GCSE Latin v French
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Re: GCSE Latin v French
Many thanks for Web link. I sent an email this morning to school to confirm. Was pleasantly surprised when my son's Latin teacher called me back. He confirmed, yes the old WJEC Levels 1/2 is obsolete course and scool cureentry uses OCR board. The school will be following the new WJEC Eduqas GCSE Latin which is reported as grades 9-1 as from Sept 2016. He also spoke in length about course and answered all our concerns raised.
Son has handed in completed form with Latin as his choice. Finally some peace...
Thank you all for all your responses, advice and sharing information. Very much appreciated.
Son has handed in completed form with Latin as his choice. Finally some peace...
Thank you all for all your responses, advice and sharing information. Very much appreciated.
Re: GCSE Latin v French
Hi Girls2mum,
Your view startled me as last autumn, I have attended a CPD concerning the OCR’s new GCSE specification. No mention was made there of any dictation. Tonight, I browsed quickly the draft of the new specification and I cannot find any mention of dictation.
It is probable that you meant translation as indeed, there will be an exercise of translation in the new GCSE as you can read on the page 21 of this draft
http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/207218-spe ... 1-j722.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Wishing all the best to your DD concerning her language studies for her GCSEs!
Anyway , your DD sits the current spec!
Your view startled me as last autumn, I have attended a CPD concerning the OCR’s new GCSE specification. No mention was made there of any dictation. Tonight, I browsed quickly the draft of the new specification and I cannot find any mention of dictation.
It is probable that you meant translation as indeed, there will be an exercise of translation in the new GCSE as you can read on the page 21 of this draft
http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/207218-spe ... 1-j722.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Wishing all the best to your DD concerning her language studies for her GCSEs!
Anyway , your DD sits the current spec!Re: GCSE Latin v French
This aritlce is not about GCSE Latin, but shows that many adults (with a mix of European nationalities ) enjoy studying this language
Latin revival: cathedral courses find new fans of 'dead language'
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... are_btn_fb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
) enjoy studying this languageLatin revival: cathedral courses find new fans of 'dead language'
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... are_btn_fb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: GCSE Latin v French
Article: Vatican library digitises 1,600-year-old edition of Virgil
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/ ... are_btn_fb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/ ... are_btn_fb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: GCSE Latin v French
(Testimony written by a defender of learning Latin)
Why I regret not learning Latin
This morning I listened to a passionate debate on the radio over the teaching of Latin. It connects you to the Ancient World and all its marvels, helps you understand grammar and learn and use modern languages, including English, and is a joy in itself, said the first man. Nonsense, said the second man, it’s an elitist irrelevance in a crowded curriculum where there are much more useful things to learn and, “studies show,” far from helping you learn modern languages it impedes that learning. Asked why he employed so many classicists, answered the first man desperately, John Paul Getty said “Because they sell more oil.”
The argument was precipitated by a new online course to learn Latin. I don’t suppose that even the second man would argue that the course should be banned. Nobody is now arguing that people—well, schoolchildren—should have to learn Latin, but surely nobody would argue against people having the option to do so.
So it was a constructed argument, but it took me back to my learning of Latin. In those years I thought like the second man. At my streamed grammar school (not a posh place by any measure) the top stream did Latin and the other two steams did something else. (This memory might be wrong—like all memories (and even all perceptions)—but I certainly did Latin when in Shell A.) I did Latin for a year and then had the opportunity to opt out. I immediately did so. “What,” I thought, “is the point of learning a dead language?” I even dismissed modern languages: stupidly I couldn’t see the point of learning them. But I had to do French, although I still marvel that I could lean French several hours a week for five years and, like the rest of the class, be so far from speaking and writing it.
By opting out I joined “the dumbos” (see how the arrogance and elitism continue) doing geography. Snozz, who taught geography, was the worst teacher I ever encountered: his method was simply to dictate the notes he’d been using for years. Ironically I still remember much of what he taught me.
