New Spanish GCSE

[indy69]

Good evening all,

My daughter has to make her choice of GCSE options by January. The school encourages all children to choose one MFL and we are leaning towards Spanish. Could any of you let me know how easy or difficult the new specifications are? My daughter is good at the reading listening and speaking but struggles a little with the writing. Would be much obliged if anyone could point me towards some resources. TIA

The new GCSEs are examined by sitting papers at the end of the course - no more coursework. The specifications aren't really more difficult, but instead of having several chances to complete coursework pieces for Speaking and writing during Year 10 and 11, you have a final paper for each of the 4 skills and they are equally rated (25% of the marks for each paper). The exam has also opened up the possibility of getting a higher grade than previously possible in GCSE, so there will be some more challenging content in the higher tier to accommodate that. My students have generally enjoyed the new GCSE in languages and my predictions were pretty accurate based on experience of previous GCSE grades and knowledge of the new curriculum. Spanish is a great language to learn and her writing skills are likely to improve with the practice that she will get during the course. Depending upon the exam board, there are lots of work books available - I would ask the teacher or head of department for recommendations. Schools can order many of them to sell on to students at a much reduced price. Otherwise, there is a wealth of MFL material on YouTube and just by searching the internet.

Of the 4 elements the written is the easiest to get better at in my opinion because you can learn sentences/passages etc around the main themes to use in your exam

Thank you. That is reassuring. I will speak to her teacher.