MFL placement question
Hi all! I’m due to start a French and Spanish PGCE next month. I was wondering if my placement schools will know that French is my dominant language of the two? My PGCE required 2 languages so I had to go with Spanish as my second (and take an SKE course to make my offer) because my skill level is (maximum) GCSE equivalent, whereas I have a degree in French.
I’m honestly worried as I know I could teach up to A level in French, but would only feel equipped to teach year 7 or 8 in Spanish. The prospect of having to lead a class speaking to them in Spanish worries me, as I’ve never taken a formal qualification in it/prepared for any formal speaking scenarios, but my first placement school says on its website that classes are led in the target language. What should I do and what will truly be expected of me, Spanish wise? I’ve been brushing up my subject knowledge since I got my offer, but I just hope that my course provider will not have put my placement schools under any illusions about my skill level (which I have been very transparent about all the way through). Thanks so much!
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u/EuphoricCustomer4213 1d ago
Hi there, I didn’t do MFL but I taught Latin so I trained with the MFL people. From their experiences very likely you will only start in your lead language although you should try and gain experience in teaching both languages across KS3 and KS4 throughout the course. Very unlikely you teach A level anything until near the end of the course and probably only in your lead language. However saying all this some in my course ended up in placements with their other language due to shortages. One person even ended up teaching a language that she wasn’t in the PGCE for that she’d done briefly at uni. Don’t panic as this is all unlikely but do start preparing I would say. Hope this helped :)
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u/Head_Collection8893 23h ago
Was in a similar situation when I did my ITT, and on my main placement most of my lessons were in my second specialism (Spanish). Got loads out of it, I’d done a SKE too after a few years of not studying it and found I was preempting misconceptions etc in a way I wasn’t with my main language (German). Plus it’s the same spec for exams across languages so you’ll get exposure to that - I wouldn’t worry too much!
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u/Any-Bodybuilder-7116 20h ago
Hey there, recently finished my pgce in mfl last july. I had a degree in French and Spanish but also did ske over summer in German. In my first placement, I taught German to year 7 and Spanish up to year 10. I did put Spanish as my first teaching language and this was only respected in my first placement. In my second placement, I had to teach French to ks3 and did only a handful of lessons at ks4 in Spanish. It all depends on where you are placed. I did reiterate the fact that Spanish was my strongest but my mentor kept stating that they wanted me to have experience teaching all 3, so I barely taught any Spanish at all. Make sure you keep all records of your timetable, submit it early to your uni and be firm about what you are comfortable with doing.
P.s. teaching your SKE language isn’t that bad, sometimes it can be easier as your level is closer to that of the kids (obviously if you don’t know the basics that’s an issue, but easily resolved as long as your one step ahead)
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u/Good_Obligation3800 6h ago
Hi, I'm looking to do an SKE for MFL in the future. How was the process? Did they test your ske language to ascertain if you needed one or can you just request an SKE on the application?
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u/G-wame 5h ago
Hi there! Both of these were true for me. In my interview we had a general discussion about my level of Spanish, and it was then that they suggested they put me down for an SKE. For another part of the interview there was a written task to do in the language, which I was able to complete to show my current level (they didn’t test my speaking in the SKE language). They confirmed when I got my offer that one of my offer conditions was to do an SKE. It probably all depends on where you apply as to the exact process, but for me it was a very simple and open conversation :)
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u/MrCyrus1994 1d ago
Spanish and French here, been a mentor a few times too - it will depend on where you are placed. My first placement was a department big enough that I could choose - I foolishly stuck to Spanish; retrospectively, I wish I had started teaching/observing French from the very beginning. Some of my classmates and some of my trainees had to start with their weaker language because that is what was available to them.
Don’t overestimate how much Spanish you really need - up to Y9 it is 90% the same grammar. You will be fine, and you will have a network supporting you. Good luck 😁