A level French / Spanish

[Ancienchateau]

Does anyone know how many texts they study for these? I read somewhere it's 4 max including a Le Petit Prince type text for French but can anyone confirm? DS thinking about taking one or both.

As far as I know it's one text only! I don't teach a level tho, but certainly it used to be just one. May have changed with new spec - plus may vary according to board. Please encourage your DS - sooooo few dual linguists at a level

I do not know the answer because the exam specifications change and my DD did her A levels a while ago now. I guess you could look the info up on the exam boards or ask the teachers.

My DD did do two MFL at A level and I can assure you that having MFL at A level and continuing one or both to degree level opens up the best universities. Many are struggling to get good MFL students and can make very good offers for MFL students to get them into the departments. (Just in case he is interested!)

Check which exam board your DS would be studying for, and google for example: AQA A Level French specification. Be sure to enter the correct year that he would be sitting his final exams too, as some of the specifications will vary as some are. being phased out and introduced.

The specification documents comprise of many pages, but the index will assist you (may be under 'set texts' or 'areas of study' for instance).

Congratulations and best wishes to your DS on considering studying one or both languages. Languages are in such decline in the U.K, and I'm always delighted to hear of someone intending to study one or more languages.

I thoroughly enjoyed A Level French, and I'm currently studying for a French Degree several years after having obtained a Degree in another subject I loved.

Hi
Dd isn't very good at languages and is continuing with french at A level and 2 science. School say she is extremely good at languages but she is unsure where a language degree would take her. What would be her options post degree?

Loads of options post degree and not just teaching or translating / interpreting. I have a degree in German and Spanish, I work in financial services for a German company, use German every day, travel there frequently too. I've used Spanish in previous roles.
Brexit is going to potentially impact availability of roles, but a language degree can still open up lots of different types of jobs, I know lots of people who have gone on to general management roles, and studying languages and literature is really enjoyable too.

Thank you for the encouragement and advice. One text that will definitely encourage him clary ! Do schools advertise their A level board these days? We're going to a few open evenings this term so hopefully I can ask then. DS is very good at languages and maths (and possibly science). Is that a good combination at A level?

Teenageromance, DH did an MFL degree then qualified as an accountant (4 years) then worked as an analyst and now runs his own aerospace business. So yes, as pp says, plenty of opportunities. In my opinion, a good academic degree is a stepping stone. Mine is in English Literature and I worked as an analyst too.

MFL/Maths/Science is a very good A-level combo. There are lots of joint honours courses Science or Engineering and an MFL.

You can pick up another MFL at uni from scratch or continuing on from GCSE.

My DD is very good at languages - A* in Spanish, French and Italian GCSEs and A at Spanish AS. She would like to do Chinese as an outside subject at Uni. Although she would be open to continuing with languages she had done at school, the next stage is all literature and that does not interest her at all. She just wants to be able to speak the language and be able to do simple business transactions.

Call any possible schools and ask them what board. They will snatch your hand off for A level MFL :)

AQA eg is one text and one film or two texts

Brilliant thanks. I think his no 1 choice school does AQA for MFL. I will encourage him to do both along with Maths.

Be careful about the assumption that schools will snatch your hand off for MFL. Lots of state schools are axing a language at GCSE , let alone A level. The only two subjects my DS is genuinely good at are French and Spanish (at GCSE level anyway). All year this year ahs been stressful because his school would not commit to offering A Level Spanish. In other school, class sizes can be two or three : some schools see anything under 12 as not viable.

In any event , he has had to leave his school because he cannot combine the perfectly sensible sounding combination of French, Spanish and Politics or Spanish with Economics.

Sadly, it is not a myth that MFL teaching in many state schools is dying.

To answer your question OP, in the new specs I think it remains two texts, one of which in all likelihood will be a film.

That's a good point Piggy, my DCs' school is not now offering Spanish A level actually :(

Small classes are certainly the norm for MFL A level. Ime that works both ways.

No Spanish A Level at DS's school either so he is not staying on.

Haha café - you sure our two aren't at the same school?? ;)

Sounds like it piggy!!! My DS was told on 6th form taster day, after he had done the Spanish class, that they couldn't offer it at A Level due to lack of numbers! Well they would have known that months beforehand when they sent out the flippin conditional offers, let alone on the actual day itself. Shambolic is one word for it (though I have many others...)

....I might add that Politics is one of his other A Level choices ...

piggy I feel that you and I could have a whole thread of our own, instead of hopping about all over MN! I remember commenting on your name months ago - DS studied LotF and hated it, though was very happy with all the questions on both Lit papers and felt that he had done really well. He was much more worried about Lang, which he ended getting a higher grade in. He only joined the English school system in the middle of Y9 so had a lot of catching up to do, coupled with the new 9-1 specs for English and maths. But worked his bloody socks off and did really well in his mocks. I guess we may never know what happened on the day, but the '45% of grades are wrong' thread is very depressing...

Cafeconleche, has your DS taken his GCSEs yet? How did he do? I ask because mine only joined the English school system in November of Year 10. To say I'm worried about his GCSEs, apart from Spanish and Maths (he already has French) is an understatement.

