Blimey : MFL A levels have changed

[Piggywaspushed]

Disclaimer : went to school in Scotland in the late Middle Ages.

I studied French and German as CSYS level (kind of like A2) and got As so considered myself good. But what my DS is doing now is really turning him off. we did three lit texts in French and German (this may have been more than we needed knowing my school!) and some history (German was east Germany and education , I remember; French I think was the resistance) But all our teaching was basically in English, certainly all our discussion of texts and I SWEAR we wrote essays in English!

DS can't even seem to learn grammar in peace now without it being related to some 'ishoo' and even his homework is set in detailed Spanish.

I know this is all very worthy - but it's no wonder kids talk about the gulf between GCSE and A level in MFL!

DS already dropped French after one week. He can't drop Spanish, not least because he got near as dammit full marks at GCSE. You wouldn't know it, though. He is really struggling, hates it and is now being supervised in free periods to force him to work... there is no shame emoji so I went for blushing...

The teaching isn't great either, which does not help. Boys definitely respond negatively to weaker teaching much more than girls ime.

Anyone else share my his suffering?

[Piggywaspushed]

Thanks vlooby . You aren't making me feel better, though as my DS is definitely a rote leaner and he, of course, did this old 'not fit for purpose' GCSE. Sigh.

He also won't be engaged by 'choosing his own topic'. I think he will not like that at al... Unless I am missing something aren't the topics pre set? So, in his textbook there is , for example, pop stars of Spain? he doesn't even like British pop music! If he could do something on Catalan independence or the intricacies of La Liga, he might be OK...

I feel sad that eh got an A* in Spanish and this seems to be dismissed and demeaned. I know that isn't a purposeful act by people.

To be honest, he couldn't really have done anything else at A Level as Spanish was his only A* and, French aside, the others were way adrift.

Rote learning is actually a good ability to have and there ought to be some subjects in which this is advantageous surely? that was always why I enjoyed languages , history and, to an extent, English Lit back in the day. Lots of reciting stuff and learning facts and tables!

[Piggywaspushed]

He might be better off with you as a teacher, though : I think a large part of the issue is weak teaching : but am still waiting for a reply to my email from (acting joint : speaks volumes...) head of MFL.

[JanetheObscure]

What a great thread for those of us who did MFL 'A' levels all those years ago! My mid 80s French texts were le Noeud de Viperes (Mauriac), Le Malade Imaginaire (Moliere) and three poets (Rimbaud, Baudelaire and de Vigny). Forgive the absence of accents. We wrote the literature essays in English but our teacher was French and made sure that we read everything - in depth - in the original.

[LadyinCement]

The GCSE I did a couple of years ago was so different from my O Levels. I have an appalling memory and I found it very difficult to memorise a page and recite it to the examiner. I had practised and practised but after one sentence my mind went completely blank and she had to start the tape again.

Back in the 80s one had to do translation back and forth as well as compose a small essay. I can still remember: "A tiger has escaped from the zoo. Continue." My essay consisted of many "Au secours!"

A Level German spoken exam was terrible. Choice of two pictures. I thought mine was bad - someone throwing a cigarette out of a car into a gas mains. But then the people who had chosen the other picture staggered out of the room saying that picture B had been of a stone caught in a lawnmower

Gosh, it's amazing that I can remember the detail of all my exams. Not to mention that I occasionally have nightmares about doing A Level French (I didn't do A Level French, but wish I had rather than German.)

[JanetheObscure]

My 'A' level oral kicked off with a question about what my father did for a living. As his actual job title was a bit obscure and technical, I played safe and claimed he worked at the local university. "So do I" said my examiner. "Which department?"

After a momentary panic, I made something up and luckily I must have been quite fluent. She laughed and changed the subject - thankfully for me, she'd obviously decided that she was testing me on French not my ability to tell the truth!

[vlooby]

@Piggywaspushed the topic choice comes for the end of y13 when students are expected to research and present on a topic of their choosing. In reality I imagine a lot of teachers will push them in a particular direction.

With respect to the rote learning, if your DS is a grammar lover I'm sure he'll still do well. It's those who never really engaged with the grammar and 'just' rote learnt that will have the problem. I would also say that there is a big jump in MFL and there always has been. I always think it takes until Christmas for things to settle down.

Is he following a particular course book? My advise to students at the moment is to learn all of the vocab in the vocab sections, plus learning vocab they didn't know from texts we read. Some of this of course isn't advice but tests etc! For grammar they also have stuff to rote learn (verb formations etc) and they have websites/apps to practice from. That's certainly the best way to go in my opinion!

[AwakeCantSleep]

German poster here. I studied English (to A level equiv.) and French (to A2 level?) at school in Germany. I also attended a British boarding school for one term in lower sixth form. (Not a great school, I should add.) That was in the 90s.

All my lessons in English and French (at my home school) were in the target language. Essays were written in the target language. (I mean, what is the point otherwise?) Written and oral exams were also always in the target language.

So then I went to British boarding school, where I took maths, English Lit and French A-levels. Me and my friend (who is also German) were top of the class in French, with hardly any effort. (Same with maths, actually.) My friend's French was excellent at the time, whereas mine was distinctly average! I was feeling very sorry for the Brits in the class who had clearly been subjected to mediocre teaching, with no emphasis on actually being able to speak the language. I thought that was very sad.

