Italian A level from scratch?

What other languages does she have? If she has any Spanish (or possibly French) it will help a lot with the grammar. I think it’s doable especially if she has an aptitude for languages which some people just do and some people just don’t! If she does have the aptitude and has the opportunity to spend a summer in Italy then I think it sounds like it could be great!

At my school you could do this with both Italian and Spanish, my friend went to a school which offered it with Russian. People did it and did very well, a lot went on to do Italian (in particular) at university. I did another language ab initio at university and got from 0 to degree in four years. So it absolutely can be done, you need to be an OK linguist though and I'd say it massively helps to have French/Spanish/Latin - ideally two of those three as a starting block.

Not Italian but I did an mfl degree (French and Spanish)

it sounds doable for the very brightest most motivated students but a seriously tough ask

I did Italian in first year at uni, four hours a week for 25 weeks, it got you up to at least A level as if you got a good grade and went to Italy in the summer you could join second year with those who had previously done a level. I'd gave thought a level in two years was definitely doable with commitment and good teaching.

I did this many years ago and got an A. Started learning Italian in lower six and passed the following year.

Italian is a very easy language to learn and I was already doing French which helped.

It absolutely can be done. I did Spanish gcse ab initio in lower sixth and got an A then got an A in my A level Spanish a year later in the early 90s. I was very motivated though as I wanted to study it at university, and also very good at languages (A for gcse French and German) and did A level French too which helped massively.

As others have pointed out, the lower sixth lessons will be aiming beyond gcse level in terms of grammar and vocab if the pupils are aiming for A-level the following year, and prep for the A level will begin before the summer holidays. Your dd would also have holidays to read any books and keep improving in general. A trip to Italy would be fantastic!

If she's really keen it wouldn't hurt to get a head start now with something like Duolingo, for example, watching some Italian films or series on Netflix, etc.

Only one book (and a film, but that's a lot easier) for A level MFL now.

Op I agree with others, it's a challenge, but doable. I took O level Spanish in a year in sixth form (for fun! Haha) and it was fine. We had all done French abd lots of us got A (top grade obvs).

Jump to A level is sugnificant tho. Could she not do GCSE Italian and A Level in her current language? Or is she doing that one as well?

Disappointment

I did Italian alevel. My family is Italian and although I wasn't fluent I understood a lot and I'd got an a at gcse.
Gcse was Ordering food and discussing what you did last summer.
Alevel was a whole different ball game I studied La strada che va in cita which is possible the most boring book ever written in English or Italian.
Needless to say I failed miserably much to the disappointed of my family.

I did this many years ago and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I loved it and then later continued it at uni, enjoying a year in Tuscany in year 3.

Same as musicmum75 I did the GCSE in one year in lower sixth, did very well, as it wasn't hard to use knowledge from French and the GCSE requirements are a bit formulaic. Not sure I'd have been able to do A level in a year, but I'd certainly have tried!

I did exactly this at sixth form back when GCSEs were grades not numbers!

I got an A* in GCSE at the end of year 1, and an A in A level at the end of year 2 so it’s perfectly doable. I then went on to do a 4 year Italian degree and studied there for my third year.

It was my favourite A level so I would recommend it if your dd loves languages (I did two other languages and something else at A level).

I should have said I got an A (this was before they changed to numbers) so the GCSE is totally doable but I the jump to A Level is big. I had to read several books in Spanish and know them inside out. That sounds like a lot of work for one academic year.

Can’t it be something she can pursue outside of school? Send her to your family friends for the summer, send her to Italy for a language school next summer, let her do evening classes. But I wouldn’t gamble the a level choice on it. It’s great that she’s keen though and that should be nurtured

I don't have an A level in Italian but I did do the GCSE from scratch in Lower sixth. I did have GCSEs in French and Spanish though and was doing A level Spanish.

My DD got A* in French and Spanish, and then went on to do AS Spanish and crash GCSE Italian.

The GSCE Italian in two 35-minute lessons per week was not a problem - she got a 9. As has been mentioned, once you know the structure of the GSCE, you are basically substituting vocabulary (particularly in the romance languages).

The jump to A-level for Spanish was huge. It's not just about language and vocabulary - it's also about culture and issues. My DD's oral was about tattoos, a subject she knew absolutely nothing about. The A2 is heavy on literature.

I think the entry requirement is key. If your DD has an 8 or 9 in GCSE Spanish or French at y11, I think getting a 6 in Italian GCSE in one year at y12 is eminently doable.

However, that still leaves quite a mountain to climb to achieve a good A level. My DD wants to do Spanish A level and all the 6th forms/colleges want at least a 7 at GCSE. And that is to then spend 2 yrs doing the A level course, which has elements of studying a book and a film and so condensing into 1 yr would be challenging.

I'm an MFL teacher. The jump from GCSE to A Level in languages is pretty tough for most people even if they've done the language since year 7. Students who got a 6 often really struggle to make the jump. I taught myself Spanish from scratch up to A Level standard in 3 years, but I already spoke fluent French (which helped massively) and...well... I'm a language teacher!

If she's going to do it, she should get ahead as much as possible over the summer, and accept that she will have to do a LOT of extra practice outside of class time.

I think if I were considering that, I'd look to kick start it with an Italian summer school in Italy between GCSEs and A levels.

Back in the day, it was the standard route for Spanish. It's perfectly do-able. They'll be taken beyond GCSE in yr 12; the GCSE is more of a staging post, and then cover the rest in yr 13. It's hard work, and it would be a good idea for a least one of the other subjects to be one that they're really comfortable with.