Mandarin GCSE
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Mandarin GCSE
I wonder if anyone has experience of a non-native speaker and Mandarin GCSE? DD is determined to do it and does have a wonderful teacher, but I read in the Times that about 90% of children sitting it get an A* because they are native speakers and the exam is very easy for them. The rest get Cs and Ds because they are not native speakers and it is too hard.
I do not want to stop her but as her current ambition is medicine I realise we need good GCSE grades. Any opinions and advice gratefully received, though being a 13-year old girl, I doubt she will listen to any of it!
I do not want to stop her but as her current ambition is medicine I realise we need good GCSE grades. Any opinions and advice gratefully received, though being a 13-year old girl, I doubt she will listen to any of it!
Here's the article you're referring to, I think: Mandarin - no easy option.Amber wrote:I wonder if anyone has experience of a non-native speaker and Mandarin GCSE? DD is determined to do it and does have a wonderful teacher, but I read in the Times that about 90% of children sitting it get an A* because they are native speakers and the exam is very easy for them. The rest get Cs and Ds because they are not native speakers and it is too hard.
I have actually taught a MFL to A level and the exam boards can tell if a child is a native speaker. They hear the tapes that teachers make of oral exams, and often it is obvious from the written work too. I have seen examiners' reports where they will say 'native speakers tended to do x'. But of course, they still have to be marked on what they do, and they do, on the whole, all get top grades, even when they aren't that able generally. Essentially the exams are not designed for native speakers but they cannot be prevented from taking them!
I think this is more polarised with a language like Mandarin, which is so very different from European languages.
I think this is more polarised with a language like Mandarin, which is so very different from European languages.
This is only what I have heard previously - maybe on this forum - native speakers tend to get A* and other children tend to get a C. However, non-native friend did it recently and also Japanese and got A* in both. Had a small amount of experience of living in both though.
DS is studying Mandarin for fun, but the school do not offer it to GCSE.
DS is studying Mandarin for fun, but the school do not offer it to GCSE.
I read the Times daily and the article you quote there, EM, has spawned a lot of debate, from both sides of the ring. Just to make it clear, I have no real idea whether the general study of Mandarin is A Good Thing, though I do like to see children studying languages and the same old insistence on French (why?) does grind me down - I don't really know why there isn't more Russian and German taught, even Arabic and Japanese, but then I would say that!
My only real concern is whether the exam is so hard and the study so onerous that I should be mounting a big anti-Mandarin campaign here. Mind, you, then she'd have to do French...
My only real concern is whether the exam is so hard and the study so onerous that I should be mounting a big anti-Mandarin campaign here. Mind, you, then she'd have to do French...
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