[Piggywaspushed]

vlooby - thanks, that is really helpful.

I think I have misrepresented my DS as a grammar nerd! He isn't really that either . he isn't one of life's enthusiasts, bless him. but he does have duolingo on his phone and , when he was little(r) used to make up fake languages! I'd like to go back in time and recapture that child...

I am glad to ehar they can choose a topic.

I think everyone on this thread thus far is quite 'academic' and perhaps , therefore , not in the perspective of a child who did an A level simply because it was the only viable choice. there are honestly lots of those about, poor things.

I never took A levels to live in a country or even to be fluent! But I did enjoy them. I liked the small classes and the 'chat'.and the weird texts like Baudelaire the Pervert

[LadyinCement]

I wish there were MFLs entitled "Writing only no need to speak at all to anyone" . Ds toyed with doing French A Level but just in time he spotted that the particular board his school does has a very large speaking component. That was a big no thank you from ds.

I enjoy learning new languages for the puzzle factor; I don't enjoy speaking at all. I can read books in a couple of languages but would pass out at the thought of having to ask for a cup of coffee, let alone having to discuss recycling methods!

[Piggywaspushed]

lady you are my kindred spirit!

And , yes, that is the A Level my DS would prefer too (possibly multiple choice only : no need to write anything at any length ...)

We need an A level for misanthropes!

[Lancelottie]

The 'just read it don't speak it' was precisely the appeal of A-level Latin, Piggy!
We never even had to write in the language, only translate into English, which is faaaaaar easier.

I agree about the puzzle factor. It was like doing an A-level in crossword solving.

[boldlygoingsomewhere]

I'd also sign up for the 'just read, don't speak' MFL. I also see a new language as a bit like a puzzle to decode - which bits are similar, which are different and why. Linguistics and the history of language fascinates me. I'd be just at home learning Old English, Ancient Greek, Latin etc.

I think language lovers are a bit of a minority in this country. There is a dominant approach of 'it's only worth learning if it's going to be useful'. Having lived in a country where people are routinely bilingual, it fascinates me that no-one wants to learn the other native languages of the British Isles.

We also don't have the wealth of satellite and radio channels to help hone our skills in the target language. Living in Belgium, it was easy to watch tv in other European languages.

[Eastpoint]

Gosh, that is completely the opposite to me; I wanted to speak to people and did so much better in the orals than in the written parts of A level. I could have gone to any uni on my orals.

[Piggywaspushed]

I did Latin until year 9 and did like it too. I wasn't allowed to do French, German and Latin :(

They don't do Latin at DS's school unfortunately.

[Piggywaspushed]

And boldly, I can actually speak Old English, believe it or not! I can still recite the Lord's Prayer in Anglo Saxon!

[boldlygoingsomewhere]

Piggy, I am officially jealous! I think it sounds so beautiful when it's spoken. It has a soft, musical quality.

[Piggywaspushed]

It is rather lovely !

[clary]

Impressed with the Old English Piggy!

I did Greek A level, no speaking but I did have to translate English into Ancient Greek, man that was hard, I was so jealous of the Latinists as it had gone from their exam some years before.

Worse, the exam was on the last last day - July 1 in fact - and I was the only student doing it! Funny what you remember :)

[Piggywaspushed]

I did the OE at uni rather than school in my first year. At the time, my university had Anglo Saxon and medieval specialists : I'm not sure it still makes everyone do a language and/or Anglo Saxon in year 1 , but I did German Lit and Anglo Saxon modules. We. of course, did our Old English essays in modern English!! (although essays in old English would have looked rather fetching)

[HowcouldIpossiblyknow]

Interesting that you mention there are bilingual speakers in the class, it must be quite difficult for a teacher to differentiate the work for bilingual speakers and those who have just done the gcse!

Ofqual published some research on the impact of bilingual speakers on the grade boundaries in the summer - i can't remember the details but they had decided to make some adjustments to the boundaries as a result, I think. Actually I don't think you can ever 'fully' adjust - because widening the boundaries affects the bilingual speakers as well as those for whom the mfl is a 'foreign' language.

[DrDreReturns]

Wtf! In a mfl a level you were allowed to write essays in English! What's the point, you need to show you are proficient in the mfl not English! I did a level French in the mid nineties and I had to do two topics in the exam, the French Resistance and the Rhone Alpes region. all the work had to be in French.

[noblegiraffe]

It was the mid-nineties where I had to write lit exams in English!

[DrDreReturns]

It must have depended on the board. French was the hardest A level I did, the other two were sciences. I only really got to grips with it towards the end of the course.

[GeorgeTheHamster]

But boldly- we have the Internet now. Surely you can watch or listen to pretty much anything you like?!

[GU24Mum]

Lancelottie - no Tacitus but lots of Pliny too: reams about Vesuvius erupting.

If anyone here took A levels in the mid 80s, do you remember the books we had for "O" Level essays - the set of 6 black & white pictures as a prompt for the 100 word essay. We all practised "Par un beau jour d'ete" as a good start - OK provided no snow or rain of course!