Languages
September 2024 Languages Update
Welcome to the September 2024 Languages Update
Dear colleagues,
Welcome back, I hope you had a relaxing break and are refreshed for the new academic year.
For those of you new to Pearson Edexcel and the languages updates, my name is Rebecca Waker and I am your Subject Advisor. Having taught Spanish and French in a variety of schools myself my role is to support you with the delivery of our languages qualifications. I'm here to answer your questions and provide the support that you need. At the bottom of this page you will find my contact details and you can book a one-to-one call on Microsoft Teams if you'd prefer to chat things over.
This update is full of everything you might need for the start of term including post-results information and services, upcoming training, support for home, heritage and community languages and more.
Best wishes,
Rebecca Waker, Subject Advisor for Languages.
On 12th September at 4pm I am running a webinar to give key updates on all of our languages qualifications. This is your opportunity to hear everything that we have available or planned for you. You will also be able to ask your questions.
Results and Post-Results Services
We know that you will be taking a closer look at your GCSE and A Level exam results now you are back at school. The following documents should support you with understanding the grade boundaries and all of our post-results services.
Understanding grade boundaries 2024 - UK qualifications
Understanding grade boundaries 2024 - International qualifications
Understanding your students' results - a guide to our post-results services
For French, German and Spanish this is the last year of teaching for the 2016 specification. For most schools this will mean that only the year 11 classes are preparing for this specification, those taking their exams in 2026 will follow the new specification.
For all other languages there are no changes and the current specification will continue.
CS2 forms
For the 2025 series the CS2 form has been updated. Please use this version and not any previous versions you may have saved.
This training is for teachers of the Pearson Edexcel GCSE MFL specifications and will provide feedback and insights on the May/June 2024 exam series.
Delegates will:
• receive feedback on the performance of candidates in the May/June 2024 exam series
• look in detail at specific candidates’ entire scripts and compare their performances in the productive tasks
• consider results against the mark schemes with opportunity to practise marking other candidates’ scripts in productive tasks
• have opportunity to ask questions.
Explore strategies to help your students develop their language skills in the following sessions.
Developing and maximising speaking and writing skills
The aims of this event are to:
• develop deeper understanding of the writing paper 'best fit' mark schemes
• understand how the mark scheme has been applied to marked scripts
• participate in blind marking of scripts, contributing to collaborative discussions
• consider how to provide developmental feedback for students as they prepare for exams.
Essential training for all who are conducting the GCSE speaking exams. This includes those brought into schools to conduct speaking exams in Home, Heritage and Community languages.
GCSE 2024
First teaching of our new GCSE specification officially gets underway this term.
If you’ve not been able to attend our Getting Ready to Teach training so far, there are a few face-to-face and online sessions available between now and half term.
In addition to the Getting Ready to Teach and Pedagogy training we also have the following training on offer:
For those of you joining us for the first time this year our switch support video gives a walkthrough of our website and how to find support. I intend to create an updated version for you and will share as soon as it is available. It will be included on the October update and will also be shared on our Facebook group as soon as it is ready.
There are no changes to our GCE A Level languages specifications this year, except for the Chinese & Japanese amendment detailed below.
We have the following training on offer this term:
Teaching and Learning Strategies for Film and Literature
Conducting the speaking, online any time
International Qualifications
International GCSE English as a Second Language
June 2025 will be the first assessment of the new International GCSE English as a Second Language specification. It will also be possible to sit the current specification for the last time in this series. We know the speaking exam is a big change in this new specification so we are working on providing training for you as soon as we can. If there is any other support you need for this qualification please do let us know.
We already have a range of pre-recorded and live online training for this qualification.
Exemplars
We understand the importance of having exemplars to support your teaching. We are currently working on exemplars for our International languages qualifications and will share these with you as soon as we are able to.
Training
We have a range of training on offer for our international qualifications.
In the summer term I let you know that I was looking for feedback on our support for Home, Heritage and Community Languages (HHCL). I really appreciate all the teachers who took the time to email or meet with me to talk about their experience with offering these languages.
This summer I have put together a collection of support guides and videos based on what I heard during this feedback.
We've also heard that there are resources you would find useful such as additional training for teacher-examiners, crib sheets, and example questions and we are hoping to be able to provide more of this kind of support in the future.
We'd really like to support and encourage centres offering students the chance to take a GCSE in a HHCL, so please do get in touch with me using the details at the bottom of this page.
View our video support in the carousel below or on this playlist.
Examiner Vacancies
We currently have the following vacancies available in our international assessment team:
Vacancies for English as a Second language will be coming in the near future so please visit our vacancies search page.
Subject advisor
Rebecca Waker
Languages
Subject updates
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October 2024 Languages Update
Welcome to the October 2024 Languages Update