Any MFL Teachers out there?

[changeforthebetter]

I'm trying to make sense of what is going to happen to GCSEs for kids starting this September. I'm on school hols so can't ask my mentor.

Will Y9/10 (depending on which year they start GCSE) still do the controlled oral exams during the course of the course (IYSWIM ) or will the oral examination move to the end (like it was back in my day??)

Controlled Assessment. A load of bullocks with plenty room for cheating... Anyhow, the idea is that the school will submit 2 pieces of CA for writing and 2 pieces of CA for speaking. The speaking and the writing are worth 30% of the final grade each.
The CA can take place at pretty much anytime throughout the course, normally at the end of one unit. The student will be given the title normally followed by bullet points of what they have to cover in their CA. In speaking, there is normally one question that will be asked that is unknown (but still related to the subject covered by the other bullet points). Technically, a student can do more than just 2 CA, and then the teacher will pick the best 2 out of the bunch. For the AQA board, the CA marks need to be submitted by the 7th May or something like that so no CA can take place after this date.
Ask away if you have more questions. I am reasonably red hot on the AQA spec. I don't think the others are majorly different in principle.

Thanks Dial

Everyone is so manic at school at the moment, they don't have time to explain - just give me bunches of kids who need to practise.

Nothing about it seems very oriented to them actually using the language spontaneously. Seems like a memory test really. The kids mostly seem to have little grasp of the actual language (and this is at an 'outstanding' school with a good MFL dept) The teachers hate it too, unsurprisingly.

May well take you up on the offer of more help on this

or even

Seems like a memory test really. Yes, absolutely. Hence the room for cheating. Someone else can write the CA for them they go off and learn it, job done. Some teachers take drafts in and give feedback too (totally not allowed).

Mind you the board will pick up on discrepancies between CA marks and the listening and reading which are assessed in a more "traditional" way.
The grade boundaries are very high for AQA, i.e. you need to score 26 or 27/30 to get an A*. So knowing what is required in terms of quality of language is very important.

And sorry about not being through second round. That also sucks.