A'level choice - ML / biology

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DD plans to take French, Spanish and biology. She's interested in teaching languages. Does biology add anything to the mix? She refuses to consider history or English, despite being good at them and a reader. Because she enjoys biology.

My BIL does translation. He’s a loner and DD had friends who were interested in it but found it isolating and dull. Several now teach. If you like people - teach!

I don't really get Linguistics. What do people use it for after university? Assuming they don't go into research. I don't know whether it would be acceptable for teaching languages.

I suppose it depends what level she’d like to teach at and where. Funnily enough DD is doing her Masters in linguistics (focusing on second language acquisition) because she would like to teach English overseas and whilst teaching in Europe previously her employers told her that there are so many English as a second language teachers that doing a Masters in English or Linguistics could help her stand out. For teaching MFL in England I wouldn’t consider it necessary because there isn’t as much competition.

But there are lots of avenues for linguistics grads to pursue. I am a SEN teacher and work with quite a few people who have roots in linguistics. And things like journalism, marketing etc I agree maybe DD would find it interesting if she’s into biology!

Quite a lot of choice for MFL with Linguistics, should it take her fancy - the course at Sheffield looks interesting.
www.sheffield.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/2021/linguistics-and-modern-languages-cultures-ba#entryreqs

To be a language specialist 2 languages is pretty much all that is required. IMHO the 3rd A level can be anything else. I did a science with 2 modern languages at A level. if anything, it left more doors open for me. Plus remember it is far easier to get a good mark in a subject you are both highly interested in and good at.

I imagine that she would have a chance at any university with the biology, but that she would have a higher chance at some of them if she chose something more relevant.

Honestly OP, after so many posts, do you still think this? I challenge you to show us entry requirements from any university in the UK, even a top one rather than a mere middle-ranker, which asks for English literature or history for an MFL degree.

Actually, biology A level is keeping her options as open as anyone does at A level, bc she could still do a biology degree.

There are also all kinds of other degrees she could do with no specific subjects required. Psychology, politics, philosophy, accounting I think, and so many more.

If she is genuinely keen on Oxford or Cambridge, I agree with PPs, check out asap what you and she need to do, as applying to those two is very different from other unis.

She will need to be really keen (which she may well be of course) and really good at and motivated by her subjects (which ditto!). Good
luck to her, genuinely 😀

I think some posters missed that she wanted to teach. Her two languages are the best for school teaching. At the moment these are ideal and linguistics brings nothing to the table for schools if it replaces a language. One MFL isn’t versatile. If she didn’t want teaching, linguistics is still a fairly niche subject but linguistic grads are as employable as other grads in jobs requiring no specific qualification.

I do think young people do change what they might want as a job when they are at university. This is pretty common at Oxbridge where there are very ambitious young people all working and living together.
Although the very best teachers are the ones who really want to do it rather than those who do it because they cannot think of anything else to do. So she definitely should teach if that’s her dream.

My DD did a taster lesson in linguistics and hated it! It will not really be seen as an obvious skill by employers whereas MFLs are in some jobs. Having said that, DD doesn’t use her MFLs but earns significantly more than teachers but she never wanted to teach. But it’s your DDs choice of course and she could investigate linguistics but in most universities she would have to drop a language. So part of the fun of joint honours disappears and the year abroad isn’t so varied. She won’t need a masters to teach in a school.

I think that it is only likely to make a difference at the top couple of unis. I do think that it will make it less likely that she would get into Oxbridge and perhaps also another couple of the top unis. Because they can pick and choose, and are likely to choose students with 1) good gcses and 2) a 3rd A'level which gives them a head's start with the degree course.

Except their admission criteria is not just about A levels and GCSEs. They do make it clear they accept science a levels as bring acceptable. I would say though that if she does not have a very high number of 7/8/9 at GCSE then its more difficult to get in. Stats clearly indicate this. However both Oxford and Cambridge administer tests and if she writes a great essay and is confident in her language ability, then she should have a go. I have only doubted science as the best prep when you are accepted. If she writes a good essay for the admission process, then that is fine.

