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Secondary education

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Original poster

Spanish GCSE

14 replies

BitcherOfBlakiven · 31/01/2022 01:29

Recently had Y9 parents evening, where all the teachers were keen to discuss DDs current grades - apparently she is working at a Grade 7 already in Spanish, she loves the subject and a 9 should be easily achievable.

Is this likely to be twaddle or not?

Either way, I’m useless with languages so would be of no help to DD with this subject and need suggestions of what could help her. She already has DuoLingo (which she uses for Spanish and Italian which is her Grandmothers native language), but is there anything else out there?

OP posts:
TheTeenageYears · 31/01/2022 01:47

It would be pointless for a teacher to give a hugely false impression. If DD is a natural and enjoys the subject just leave her to get on with it -she really won't need any help from you at all.

caringcarer · 31/01/2022 01:51

If she likes Spanish and is already good at it I would say take it for GCSE.

clary · 31/01/2022 07:09

If she is doing so well already, great. No need of anything else but her hard work and doing what she is asked.

If she takes it for GCSE then workbooks and revision guides are available.

side note: as an MFL specialist, I would hesitate to say a 9 is easily achievable. Grade 9 in the new MFLs is tough and a great achievement. Your dd must be really skilled and talented so well done her.

snarkysnark · 31/01/2022 07:51

Sounds like she's a great candidate for GCSE. I would absolutely trust her teachers unless you have a good reason not to.

Out of interest, I'm slightly struck by the way you ask the question. Do you have a particular reason for hesitating over Spanish in particular? Would you still be asking the question if a teacher had suggested that your DD is good at chemistry or history? Linked to that, I find it slightly odd (in a nice way!) that you're coming at it from the point of view of where your DD will be able to get help with her Spanish. That's surely the school's job, no? Don't get me wrong, I lend a hand with homework sometimes, and it's fun when it's a subject I'm strong in, but it wouldn't occur to me to approach subject choices from the point of view of whether I can help. Most of the 'help' I give is pretty generic (often things like tips on layout of work or ways of researching etc), often by necessity - the kids' maths and science work left me behind pretty early on once they reached secondary school! I just assume that the school will teach them what they need to know, and that teachers will recommend additional resources if needed. (NB in languages you can still help with things like vocab learning even if you don't know the language.)

Original poster
BitcherOfBlakiven · 31/01/2022 09:11

No hesitation at all, I’m really chuffed that she’s a natural with languages and have encouraged her to pick Spanish given her what teacher said.

I’m not familiar with the news grading system, it’s way after my time, and whilst I did achieve mostly As with a few A*s, I’m not sure how that matches up with the new system and how “easily achievable” an 8 or a 9 is.

I’m asking how to help/support her because I lived with parents who didn’t give a crap about my education and thought it was pointless for women Hmm

I’m in STEM, which I will know how to assist with (she’s doing the individual sciences, plus Computer Science as one of her choices and I also have quals in coding), but languages are totally alien to me.

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Seeline · 31/01/2022 09:14

My DD did Spanish. I don't speak it but could help her by yesterday vocab lists. Much of the oral is preparing answers to possible questions in set topics so I could help again with testing her on that.

snarkysnark · 31/01/2022 15:32

Sorry to hear you had that experience in your own education OP. It sounds like you're already doing a great job of supporting your daughter - I think it's your attitude and support overall that matters most, rather than any specific subject input.

As an aside, I think this is one of many reasons why it was a bad idea to stop compulsory languages at GCSE. Not only do pupils themselves now have to actively want to do a language, but parents who aren't linguists might (deliberately or inadvertently) dissuade their children from doing a subject that they themselves perceive to be hard, or that they worry they can't help with, even if their child has an aptitude (I'm not saying you're going to do that OP, but the fact that you're asking the question is in itself interesting). As I've said, I have no particular aptitude for STEM subjects (I did perfectly well at them for GCSE, but any specific knowledge is long gone), but I know that my kids have to do maths and sciences, so the question of whether I'll be able to help them has never entered my head. I think it's a shame that the same is no longer true of languages.

iwishiwasonhol · 31/01/2022 15:45

My daughter took both Spanish and French for GCSE got a 9 in both so it is achievable, she did work hard but she has a passion and flair for languages, she also put more effort in to those GCSE than her other subjects , i dont speak it but would help by doing the vocab lists with her she is now doing it for A level and also self learning Italian

Original poster
BitcherOfBlakiven · 31/01/2022 15:46

I did French, back when we had to do a language - my school only offered French though, and I completely failed it.

