GCSE German Speaking

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Looking for help
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Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

GCSE German Speaking

Post by Looking for help »

Can anyone offer any opinion ?

My son has to learn by rote a huge amount of stuff to repeat to his teacher....how good does it have to be ? He is getting into a bit of a state about it. I think it is worth 30% of the GCSE. I said this can't possibly be for the actual exam as he's only year 10, but he says they can use it if he's good enough. Is this true ? Should it not be done at the end of Year 11 ?

His older siblings all did French (which I could help with) and only ever attempted the foundation :lol: :oops: speaking part and it all seemed very lightweight.I remember them having to learn a paragraph and then say it. This however seems all wrong to me. He can have a decent enough conversation in German, so I believe, although I can't speak it myself so it could all be gobbledygook , but having to remember 4 sides of A4 about a healthy diet, a sports person , the dangers of alcohol abuse and something else I can't quite remember and then produce it word for word to be recorded all seems a bit strange. :shock:
Minesatea
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Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:08 am

Re: GCSE German Speaking

Post by Minesatea »

With Ds's French GCSE he has to submit 2 spoken controlled assessments (and 2 written). The school organise 4 during year 10 and 11 and the 2 best are submitted at the end.

As the language seems to be taught in topics they do the controlled assessment for that topic at the end while it is still fresh in their minds rather than doing them all at the end of the course. DS has done two written already and has his first oral in a few weeks,
magwich2
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Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:33 pm

Re: GCSE German Speaking

Post by magwich2 »

The whole thing is ridiculous - Miss Magwich can confidently state that someone is "hot" and can ask if someone is infected with HIV (??!!?!) but sadly this was not very useful when we could not find the road to our casa last summer!!
aliportico
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Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:19 pm

Re: GCSE German Speaking

Post by aliportico »

OK, 2 speaking assessments have to be sent in. As Minesatea says, often they do it at the end of the topic so all the vocab is fresh. The 2 speaking assessments add up to 30% of the gcse, so 15% each.

At my dd1's school, they do them at the end of y10 and during y11 - they plan for 2, with the option of doing another one or two if the mark is low.

At dd2's school, they do 4 - winter and summer of y10, then autumn and spring of y11. The best two will be sent in when all 4 are done.

So it's kind of a big deal but hopefully not a disaster if it goes horribly wrong. Tell him to make his prompt sheet really as good as possible - for Edexcel they can put 30 words and 5 pictures on it, so pretty helpful.

We have these coming out of our ears here - dd1 is in y11 doing German and dd2 is in y10 doing French and Spanish! There seems to be someone being assessed at something constantly atm.
Looking for help
Posts: 3767
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

Re: GCSE German Speaking

Post by Looking for help »

Aaargh....it's just annoying tbh.

Yes he is making up his prompt sheet just now ( or earlier today). I think he needs to be careful with this.

I think he can do pretty general conversation, but doesn't seem to be terribly interested in who is hot or who has HIV yet, magwich - he seems to be fairly good at why Andy Murray is a good tennis player, obviously helpful when stranded in Bohn :lol: as long as he can remember the German for tennis :lol: (which i think is actually tennis )
Looking for help
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Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

Re: GCSE German Speaking

Post by Looking for help »

Minesatea - I am absolutely horrified at how much time is now spent on these assignments eg oral exams and controlled assessments -far more compared to my older ones doing modular exams. We are struggling at the moment in the first half of year 10 with English, Science and Statistics controlled assessments, music compositions and German orals.

Think we will be mad by the end of year 11.... :shock:
yoyo123
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Location: East Kent

Re: GCSE German Speaking

Post by yoyo123 »

I ended up speaking German in my French Oral O level and still passed well...
Looking for help
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Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

Re: GCSE German Speaking

Post by Looking for help »

yoyo123 wrote:I ended up speaking German in my French Oral O level and still passed well...
:lol:
Amber
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Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: GCSE German Speaking

Post by Amber »

The last time I had to administer oral exams was a few years ago now at AS level (Russian). The students memorised just about every single word and my guidelines were not to ask them anything at all which they hadn't already prepared (which of course I knew because I had helped them prepare it). As it was AS level, I was permitted a couple of questions 'directly arising out of' their chosen topic at the end. Nothing like our 'O' level ones where you could be asked anything at all. In my opinion this is crazy as they end up unable to deal with real life situations if they go abroad, unless someone wants to know what their favourite film is, what their bedroom looks like or what their ideal holiday would be (one where they could find the accommodation perhaps, magwich :lol: ). I have seen teachers mouthing answers at students. :shock:

DD did Mandarin and again, was supposed only to be asked to talk about pre-prepared stuff. Apparently the teacher threw in a couple of wild card questions at the end, which DD answered with (in Mandarin) ' I don't understand the question'. She still did very well.
moved
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Re: GCSE German Speaking

Post by moved »

Both DC have already been through this. They were both asked questions related to their topic, but didn't know what they would be asked. DS' Russian teacher has said that DS must prepare well for the oral as he could be asked about anything on the syllabus. The Russian oral is different from the other MFLs that mine have taken as it isn't done as controlled assessment.

Amber, thanks for the perfect response for Mandarin! I'll pass that along to DD, who with only an hor after school each week is struggling!

Interestingly, DD's school have just switched to Level 2 quals (igcse) in MFL to avoid the hours of controlled assessment. DD is most unhappy at the prospect; she likes controlled assessment as for French she knew when she sat her listening and reading exams that she was well on the way to her desired grade.
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