Anyone taken a GCSE in a language recently?

Duolingo any use Grannyjaq?

I taught languages for years in secondary schools and worked as a private tutor before finally retiring.

A number of my private tutees took GCSE as private candidates. The exam boards (AQA and Pearson Edexcel) can give you advice about local examination centres and whether you need to find your own oral examiner - sometimes they provide them, but you'd need to discuss that with the centre well in advance.

As others have written, there are loads of general resources out there and it depends how much experience you have of learning a foreign language and, of course, your motivation whether you could do it on your own. Nearer the exam, I would advise finding a good tutor who could prepare you for the requirements of the exam. GCSE languages are changing this year, so nobody has any experience of the new requirements and there aren't any textbooks published yet (I believe they're due out in June), but a decent tutor would have made the effort to find out what's needed.

I studied Spanish at school many years ago. I thought I had forgotten most of it but when we go to Spain or the Spanish islands it comes back to me.

I started a Spanish course with U3A but I didn’t really enjoy it or learn much because we used an awful textbook which was full of mistakes.

When I worked in Education it was possible for people to pay an exam fee and just take the exam without attending classes. Good for home schooled kids, people like yourself and kids from other schools who did not offer the language you want but maybe have a Spanish parent.

I used to teach French and am currently helping my grandson prepare for his GCSE French.

If that is the route you want to take I suggest you get in touch with the local FE college and see if they offer it. I suspect not many do. If they do, find out what Exam Board they do in Spanish then go online and familiarise yourself with the syllabus and exam requirements. There will be Listening, Reading, Writing and speaking tests, each worth 25% There are two Levels, Foundation and Higher. Taking Foundation limits the grade you can get.
I know most about AQA but the boards are all comparable.
Other alternatives are availability online or maybe your local authority or library has classes. U3a have conversation groups too.
Bon courage!

I havent done a specific course but am teaching myself to read and write Spanish because I sell on a Spanish website. If you know French then Spanish is very easy. Also quite a useful European language for holidays.

Hannah is very persistent. Reported again.

Due to cutbacks and the shortage of language teachers many schools now only offer one or two languages, and colleges even less.
You can apply as an individual to the various exam boards but would have to do the work yourself and find a school or college where you could sit it. You would have to pay the exam fee too.
However, there are so many language resources out there as others have said.
It would be possible to study elsewhere but still sit the exam- they are all written to a certain syllabus though so you would need to do a lot of 'homework' to begin with lol!
Good luck with it though- I wish you well and think more people should do this!

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Reported.

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I did a practice paper on French GCSE, I knew more than I thought.

I did a free Italian course on Future Learn and a free French course on Le Monde. Might be useful as a start off. You could look around what your local FE college or Adult Ed college is offering if you’d rather do a traditional in person course. You can take exams such as GCSE at a local college as an external student.

That was very adventurous of you Juliee!

I did a Russian GCSE then A'Level in evening classes. Something for me. Then after my children flew the nest, I went to Siberia to live. I think and speak the language all the time. That wasn't the plan, but it just happened.

I think Spanish would be excellent to learn! Then you can holiday in Spain and speak to locals. And you could help youngsters with passing their GCSE Spanish. You could teach English or Spanish online. The opportunities and benefits are endless. Go for it!

Why don't you have a look at what the Open University have to offer? They do short courses, including some free ones, as well as degree courses.