwise it's reading, listening and writing, with no knowledge in advance of which topics will come up.

dd1 (now in Yr 13) did French and German and had no problems between them. No more confusion than between doing maths and physics, say.
dd2 (currently Yr10) is doing French and German and often reports to me that she gets them mixed up. She is very self critical though - her teachers are very optimistic about her predicted grades for next year, in so far as anyone can guestimate with a new spec so I think it does depend.

^I'm concerned that the new GCSE is harder than what we did many moons ago.
I did O levels. Is it going to be even harder Darkblueskies?^

My understanding is that the new spec is much closer to what we did for O-levels, and therefore much more difficult than the GCSEs my older two did, where basically they just had to learn a passage by rote and regurgitate it. The new spec is much better preparation for actually being able to speak / understand / use the language, which the GCSE, in recent years, certainly has been.

To some extent her choices will depend on what her other option combinations might be. I think if she is able and interested in languages, then it will stand her in good stead longer term, but if she's one of those students that all the subject teachers are fighting over, then she should choose what she enjoys.

Oh and the new GCSE in MFL is hard. With the old one, learn your CAs and you're sorted. New one demands a lot more (returns to marking of yr 10 writing mocks)

I did French and German....but about 20 something years ago so not sure how relevant. Came top in both - I think you've either got the knack for languages or not. I did (but didn't have for sciences unfortunately...!)

Not many students get the chance to do two languages, sadly. I teach MFL and I am lucky enough to have five language o levels! I would day learning multiple languages actually helps, eg set phrases for "there is" or a variety of genders. We have recently introduced dual linguists in yr 9 at my school and five are doing two to GCSE so we are really excited.

Sounds like nonsense from yr school op.

OhtheRoses - agree - languages are tricky when you don't understand the grammar of your native language.

They are not hard. They are spectacularly poorly taught in the state sector. Largely because students in the UK are not taught the basics of English grammar early enough. When a primary school head doesn't know how to use was and were correctly there is little hope. Too many English children by year eight don't have a sufficient grasp of the basics: subject, object, verb, adverb. The problems begin long before learning a second language.

They are hard. And the results are lower than other subjects. It is definitely not the "easiest" subject you can do. And many people either cannot afford to go to the country or do not have the opportunity to learn the language in an immersive situation such as with an exchange family.

a languages GCSE is very hard

it really isn't. Why do people keep saying this? It's even worse when teachers say it. Language GCSEs are about the easiest subject you can do. No heavy revision required - if you can afford to visit the countries before the exams, that's the only revision you need.

And yes, two are doable. I only did one, but many people at my school did two.

I wonder if it's a timetabling thing. I used to work at a school where students had 3 hours of language learning a week, but dual linguists had to do both in the same time (so 1.5 hours each). That led to poorer results in some cases.

They also tried out a system whereby they did French in years 7,8,9 and did gcse French then. And then Spanish in years 10 and 11. That was a complete and utter shambles. Absolutely horrendous for everyone. Imagine getting Year 8 to do controlled assessments after just over a year of learning the language.

DD did 2 MFLs under the old GCSE system.

What really helped her is there was only 1 'question answering technique' to learn for the two subjects. So once she had the hang of what was needed for e.g the French spoken CA, she knew exactly what she had to do for the Spanish one too.

Occasionally she got the languages muddled up, but the benefits outweighed the drawbacks for her.

Dds both did 2 MFLs, DS did only 1. The two who have finished got A*s in their languages. DH did 1 MFL & Latin, I did 2 MFLs & Latin & 2 a/os & then A levels in 2 MFLs. I think the more languages you learn the easier they are as your brain becomes used to changing languages. She should study the subjects she enjoys.

I did French and German gcse and carried the French on to Higher IB. The German was a bit of a waste imo and would rather have had Spanish and French.

It depends. I can't speak more than one language but I am not a 'natural' linguist!

I did 3 languages for both GCSE and A Level. I found they complemented each other. I did French, German and Latin.

Take the subject she is good at. Media isnt going to be easier for everyone.
I took gcses in 95 and got As in latin and french.
I took gcse spanish in about 2007 and got an A*. And alevel 2 yrs later getting an A. The exams were significantly easier than back in 1995 as i managed to do well on only like 2hrs of evening classes compared to 6hrs a week at school. (While working full time too). So the difficulty does vary a lot.
I took science alevels and think i should have gone with what i was better at. The difference between gcse and alevel has been so large it was hard to know what alevels to take as you get the same grade in all of them.
Its easy enough to practise the grammar yourself using the fill in the gaps grammar books.
For the Alevel i pretty much just learnt the aqa books vocab etc.

No!

DS, French, Latin, Mandarin all A*
DD, French, Spanish, Latin all A*

Think all languages were IGCE.
DH refused to consider any school that did not offer Latin. Took out most state schools where we lived.

I did French and German and found it easy because I enjoyed them both. If she wants to then she should!

I did French, Spanish & Italian, got A for each at GCSE, I had more exams than people doing other subjects but it was fine

Trying not to sound too trite, languages aren't difficult if you're good at them. If you're good at languages, 2 GCSEs is a doddle - much easier than adding Geography or History. I don't know the new GCSE specification but it will probably still not be particularly hard for linguists. Some people find maths intutitively easy, some people find writing creatively much easier than others and some people find learning languages easy. I would always encourage a good natural linguist to take two languages at GCSE - but then I have an MFL degree so am biased.