Better not to take language gcse than get a 1 or 2?

[User7288339]

Dd (yr 9) has been on an accelerated thing at school where they only focus on one language then take the gcse two years early. It’s not gone well for her and she just got a 1 in her mock.
her other subjects she’s projected 4-6s.
this language gcse would be number 10 if she takes separate sciences and 9 if she does dual award (most likely). So she’d still hopefully have 8 GCSE’s without it,

It’s demoralising for her and I don’t see how she’s going to get the grade up to a 4 before May.
she isn’t motivated and it’s hard to get her to put the hours in, but even when she does progress is so slow because she just can’t seem to remember the sounds or the characters (it’s Chinese). Listening and reading she can have a stab at and got 2s, writing she only can remember a couple of characters and speaking she got a U for that part.

we’ve thought about a tutor but I really don’t think it’s worth spending £££ to maybe get it up to a 2 or 3, I think we need to save our money for maths and English in future.

Does she have to list it on college and uni stuff? Or if she fails can we just act like it never happened?

If it’s the former I’m thinking would it be best all round to speak to the school about her just not taking it?

they do offer a pathway there to do 8 GCSE’s and not do a language.

part of me thinks we should show her you don’t “give up” and the other part of me thinks “what’s the point?” It’s just going to be a horrid experience for her.

im a bit annoyed school didn’t pick up how bad it was earlier, I’d tried to express concern to the teacher but they just kept saying it was just a confidence issue.

what would you do?

pull out?

I don't know the answer to whether it actually matters for her in the long run. But wow, expecting 13-14 year olds to learn Chinese in a coupe of years is a big ask, surely that cant be going well for the school, she can't be the only one struggling..!?

Not worth a tutor.

You don't need to list it on applications etc.

Given what she's getting I'd be surprised if the school insist on her sitting it.

So weirdly although there are a couple finding it hard (getting a 3 in the mock for example), she seems to be alone in finding it so bad, and a good few of her friends are heading for 7-9s. So it clearly does work for some.
Although it’s not selective as such, that stream does tend to attract more able pupils as they have to apply to do it.
(it’s a non selective state school).
her older sister did it and it went ok but hasn’t worked for dd2. I think she got on the back foot then it’s really hard to catch up. Or maybe there’s a processing thing going on as we can spend ages trying to learn some characters and she just can’t remember them. I feel like I can remember more than her from going through it with her 😆

This seems bizarre. Is there not an option to study it for longer, or do a different language and do it in year 11? What are the non-accelerated students doing?

I was thinking that about school too, surely it will skew their results and they’re quite results focused and like to brag about this programme and the results from it 😬
just not sure if I should ask.
xH will also be a problem, he doesn’t see the kids that much (EOW) and is kind of out of touch how bad it is, but won’t like the idea of her not sitting it, but he definitely won’t like her getting a 1 or 2!

If you do want to spend time on it, then it's worth knowing that the characters are made up of "radicals" which go together to make a character.

These radicals have meanings. So you can build up a character from the radicals.

So for example middle is simple, it's just a rectangle with a line through the middle.

Person "ren" is a stick figures of a person.

Etc etc.

One person from the group has pulled out to join the standard class studying it as an option for gcse in year 11.

i did think about that but she really hates it and I think it would be preferable to have it out the way so she can focus on other subjects in year 11.

and doing that would also mean leaving the tutor group and friends.

if she does take it in yr9 as planned I already agreed with her teacher she wouldn’t go on and do the higher qualification the others do, she can join extra maths and English classes instead

Pushy .. a child in y9 doing a language gcse. She must be so stressed.
Why push her!?
Surely after school clubs and friends are more important.
Don't destroy her confidence before y11 when she will need it

She is generally pretty unstressed about it (seemingly), as we’ve had lots of chats about how you can only try your best and it doesn’t really matter. but yes I do think it’s demoralising and she was upset when she got the mock result and it was the lowest in the class.

