November 2024 Languages Update
Dear colleagues,
Welcome to the November 2024 Languages Update.
If you have a break at this time of year I hope it was a relaxing one and you are prepared for the half term ahead. There is a range of support for our GCSE qualifications (2016 and 2024 specifications) in this update as well as some links to our Insights and Research resources. Finally you can take a look at our new Qualifications Support Portal .
As usual, if you need support with any of our languages qualifications you can get in touch with me using the contact details at the bottom of this page.
Best wishes,
Rebecca
Subject Advisor for Languages
In this month’s update:
- GCSE (2024) French, German and Spanish – Your questions
- GCSE (2024) French, German and Spanish – Exemplars
- GCSE (2024) French, German and Spanish – Further support and training
- GCSE (2016) French, German and Spanish – Support
- Proactive Associate Modern Foreign Languages
- Insights and Research
- Our new Qualifications Support Portal – now live
Now the first teaching of the GCSE French, Spanish and German 2024 specifications is truly underway you may think of questions that you haven’t yet got the answers to. We have compiled a document with the most frequent questions that are occurring about the qualification. It is advisable to bookmark this link in your browser rather than downloading, so you are always viewing the most up to date version.
You are also welcome to sign up for our drop-in sessions to ask your questions.
Sign up for qualifications support.
Our colleagues behind the Active Hub and our textbooks are also running drop-in sessions for your resource related queries.
As always, you can get in touch with me via email or booking a Teams meeting for one-to-one support. My contact details are at the bottom of this page.
We know how important it is to get to grips with new mark schemes in order to assess your students, and what better way than to see them in action?
Our team have been working really hard on creating exemplars for the writing and speaking papers as well as the dictation from the listening paper. For the speaking you will see full speaking paper videos and audio exemplars of the individual tasks.
We hope these will really support your understanding of our new mark schemes and how they will be applied at first assessment in 2026.
Keep an eye on the Teaching and Learning materials sections of our French, German and Spanish (2024) pages as these will be released regularly throughout November.
Spotlight on Paper 4, Writing
In this online training event, we will focus on exploring key features of the question paper and mark criteria in the new Pearson Edexcel (2024) Paper 4, Writing, for French, German and Spanish, with a particular focus on:
- comparing the structure of the paper with the existing AQA structure, to support the centres who are switching to our qualification
- understanding application of the best fit mark criteria for writing tasks
- understanding the Pearson Edexcel approach for marking the translations
- considering teaching and learning approaches to best prepare your students for the examination.
New to Pearson Edexcel?
We know that it takes a while to get used to a new exam and changing to a different awarding organisation means learning where to find things again. We have created this walkthrough video to support you.
Missed our Getting Ready to Teach training?
If you were unable to attend our full day Getting Ready to Teach training sessions, or perhaps you just want a refresher, you can view the recorded versions of the training on YouTube.
For support preparing students for the final assessment of this specification we have training on offer such as our Get Exam Fit training designed to support with paper 4, foundation question 3 and higher question 2.
We will be publishing marked exemplars from the June 2024 exams later this month. Please check back on the Teaching & Learning Materials page of the relevant qualification. I will share links in the December update.
We also have our usual Conducting the Speaking Exam training, so you can ensure you are ready for these assessments in April.
For those of you who will be working with us to examine the 2024 GCSEs in 2026 and beyond we have something for you.
The Credly digital accreditation is a way of recognising the work you are doing to familiarise yourself with the 2024 specification and ensure you are prepared not only to teach it but to examine it too. Once you’ve earned this badge you could use it in job applications, performance reviews or as evidence of the professional development you have completed.
If you’re signed up with us then you should have been contacted about this already. Please feel free to reach out for more information. If you’re not yet signed up to work with us, take a look at our vacancies.
Extensive research informs every aspect of our new qualifications, from the overall assessment structure to the content and thematic contexts, and the individual question styles. We worked with a variety of students, teachers and language sector experts to create a qualification that is accessible to all students and ensures they will be able to perform to the best of their ability.
We’ve worked with these experts to provide further support in the form of blogs and articles on key issues in languages teaching.
Even more can be found on our Insights and Research pages.
Our comprehensive support article library has also been restructured with sections specific to teachers, as well as stronger search functions, to resolve your own queries quickly and easily.
Read our getting started support article here: Customer Support Portal: Getting Started, and remember to bookmark the portal in Chrome, Edge, Safari or other web browser for quick access.
We’re excited to introduce our enhanced Qualifications Support Portal, designed to make getting help quicker and easier than ever.
A new contact-us journey enables you to connect quickly with our support teams in the way that suits you; via live-chat for real-time assistance, or webform, as well as traditional phone or email routes. You can use your Pearson Portal (Edexcel Online) credentials to access secure personalised support even faster, and view your existing cases.
Subject advisor
Rebecca Waker
Languages