I do think the tutors look for extra reading and engagement with MFL and great potential as well as examined ability when selecting but only you will know if she likes reading and will enjoy this aspect of the courses at Oxford and Cambridge. If she is less keen and her GCSEs are not that strong, there really are planty of other options. I can assure you the teaching professions simply will not care where her degree is from. It is best to aim high but it is also good to be realistic and make sure her abilities suit the course. Not everyone should apply to Oxbridge because their courses are literature heavy and this is not for everyone and certainly does not make their grads the best teachers.

In French the classics aren't particularly accessible until late A-Level/degree level as they are mostly written in the (archaic) past historic tense. Even fairy tales and kids' classics are full of it.

Contemporary fiction is more accessible, especially if you go for books you already know.

I went through Harry Potter in French (great example of good quality translation) during my degree (as that's when it came out #old) and quite a lot of trashy teenage stuff / film novelisations before I felt comfortable reading classics.

Kindle has a fair few free French books, mostly classics and probably far more choice paid than my Buffy, Angel and Star Trek books acquired from various train station book shops during my year abroad...

Pagnol is quite difficult as it's full of Marseillaise dialect - think the original Taxi films for accent. Is funny though.

I think a good selection of reading around (translation and original where possible) plus an EPQ would very much balance a choice of biology.

Having a science (and therefore numerate subject) will help with teacher training and employability long term

Except their admission criteria is not just about A levels and GCSEs. They do make it clear they accept science a levels as bring acceptable. I would say though that if she does not have a very high number of 7/8/9 at GCSE then its more difficult to get in. Stats clearly indicate this.

As the OP’s DD is still choosing her A Level options she’ll be in Year 11. So her GCSEs will be peak-Covid-affected with no exams this year. This means that previous stats about high GCSE results may not be as applicable to the DD as universities will have to take into account it being a ‘funny year’. Obviously still necessary for the DD to work hard at getting good GCSE results but something to bear in mind. The current Year 11-13s are a peculiar breed due to Covid and normal rules don’t apply (as much).

She does enjoy reading, and is starting to read some classics in the stronger of her 2 languages, and is reading teenager books in the 2nd language. It's really hard to know at this stage whether she'd enjoy a literature based course or not.

My major objection to literature was all the poetry, which she will presumably have to deal with in the language A-Levels - I hated it in all 4 languages I have studied (English and Latin as well as my 2 MFL at GCSE) so was planning to avoid poetry options if at all possible.

I had no problems writing law essays from Physics and Maths plus MFL at A-level - my French essays were 500 words max so very different. Got good feedback for being succinct!

"History" essays, written in English about French stuff were more difficult even as a final year with solid experience in "Law" essays although I had a big preference for the more structured "problem questions" over actual essay questions.

Some of that will have been not even doing GCSE history...

Maths A Level is seen as good for law because of the transferable logic skills. And law essays are a thing unto themselves, not the most poetic things

@JunoTurner Lord Denny would disagree, but yep poetry not generally necessary!

My degree was basically 2/3 law 1/6 French Law 1/6 French (translation) in first 2 years. Final year was 2/3 law 1/6 translation 1/6 French module of your choice.

Lol yes he would (I’m presuming that’s a typo and you mean Lord Denning). He was also a law unto himself

Yep stupid autocorrect - it's a neighbouring town so probably more commonly used on my phone!

My son did a strange mix; art, music, maths and physics. We found it widened his choice. I would get her to look at the biology A level syllabus in detail though. Things do get more difficult and she might find it harder as a stand alone subject without chemistry.

no poetry in A level MFL unless you want to. Very very few students choose it tho (2018 IIRC no students answered one of the Heine questions in the German A level).

Just one play or novel and one film.