But now I support the first man in the argument over Latin. I have a rule of trying not to worry, regret, or feel guilty as they are all negative, corrosive, unproductive activities. But I don’t always succeed, and I do regret not learning Latin. Very recently I’ve come to regret even more not learning Greek—because I’ve learnt that Ancient Greek is the most subtle of languages allowing philosophy, poetry, and descriptions of emotions and the world that are not possible in other languages. You can never fully understand the magnificent and unequalled achievement of the Ancient Greeks unless you speak Greek. If not, you can get only so far with understand the Ancient Greeks and their culture.
What I never understood as an arrogant adolescent is that a language is the key to a culture, and Latin is the key to many cultures not just Roman—because it was the language of learning and thinkers in the West from Roman times until the Renaissance and even beyond. I can only hover on the edge of that culture, never fully enter.
Why I regret not learning Latin
This morning I listened to a passionate debate on the radio over the teaching of Latin. It connects you to the Ancient World and all its marvels, helps you understand grammar and learn and use modern languages, including English, and is a joy in itself, said the first man. Nonsense, said the second man, it’s an elitist irrelevance in a crowded curriculum where there are much more useful things to learn and, “studies show,” far from helping you learn modern languages it impedes that learning. Asked why he employed so many classicists, answered the first man desperately, John Paul Getty said “Because they sell more oil.”
The argument was precipitated by a new online course to learn Latin. I don’t suppose that even the second man would argue that the course should be banned. Nobody is now arguing that people—well, schoolchildren—should have to learn Latin, but surely nobody would argue against people having the option to do so.
So it was a constructed argument, but it took me back to my learning of Latin. In those years I thought like the second man. At my streamed grammar school (not a posh place by any measure) the top stream did Latin and the other two steams did something else. (This memory might be wrong—like all memories (and even all perceptions)—but I certainly did Latin when in Shell A.) I did Latin for a year and then had the opportunity to opt out. I immediately did so. “What,” I thought, “is the point of learning a dead language?” I even dismissed modern languages: stupidly I couldn’t see the point of learning them. But I had to do French, although I still marvel that I could lean French several hours a week for five years and, like the rest of the class, be so far from speaking and writing it.
By opting out I joined “the dumbos” (see how the arrogance and elitism continue) doing geography. Snozz, who taught geography, was the worst teacher I ever encountered: his method was simply to dictate the notes he’d been using for years. Ironically I still remember much of what he taught me.
But now I support the first man in the argument over Latin. I have a rule of trying not to worry, regret, or feel guilty as they are all negative, corrosive, unproductive activities. But I don’t always succeed, and I do regret not learning Latin. Very recently I’ve come to regret even more not learning Greek—because I’ve learnt that Ancient Greek is the most subtle of languages allowing philosophy, poetry, and descriptions of emotions and the world that are not possible in other languages. You can never fully understand the magnificent and unequalled achievement of the Ancient Greeks unless you speak Greek. If not, you can get only so far with understand the Ancient Greeks and their culture.
What I never understood as an arrogant adolescent is that a language is the key to a culture, and Latin is the key to many cultures not just Roman—because it was the language of learning and thinkers in the West from Roman times until the Renaissance and even beyond. I can only hover on the edge of that culture, never fully enter.
Re: GCSE Latin v French
Thirty-odd years ago, a piece in the news (obviously at this distance, temporarily-speaking, I am paraphrasing here):
'The London Borough of Islington has announced that as the learning of Latin confers the following advantages (X,Y, Z)...
(here, I was probably not the only person waiting for 'from now on, it will be taught in all Islington secondary schools', however...)
'... Latin is no longer to be taught in Islington schools'.
Not having ever had a child attend school in Islington, I have no idea whether this actually came to pass, or whether, like the intended removal of the works of Jane Austen from the shelves of its libraries (for not being relevant to the experience of the Borough's population), the policy was subsequently dropped?
'The London Borough of Islington has announced that as the learning of Latin confers the following advantages (X,Y, Z)...
(here, I was probably not the only person waiting for 'from now on, it will be taught in all Islington secondary schools', however...)
'... Latin is no longer to be taught in Islington schools'.
Not having ever had a child attend school in Islington, I have no idea whether this actually came to pass, or whether, like the intended removal of the works of Jane Austen from the shelves of its libraries (for not being relevant to the experience of the Borough's population), the policy was subsequently dropped?
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
