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Original poster

Blimey : MFL A levels have changed

134 replies

Piggywaspushed · 16/10/2017 19:44

Disclaimer : went to school in Scotland in the late Middle Ages.

I studied French and German as CSYS level (kind of like A2) and got As so considered myself good. But what my DS is doing now is really turning him off. we did three lit texts in French and German (this may have been more than we needed knowing my school!) and some history (German was east Germany and education , I remember; French I think was the resistance) But all our teaching was basically in English, certainly all our discussion of texts and I SWEAR we wrote essays in English!

DS can't even seem to learn grammar in peace now without it being related to some 'ishoo' and even his homework is set in detailed Spanish.

I know this is all very worthy - but it's no wonder kids talk about the gulf between GCSE and A level in MFL!

DS already dropped French after one week. He can't drop Spanish, not least because he got near as dammit full marks at GCSE. You wouldn't know it, though. He is really struggling, hates it and is now being supervised in free periods to force him to work...Blush there is no shame emoji so I went for blushing...

The teaching isn't great either, which does not help. Boys definitely respond negatively to weaker teaching much more than girls ime.

Anyone else share my his suffering?

OP posts:
Ereshkigal · 16/10/2017 22:43

I had to write in the target language in my MFL A levels in the 90s. Not hugely long essays though, about 500 words.

clary · 16/10/2017 22:39

Sorry OP it's bobbins isn't it.

The gap is so so bad for this year's Yr12 (and last years's too) because they did the old style GCSE with all the crapola Controlled assessment memorising.

The new style GCSE with translations and essays in TL is much better prep - not that that helps your DS (or my yr 12 DD!).

I did four books for MFL A levels (1980s) and yes, wrote about them in English. But writing in TL is surely much better? I think so. My A level was more like Eng lit but reading French books. We even read one book in translation as it was so so hard in German! Not great! (reads thread; spots that Noble went to my school Grin)

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 16/10/2017 22:22

I think his teacher is unqualified very inexperienced and , yes, she has launched into it too quickly...

As I said, I didn't write lit type essays in the language back in the day. I knew they did these days but did think as you say it would be more gradual...

His hw is to write an essay on abortion, homosexuality and marriage! A whole essay! He couldn't do that in English!!

OP posts:
roundaboutthetown · 16/10/2017 22:13

Surely it's a bit weird to expect to do a MFL A-level without writing essays in the language and speaking in the language?! It sounds like they have launched too quickly into this, though, rather than building up to it after a proper transition from the GCSE. It's only been half a term, after all! What you would expect by the end of the two years is not what you should be expecting at the start.

Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 16/10/2017 20:15

I'm surprised the homework isn't more vocab learning tbh. Most of it seems to be applying in context rather than rote learning and I think he would rather just learn verb tables than apply them to discussion of Catholicism.

OP posts:
Original poster
Piggywaspushed · 16/10/2017 20:13

Yes, the fluent thing put him off in French. In the first lesson the teacher yacked away in continual French to native speakers/ bilingual students. It's no wonder DS felt a bit intimidated!

He's doing AQA Spanish. Lots of stuff about divorce at the moment and the Catholic Church which I am sure he has many opinions on...

OP posts:
marialuisa · 16/10/2017 19:56

I think DD must be lucky as although there's been a bit of a vocab slog she's enjoying her two MFL A levels. I expected her to find the step,up much harder as her MFL GCSEs were a joke but so far so good. She has Eduqas for one and AQA for the other so maybe there's a difference between exam boards?

LIZS · 16/10/2017 19:51

Sympathy. Dd is taking two mfl and was very quickly keen to drop German but was advised it will get better if she sticks at it. It doesn't help that she is now in small groups with pupils who seem fluent, so no longer feels at the top of the class.

noblegiraffe · 16/10/2017 19:49

I wrote my lit essays in English for A-level French and German but I know my school chose those exam boards because of it, and that other exam boards wanted their essays in the target language. We also read one of the texts in English (and watched the film!) because we ran out of time and just learned key quotes. Not necessarily the best teaching!

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