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Secondary education

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Original poster

Foreign languages in year 8

17 replies

LIZS · 03/02/2010 09:59

ds(11) would move school at year 9. We are being advised that for certain schools he should take up a 2nd foreign language now (already does French) in order to enter at the same level as those already attending the schools for Year 7&8.

Spanish is the one being offered but it would be largely self taught with recommended resources and regular support lessons. However we're not sure this is in his best interest as he is not a natural linguist, has dyspraxia which makes language learning challenging and is unlikely to have any long term use for it. I realise we need to discuss the options with the schools concerned but am interested as to what languages others are being offered in Year 8 and what level are they achieving ?

OP posts:
mebaasmum · 03/02/2010 10:07

Ds1 age12 year8 Did french in Y7 Also did it in primary from year3. Added in German this year.

webwiz · 03/02/2010 10:29

DS in is year 8 and he did French in year 7 and added German this year. Spanish has been offered for the first time this year but this was for a different group than DS.

TheFirstLady · 03/02/2010 10:46

DD is in year 8 and has done French and German since Y7. The current Y7s are doing French and Spanish.

Original poster
LIZS · 03/02/2010 10:51

Interesting, thank you. German would be more of a possibility as far as ds is concerned as he had a very basic level when younger and might use it in the future., Are there any particular courses being followed and why the switch to Spanish ?

OP posts:
bruffin · 03/02/2010 13:55

This thread has some helpful information on it

Original poster
LIZS · 03/02/2010 16:01

Thanks . What do level 3 and 4 mean in real terms ie what has been covered ?

OP posts:
Original poster
LIZS · 03/02/2010 16:06

oh and are we talking about one lesson a week in each language over three terms or several ?

OP posts:
roisin · 03/02/2010 17:04

At ds1's school they do:
yr7 - one term each (3 lessons per week) of French, German and Spanish.

Then they choose two to continue.
In yr8 they have 3 lessons a fortnight of each of their languages.

The reason for the switch from German to Spanish is that Spanish is largely regarded as being more 'useful' and also more 'relevant' for pupils. However, the problem is finding people to teach it.

At ds1's school the MFL teachers are all French/German graduates. But they have to teach Spanish too.

bruffin · 03/02/2010 17:55

DS has had 2 lessons for german and 2 lessons for french since yr7.
System has changed now and DD in yr7 gets 3 lessons a week in french only.

chardom · 03/02/2010 20:51

My DS is in year 7 and does 2 hours of French lessons and 2 hours of German lessons per week. He has picked it up really quickly since September and these are now his favourite subjects at school.

teamcullen · 03/02/2010 21:33

My DD has done spanish since she was age 6. When she got to secondary school this carried on for years 7 and 8. This year (y9) French was added to her timetable along with the spanish.

She has a nateral flair for languages, probably from doing them from an early age. However she has no plan to carry French on in September as she knows her strength in in Spanish.

So my advice would be unless your DS has an interest in learning more than one language, I would'nt go throwing lots of money after private tuition if the chances are that he will drop it when he gets to year 10.

snorkie · 03/02/2010 22:37

At my dc's school they do French in year 7 and add Latin and either Spanish or German in year 8 & 9. Some (just a few) children who find languages hard don't pick up either or both of the extras and have some free lessons instead. Dd who is dyslexic was one of these, but then she signed herself up for Mandarin in year 8 as a twilight subject & then Japanese in year 9 (also twilight). So much for not having an aptitude for languages!

daphnedill · 06/02/2010 20:02

I would ask to speak to the new school and ask about language provision. If he has a recognised special need, you have a good argument for him to be withdrawn from learning a second foreign language. If they don't have facilities for him to be withdrawn, he might just have to grin and bear it until options.

CardyMow · 07/02/2010 13:26

My DD's school have withdrawn her from learning ANY foreign languages as it is way above her level of work. She has 'catch-up' leesons for maths and english timetabled for when the other pupils in her year (Y7) are doing French. She only did French lessons until the Christmas holidays, so one term.

busymummy3 · 07/02/2010 17:23

my DD is in Y8 and has studied french since Y7 but previous to this she had done French in primary . now in Y8 French teacher has started a Spanish club and a German club then selected some pupils (my DD being one ) and asked if they wanted to join She is therefore doing three at the minute but French is the main one being the one she does assessments in etc

MrsBartlet · 07/02/2010 18:37

Dd is in Y8. She did French and German in Y7 and is studying those and Latin now she is in Y8.

seimum · 08/02/2010 17:22

My ds did french and latin in yr 7. They then had a choice of 2 languages in yr 8 (out of French, Spanish, German, Latin & Japanese) - starting from scratch with the new languages. But then his school is a 'specialist humanities college'.

At dd2's school they did either French or German in Yr 7 (no choice, half the classes did one, half the other), then the top sets in each language got to learn the other one from yr 9

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