Her third choice is Art - something that yet again, I am useless at and didn’t do past Y9 Grin

OP posts:
Malbecfan · 01/02/2022 10:34

In my humble opinion, you are the ideal parent. You are interested in your DD but not over invested. Plus, by your own admission, you know little about the subject so you can't interfere with what the teacher is doing. As a secondary school teacher, the kids who cause the most hassle are the micro-managed or those whose parents did the subject way back when the syllabus was utterly different but they still think this qualifies them to interfere.

If it helps, I am a musician. My DDs are both excellent musicians but both studying STEM subjects. I couldn't get involved as I haven't a bloody clue, but I could sympathise when they moaned about something, congratulate them on good results and be their advocate when they needed one. You sound like you are doing just that for your DD.

The GCSE grades translate roughly as 8/9 equivalent to A star, 7 is A, 6 is B, 4/5 C. Below that is regarded as a "fail".

lanthanum · 01/02/2022 11:09

It gets a bit scary when they're better at things than you, doesn't it!

DD is similar at French, and although DH and I did it to 16, she's outstripped what we remember*, and is now planning on A-level, where we will be no help whatsoever. (Well, except that we hope to get her to France at some point before she does the A-level - she's only been there for a total of 3 days, which we were intending to rectify before GCSE...)

*Latest topic is "technology", which means that she's learning vocabulary that didn't even exist in our day!

Nomoreusernames1244 · 01/02/2022 11:23

Out of interest, I'm slightly struck by the way you ask the question. Do you have a particular reason for hesitating over Spanish in particular? Would you still be asking the question if a teacher had suggested that your DD is good at chemistry or history? Linked to that, I find it slightly odd (in a nice way!) that you're coming at it from the point of view of where your DD will be able to get help with her Spanish

This.

Your child enjoys the subject, wants to continue, and the teachers are more than happy with her progress.

Why would you stop her, or try to dissuade her?

My child, on the other hand, did not want to do spanish, despite school saying she was good at it and recommending GCSE. Dd tells me nobody wants to do it and they tell everyone they’re really good to get people to take it Hmm

She has taken it as an option, but only after a big fight. She couldn’t offer a GCSE alternative, but wanted to do vocational studies like catering. Not that she has the slightest interest in catering, if she did I’d have been fine, but purely because she thinks it’ll be the easy option.

Kid’s very bright, but uses her brains figuring out how to get out of using them 😂.

Original poster
BitcherOfBlakiven · 01/02/2022 13:38

I wasn’t trying to stop or dissuade her (and couldn’t even if I tried, she’s as stubborn as her mother Grin) I was more curious about the already working at a Grade 7 and a 9 being easily achievable comments. I’m not sure how I gave the impression that I didn’t want her to do it? Especially considering I asked for resources for her to use out of school.

And yes it’s schools responsibility to educate her but it’s well known that students achieve better when they have a supportive, stable home environment.

I only managed to success despite living in chaos with an addict mother because I knew my grades were my way to escape the Hell I’d been living in for 5 years.

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Original poster
BitcherOfBlakiven · 01/02/2022 13:40

@Malbecfan why THANKYOU Blush

I can’t micromanage my own life, let alone 3DCs on top Grin I just like to well informed about GCSE subjects, because, as you say - they are so very different to when I sat them 20 years ago, so that if my child turns to me and says “I’m struggling”, I can either help her myself, or tell her websites or apps to use.

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