February 2023 Languages update
Welcome to your February 2023 Languages update.
Your new Subject Advisor for Languages
I'm Rebecca Waker and I'm the new Subject Advisor for Languages. I've come to this role straight from teaching. My last role was Lead Practitioner for Languages and I've worked in a range of schools teaching Spanish and French to Key Stage Three, Four and Five. I'm looking forward to working with you and supporting you with teaching our Languages qualifications.
Summer 2023 series update
Some of you may have attended a webinar organised by the Association for Language Learning in January where Sharon Czudak (Senior Development Manager for MFL at Pearson Edexcel) presented some important aspects of the Pearson Edexcel assessments and the support we have on offer, including:
- Preparing for GCSE and GCE Speaking exams
- GCSE Paper 4 Writing ‘optionality’ amendment
- Overview of the GCSE accessibility amendments for French, German and Spanish
- Post-exam series support: grading, examiner reports etc
- Introduction to our GCSE 2024 draft qualification and how you can find out more.
Speaking exams
With the speaking exams approaching you will be putting all the necessary arrangements for your candidates in place.
A reminder of the windows:
| Qualification | Speaking window |
|---|---|
| GCSE (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Gujarati, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Urdu) |
17 April – 19 May 2023 |
| A level (Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish) |
17 April – 19 May 2023 |
| International A level (French, German and Spanish) This qualification is only available in international centres. |
17 April – 19 May 2023 |
| International GCSE (Chinese, French, German, Spanish) |
27 March – 2 June 2023 |
| International GCSE (English as a Second Language, Swahili) The speaking test is optional for these qualifications. |
27 March – 19 May 2023 |
Some documents that you may find useful are below:
More Than Words: 2024 Pearson Edexcel MFL GCSE Launch Events
We are excited to announce that we’re taking our new 2024 MFL GCSEs on the road and will be visiting a town or city near you soon. Beginning in February 2023, we’ll be hosting face-to-face sessions across the country to walk you through our new 2024 French, German and Spanish GCSEs.
These sessions will follow on from the overview session that we held in December and will highlight:
- The key changes of the four papers covering rubrics, mark schemes, the vocabulary list and more
- How we created compassionate and inclusive assessments that allow all students to showcase their language skills
- How we’ll support you every step of the way to prepare and deliver the new qualification
- How we put the student at the centre of our new qualification development.
These events are the perfect opportunity for you to meet the team that worked with around 1000 teachers and students to develop our qualifications, as well as ask any questions you may have.
We really hope to see you at one of these events!
We have recently received feedback from Ofqual on our draft French specification.
Take a closer look at the detail behind our new 2024 MFL GCSEs and how we stand apart.
LGBT+ History Month
As February is LGBT+ History Month I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you of some resources we have available to support you and your students:
Celebrating LGBT+ history and inclusivity in languages
Gender-neutral language and inclusivity in the MFL classroomGuidance on using gender-neutral language in assessments
Please do get in contact via the links below if there is anything I can support you with.
I hope you have a relaxing February half term if you have one.
Subject advisor
Rebecca Waker
Languages