We’re aiming for just 15 minutes a day on it but even that is like pulling teeth

In that case I think you only need 5 or 6 standard passes for college so 8 GCSEs would be fine. Maybe get her to take it anyway in case revision sessions boost her a bit or she has an unusually good day?

Does anyone know if you have to declare you’ve taken something and failed? Or if you can just leave it off stuff.

Teacher

No you do not have to declare it

You should do, yes. Though how anyone would ever know, I’m not sure.

Pulling a grade 1 up to a 5 or 6 in the next three months IN CHINESE seems a hell of an ask. I would let her drop it, if that’s what she wants.

Problem with Chinese is that there’s a disproportionate amount of native or near native speakers and GCSE doesn’t differentiate between native and non native. It skews the bell curve somewhat.

It’s a bizarre thing for the school to do, GCSEs really are quite a good test after 3/4 years studying a subject and maturing to around the age of 16. Languages especially build up slowly with practice.

I don't see the point in rushing it.

Other than that, it's a good thing for her to do - I can't imagine ever regretting learning a language, even just a few words.

I don't know then, maybe we stick to the original plan of just giving it her best shot without piling on too much pressure; and not care too much about the result. Then move on and forget about it 😆
But part of me would love to not having it hanging over us until May!

This seems so bizarre. Of all the GCSEs MFL is one which really is a linear qualification, where the KS4 study builds on the KS3. It would make more sense to take history or English lit in year 9 – tho why any school would ask students to take a GCSE early at all baffles me. But yes, five years of study of an MFL and then the GCSE is better than three years. Not surprising really.

And then it's Mandarin – known as a really challenging language on many levels. I would suggest that she does it in year 11 instead, when she is likely to get a better grade, so the school will surely be on board – but you say she hates it so maybe she would be better not to take it at all. It won’t matter if she doesn't have an MFL at GCSE, and if she gains eight GCSEs without it, that’s also fine.

What is the higher qualification they go on an do? A level?

Personally i wouldn’t do it. Sitting the speaking exam is a stressful experience even if you are good at the language . It may not be helpful preparation for future exams if it goes really badly. Obviously it depends on the personality of your child.

My jaw is dropped at how fucking insane it is to railroad 13-14yos into taking GCSE Chinese 2 years early. That sounds like a totally crap school frankly. Can you move her to a less batshit one for y10&11?

GCSE courses are structured to be taken in year 11. The only circumstances where it's reasonable to enter a child a year or two early is if they are already at a standard to pretty much guarantee a grade 8 or 9 such that there's not much point waiting. A choice between taking a language 2 years early vs not having a language at all with no option to study the language for a sensible number of years is irresponsible.

It's just one form from the 12 forms that do it.

It's supposed to be an immersion type thing where they have other lessons in yr 7 & 8 taught in the language too like art, RE, PE and all tutor time. So for the other subjects they have a subject teacher plus the language teacher present.

Then after the gcse in yr 9 they go on to do a higher qualification (but not a level) in year 10.

It does seem to work for some... but definitely isn't for dd2.

I don't know about GCSE, but I know many kids who have Chinese at school are enrolled in the local Chinese school on Saturday. They join in secondary and usually do quite well.

I don’t see any value in sitting if the best you can hope for is a 1 or 2.

DC1 is at a highly selective school and they do Mandarin from y7. It is a very hard language and I’m amazed they are looking for your DC are to do in y9. Unlike European languages there is no hope to guess from reading it plus it is very tonal. Speaking to DC teacher about whether to continue Mandarin as an option they were clear that whilst DC has the ability you have to be ready for a LOT of slogging work, you can’t just busk it.

Just drop it. A 1 is not worth the stress . Take it in y11 if they want to continue.

I’d be informing them she’s not sitting it. She shouldn’t be doing a GCSE in Y9 anyway and it’s not worth the stress to her, or potentially putting her off exams!

The only thing is if they carry on studying a higher level in Y10, where would she go during that class? Would she have to move forms and if so is that worse for her than sitting it?