How to learn further Spanish online as part of D of E?

[IsItOnTheTrolleyCanYouSeeIt]

DS is doing Gold D of E over the next couple of years. He’d like to further his Spanish to satisfy the Skill requirement, having done well at it for GCSE last year.

He’d need to do it for an hour a week for six months.

Does anyone have any experience of doing this through online through something like Rosetta Stone, or similar please? How would he get sign off by an Assessor at the end? Or should he be looking at some kind of tutoring (which pushes the price up significantly)?

I would recommend online tutoring via an app like Preply. The cost of the tutors varies a lot depending on location and experience. This is how my son is learning Spanish. Qué tenga suerte :)

Just reread your OP. Who would the Assessor have to be? Would an online tutor be suitable?

Duolingo is free though not sure it would be much beyond GCSE (we're in the Scottish system). Easy Spanish is a good YouTube channel too (I'm more familiar with Easy German but the concept is similar).

These are the assessor requirements:

www.dofe.org/do/assessors/ www.dofe.org/do/assessors/]]]]

www.dofe.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Writing-Assessor_Reports_-SKILLS.pdf www.dofe.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Writing-Assessor_Reports-_SKILLS.pdf]]]]

What I can’t work out is who the Assessor would be for one of the cheaper online courses, and I wondered if anyone had come across something similar within D of E.

Duolingo uses Latin American Spanish, so I’d ruled that out.

I will look into Preply, thank you.

What about a 6 month membership of babbel? If he can show proof of his progress to his gold d of e coordinator I think they can sign it off.

Duolingo Spanish is limited however while there's some differences, Spanish is still Spanish.

Thanks for this. I’ve contacted Babbel to ask if he can pick up at a post GCSE level and whether there is a way of evidencing his time commitment for sign off.

Is he still at the school where he did GCSE? If so, might his old teacher sign off his Rosetta stone progress? I don't know how Rosetta stone works, but assuming he gets to the end of a unit, and it congratulates you, he could screenshot those, along with weekly recording of what he's covered.

Not as easy to make the new relationship, but equally a MFL teacher at college should be ok yo do it.

Yes, he is. I hadn’t thought of this at all! I will suggest to him that he asks.

Just squaring the circle on this in case anyone is interested, or finds it on a Google search.

His Spanish teacher thought that Babbel would be best, as he would do the advanced level. He also recommmended Storytelling, italki and Busuu, each offering a different angle, or skill to prioritise.

And the teacher is happy to be an assessor.

Thanks for everyone’s input.