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Boys and foreign languages

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Do any boys here do a language at A level? which one? and are there many boys in your class?
it seems that most people who do language a levels are female. my spanish a level class is 21 girls and 0 boys! not that i'm complaining! i'm just wondering if there are many boys out there who do language a levels?

German A-Level, AS at the moment, targeted A*

12 Boys (all boys school), whereas only 3 took French, with one guy taking both French and German (only two languages available at our school)

Reply 61

aliii

Original post by Lizia

I think it depends on the language. Romance languages are usually dominated by girls,

Yes I think this pretty much sums it up. However, I do French and German and last year, it was girl majority in both subjects, however this year I think it's split quite evenly.

As a general rule though, languages are more a girl thing I think.

Reply 62

sonic_youth

I took three languages at GCSE and am taking French at A-Level.

I would say it's mostly girls that take languages in my school, but if a boy wants to do one then they often choose German over the Romance languages, which is interesting. Not sure why though.

Reply 63

Lead Pipes A Fortune Made

Original post by mespannerhanz

Our Spanish class was 50-50 but then another guy joined so we girls are quite proportionally outnumbered as its such a small class anyway

Reply 64

tajmahal

i do spanish and am male....so
spanish is sorta a 50/50
german more guyz
french more ladiess

Reply 65

ryannn

I do French at A2, and hope to do it at university (with business, heh).

Last year at AS, my French class had 3 boys and that was it.
At A2, it is just me. :emo:

Reply 66

jpb123

Original post by ryannn

I do French at A2, and hope to do it at university (with business, heh).

Last year at AS, my French class had 3 boys and that was it.
At A2, it is just me. :emo:

It's just you in the class? That must be really good having one to one teaching! Bit awkward if you don't get on with the teacher though! :tongue:

Reply 67

Lewis :D

4 people doing AS Spanish in my school, 1 boy (me) 3 girls.
3 people doing AS French, 1 boy (me) 2 girls, one of which is native...

Reply 68

jabberwocky43219

i do Higher German in a big school with a lot of pupils, but there's only 13 people in my class and it's 12 girls: 1 boy. And the entire Modern Languages department at my school is made up of female teachers, whereas the other departments are quite mixed. Even "female" Art and Music and "male" Science.

But I don't really know why. Maybe because the smart guys - the ones who would be up to doing languages, which are pretty difficult - decide to take Sciences, Maths and Geography instead. You know - boy subjects :P
But it's really just because of stereotypes.

Reply 69

lechi.man01

hey yep ime a guy taking A-level french and planning to take it at uni aswell. my french class at the moment is about 15 girls 4 guys :biggrin:

but heyy ime not complaining at all :wink:

:P not trying to brag but i think that me and another guy are actualy probbaly the best at french in our class.

Reply 70

Lawlet

Original post by thegodofgod

German A-Level, AS at the moment, targeted A*

12 Boys (all boys school), whereas only 3 took French, with one guy taking both French and German (only two languages available at our school)

you can't get an A* at AS.

Reply 71

King_Duncan

Original post by mespannerhanz

Back when I did German A level (a long time ago...) the class consisted of 12 girls and me. You're right that languages are much more popular amongst girls.

Reply 72

ryannn

Original post by jpb123

It's just you in the class? That must be really good having one to one teaching! Bit awkward if you don't get on with the teacher though! :tongue:

Just me! It was a bit daunting at first but it's fine now, I get on well with my teachers and I've learnt a lot more this term than I ever thought I would :biggrin:

Languages have never been that popular at my school... even at GCSE, my French class had about 9 people! There was around the same amount for my Latin class at GCSE as well (equal split of boys and girls).

Reply 73

69Crazyfists

Original post by mespannerhanz

I did French and Latin (it may not be a Modern language, but it's still bloody difficult)
My mate did French and Spanish. I think we were the only ones in my year group.

Reply 74

jpb123

Original post by ryannn

Just me! It was a bit daunting at first but it's fine now, I get on well with my teachers and I've learnt a lot more this term than I ever thought I would :biggrin:

Languages are compulsory at our school at GCSE, so it was an even split of boys and girls for each language- half the year did French, the other German- about 140 per language across 7 classes each.

I can't decide whether it was a good thing or not that languages were compulsory or not. On the one hand, it's great that everyone gets the chance to learn a language to a respectable standard. Having said that, small class sizes combined with students who have chosen to be there would have been more beneficial to us having more one to one time with the teacher and being able to study the language in more depth. :confused:

Reply 75

thegodofgod

Original post by Lawlet

you can't get an A* at AS.

targeted an A* for A2

Reply 76

hash007

Original post by mespannerhanz

I was going to do AS Spanish at college, got talked out of it by my sister because she said it was too much work.

Took Product Design instead and absolutely hate it!! I miss learning Spanish, it was one lesson I actually enjoyed, might do it in my second year of college as an AS.

Reply 77

Onge

Original post by mespannerhanz

yeh i did Russian A-level, got A* as im fluent at it. But nah i was the only person in school doing Russian

Reply 78

mespannerhanz

Original post by hash007

ahh cool, but yes, AS Spanish is a lot of work, particularly so if you do it as an extra side subject, if you see what i mean, as opposed to your main subjects! but feel free to ask any questions about it

Reply 79

egcusworth

I do Scottish Advanced Highers which are kinda similar. In my German class this year I am the only girl but our class is small (4 altogether) and in my French class last year we had 12 girls and 2 boys (one of the boys was the only one to get an A) the ratios really shouldn't matter. Pick a subject that you like. I have to say that german is probably better for people who are good with formulars and french if you are passionate about english litt. cannot comment on spanish as have never studied it.