Hi Ancienchateau. I feel for you! Is your DS doing the new 9-1's? My DS got an A* in Spanish (no surprise) and did well in Music, History and a few others. He much preferred the 9-1 English Lit to English Language, but did better in Language (though passed both). Even though he is bilingual, he had never really been taught the 'comprehension' and 'analytical' aspects of English, which seem to have been engrained in his classmates from Y7, or earlier. Constantly having to hit the A01, A02, A03 objectives in English was difficult for him, even though he knew his books and plays inside out (he loves reading and is very creative with his writing). Maths 9-1 was a flippin nightmare! He had always been really good at maths, but was taught in a different way (long division, ',' instead of '.' etc). However, his biggest problem was the long 'problem solving' questions (combined with his maths teacher being off sick for most of January-March ). This, along with the fact that no-one had any teaching materials until the start of Y10 and the grade boundaries were an unknown, meant he seemed to fall between the cracks. I got extra tuition for him, but his confidence was shot. He managed to get a 4, but I am looking at him retaking it in November as I think it might affect his university choices. Science subjects were also quite hard work (even though he passed all of them) simply because much of the content was new to him (or, if not new, he had been taught it in a different language). Computer Science he enjoyed and did well in (a much more straight-forward maths component). His strengths are really languages and humanities, which is what he will be doing at A Level. It's been a huge learning curve for him (and me) but I figure being bilingual will stand him in good stead - and at least he will now be playing to his strengths. In retrospect, I think he might have been better suited to iGCSEs, but he's at a state school, so they were never an option. And I can't really fault his school (apart from the maths teacher problems) - it's just one of those things. If you can afford it, I would look at getting some tutoring in as early as possible in any of the subjects that you're worried about. If nothing else, it builds confidence, and that such a large part of the GCSE game.

Thank you Cafeconleche and it sounds like your DS did well especially in the circumstances.

DS is doing iGCSEs. I think he's the last year of A* - C.

I'm planning to get a tutor for physics and chemistry. Unfortunately he never really did these subjects before year 10 and like your DS, they were in a different language before! He's had to completely drop biology. My concern is he's only taking 8 iGCSEs (all academic though) so he has to do really well in all of them. Argh!!

What are the 'A01, A02, A03 objectives in English ' ? I feel so out of touch. We get very little info from his school.

I feel we are kindred spirits café! and the other thread is depressing indeed.

I remember saying I was going to change my name : still haven't got round to it!

ancienchateau A01, 2 etc are 'assessment objectives' (I think) and DCs have to hit these according to the nature of the question. It's all rather formulaic, but I'm not sure if they transfer to iGCSEs. 8 strong iGCSEs in academic subjects is fine, and the fact that they're still A*-C means they gaps between the boundaries are larger, so (in my opinion) better to get a B, than a 6 or 5 (in the new 9-1 GCSEs). Also, your DS will have loads of past papers to practice with, which was not possible with this year's new exams (a couple of specimen papers - and that was it!)

piggy you cannot change your name now! It really made me smile the first time I spotted it in a thread all those months back (though I might change mine to goveshouldbepushed...). And yes, kindred spirits indeed. I'm only just getting over the feeling that I have somehow 'failed' my DS, when in reality it was probably the system.

True true....

Ah well, see you on another thread at some point!

All MFLs at university taken to degree level (not just as a language familiarisation course which is not part of the degree) require study of literature, culture and other academic options. Eg, DD studied Medieval French and the literature of the Crusades as part of her French and Italian degree. The best degrees are academically rigourous and best suited to students with an open mind about the language/culture and do not see it as merely the spoken word. Translation is also only a part of the degree. No degree is ever just about speaking a language. You could do that without a degree. Ab initio is tough if you are not a gifted linguist so sticking with A level MFL can be a lot easier. Chinese is not a language. Mandarin is but some universities do not teach it.

Schools are making it really tough for decent linguists by cutting out A level options. That's just the nature of this inward looking country, I guess, and the fact the MFL are considered tough A levels so students take "easier" options. Smallclasses really are quite good for languages. Quicker pace DD found and luckily most pupils were of a decent standard.

The reason MFL degrees are a good passport to jobs is that they are rigourous and the skills learnt are transferable to the workplace. The student studies for a year in the country where the lanuages (s)are spoken so they are immersed and also have had to organise this themselves. They must research about where they want to go and really understand the culture and engage in the language.

Regarding jobs: Any graduate employment that is not a scientist! If you do a science degree and MFL, even more choice. DD with French and Italian is a Barrister.

Pah, DD's university refers to it as Chinese, as do DH's Chinese colleagues.

My DD has no interest in scaling the lofty heights of medieval languages, including English. She just wants to be good at communicating for business. Philistine!

I agree with much of what you say but there are degrees in 'pure' language (York always specialised in this) There are, of course, modules where you can select lit and I am sure the culture and history of the country can't go untaught (although the year abroad takes that in too). There are also a handful of unis that do translating and interpreting degrees : Swansea and Newcastle, for example.

My DS likes the nuts and bolts of language (and would probably like doing one ab initio) but would be turned off by a literature content so I will encourage him to look for a degree where this is minimal, should we get that far.

I, on the other hand, have a degree in English and Related Literature which includes a unit in 20th century German literature! I chose that course because I wanted to do a literature element of a language!