Yr 9 Options

ButtyBoo · Post by **ButtyBoo** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:48 pm

My son is in the process of choosing his options and we are left with a final choice between geography and latin (he doesn't seem to have a keen interest in either of these subjects).
He seems to have an aptitude for languages and is taking both french and german.
Would it be correct to assume that latin may help him in a language based career?
I am worried that studying two foreign lanuages already may confuse him enough without throwing latin into the mix!
Any comments would be appreciated.

Green Fingers · Post by **Green Fingers** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:47 pm

My son is currently studting A level French and took Latin to GCSE level. He found it certainly helped. He also took Geography for GCSE being seduced by the promise of exciting field trips which did not materialise!!! He now wishes he'd taken ancient Greek which he enjoyed more!!! There must be a lesson in life there somewhere!!
I would say if your son has an aptitude for languages then Latin will not confuse only help him, but in the end it's his choice. Does he have any thoughts on A level choices? I know it's a long way off but that can sometimes focus your decisions now.

Guest55 · Post by **Guest55** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:03 pm

In many school they choose the subjects and THEN they block them - I presume you are saying the blocks have been given to you 'set in stone' - then you have a 'choice' ....

Three languages sounds a bit biased to me - but Latin is useful if he might take languages at Uni.

KES Parent · Post by **KES Parent** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:25 pm

ButtyBoo wrote:My son is in the process of choosing his options and we are left with a final choice between geography and latin (he doesn't seem to have a keen interest in either of these subjects).
He seems to have an aptitude for languages and is taking both french and german.
Would it be correct to assume that latin may help him in a language based career?
I am worried that studying two foreign lanuages already may confuse him enough without throwing latin into the mix!
Any comments would be appreciated.

One thing to bear in mind is that if he later wants to do Geography at A Level, he could probably do that without having a GCSE in Geography if he is prepared to work hard. Doing Latin A Level without taking GCSE would be impossible in almost all schools. It is most unlikely he would get confused between the languages - I did all three at A Level, and they are just not really open to being confused. And Latin would be very useful to a future linguist. Hope this helps.

surreymum · Post by **surreymum** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:29 pm

I would agree that Latin is useful with both the other languages and English, and also helps with many other words in science, medcine, law etc. I don't see any disadvantages with doing 3 languages unless it is hindering some other option.

With most children sitting many GCSEs I think it is important they choose subjects they enjoy. I also think it is important the latin tuition is good as it is a difficult subject to grasp if the teaching is weak.

perplexed · Post by **perplexed** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:12 pm

Lots of foreign holidays around the world could make up for dropping geography, but many trips to the Roman Forum would not help much with the Latin.

Agree with the advice others have given; it does seem a shame that he is having to choose between two subjects he is not particularly interested in - though that is perhaps better than having to choose between two that he is really interested in.

Rob Clark · Post by **Rob Clark** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:52 am

I did Latin for â€˜Oâ€™ level (gosh, does that date me?) and loved it. The key was that our teacher realised the way to keep a class of teenage boys interested was to ensure that all the passages we had for translation or comprehension were either big battles or heroic deeds!

I agree with surreymum that the teaching has a big bearing on Latin. Do you know who DS would have as his teacher and if so, is he/she any good? That could be a decisive factor.

Bexley Mum 2 · Post by **Bexley Mum 2** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:40 pm

ButtyBoo

I did French, German and Latin at O'level and don't remember ever getting them confused - they are very different languages. I think that, holidays in France aside, Latin has been consistently the most useful.

When does your son have to choose his options by? I've got a son in Year 9 and he hasn't mentioned it yet!

Ed's mum · Post by **Ed's mum** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:51 pm

I also studied French, German and Latin. I don't recall becoming confused due to learning three languages. However, I sometimes wished that German WAS more like French, but that's another story!

I agree with Bexley Mum 2, Latin has been so useful over the years.

Marylou · Post by **Marylou** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:20 pm

Rob Clark wrote:I did Latin for â€˜Oâ€™ level (gosh, does that date me?) and loved it. The key was that our teacher realised the way to keep a class of teenage boys interested was to ensure that all the passages we had for translation or comprehension were either big battles or heroic deeds!

Same here! But as teenage girls we were not overly interested in battles and the antics of the Romans in Britain, much preferring the epic love stories about Dido and Aeneas, Helen of Troy, etc.

I think it's a good combination of subjects. Although German is not a romance language, it is like Latin in that its nouns adhere to a case system. And, of course, French is directly descended from Latin. The benefits extend beyond the obvious linguistic ones, though - it reallly helps with spellings and meanings of words in English. (When I think of the number of times I used the phrase "from the Latin for...." when doing VRT prep with DD!)

Yr 9 Options

Yr 9 Options

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