Our Mission

Our Staff - The department has a staff of one full time teacher who possesses extensive expertise and experience. Regular initiatives take place, exploring ways of promoting and developing the Spanish subject within the school, and in recent years the numbers opting for the subject has grown significantly. In recent years, Spanish has become the most widely chosen foreign language option in the school.

Spanish at Junior Level

The course aims to develop both receptive and expressive communicative skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking), in accordance with the curriculum requirements for Junior Certificate Spanish:

• Greetings, introductions, dates, school, subjects, family, where you are from, where you live, describing objects, time, food,
• likes/dislikes, sports and games, daily activities and weekend activities, free time activities, invitations, cinema, and shopping.
• Invitations, cinema, shopping, camping, clothing, gifts, holidays, shopping, describing a town, describing a house, time,
• daily actions, going on a trip, feelings and feeling sick, holidays-actions in the past, asking for directions, shopping, clothes,
• description of objects (colour, material), daily and spare time actions, immediate plans, school, food and drink,
• talking about the past, agreement and disagreement, invitations, animals, objects in the house, house chores,
• actions in the house, at the doctor and parts of the body.
• Television, computers and video games, reading, plans, amusement parks, the zoo, holidays, surprise parties, materials,
• tourist visit, , remembering, wishes, from party to party, revision (the town, parts of the body, work, leisure and free time,
• shops, clothes, routine activity, shops, clothes, school, holidays, weather, time, food and drink).

The department follows course books to provide the framework for our course, supplemented by other materials. To this end we have prepared, and continue to develop, a series of lessons which serve as the basis for each class. These lessons are compiled from already existing recourses as well as original material created by our teachers, and can be found in the 'Classes' section

of our website. Students experience a greater accessibility to their Spanish class

without the bulk or expense of books, which in the current economic climate, must be a consideration. It allows the course to continue in the event of absence through illness or severe weather

closures etc., with students having the ability to have work corrected by email. Parents may also track their sons progress

throughout the course through a league table which uses pseudonyms to assure privacy. More material is continuously added.

In Third Year, students minds turn (perhaps naturally) to their Junior Certificate. With this in mind, the department provides students

with an interactive, score based workbook which requires each student reflect on an ongoing basis on how to improve their

potential grade in the Junior Certificate Examination. Students are free to have extra work corrected by email.

The Course Books followed are:

1st Year: Aprendemos (1)

4 Classes (40 minutes each) per week

• We have chosen Aprendemos 1 as our core text. This book is aimed at students who are taking their first steps on an exciting and hopefully lifelong journey learning Spanish. Aprendemos 1 is suitable for all Junior Certificate students, both Higher and Ordinary level.
  • The book is divided into 10 units which are arranged to allow for the incremental acquisition of vocabulary and basic grammar structures.

Term One: Chapters 1-5

Terms Two & Three: Chapters 6-10

Primer Paso 1

Primer Paso 2

Term 1: Chapters 10-13 (PP1)

Term 2 and 3: Chapters 1-4 (PP2)

Third Year

4 Classes (40 minutes each) per week

The aims of the Spanish Department in the Junior Cycle are:

• To introduce all students, who have chosen Spanish, to the concept of a living language and therefore a new means of communication
• To assist pupils acquire and understand a culture other than their own
• To provide students with the skills necessary for them to be able to partake in a range of basic functions and interact in Spanish with Spanish speakers in the categories of oral, aural and written production
• By achieving the above, to help in the overall social and personal development of the students
  • The course has a communicative and active approach. Pupils learn to communicate through being given a range of tasks with a real purpose. The contemporary culture of Spain and Latin America will feature as an integral part of the course.
  • The textbook used in class is Primer Paso 2. It is anticipated that chapters 7 to 9 will be covered by Christmas. Chapters 10 to 14 will be covered during terms two and three.
  • From Christmas students are provided with an examination workbook. The format of tis allows for and encourages students to set goals, analyse performance, perform critical self evaluation, and target specific areas for improvement.
  • Vamos a escuchar 1 is studied throughout the year to develop listening skills and to promote vocabulary acquisition.

Primer Paso 2

• Resources used:
•  Primer Paso 1 Textbook
•  Primer Paso 1 Audio CD’s and scripts
• Primer Paso 2 Textbook
•  Primer Paso 2 Audio CD’s and scripts
•  Other textbooks from the Spanish resource library
•  ICT: Original material from Spanish Education Websites / CD’s / DVD’s /
  • Spanish songs / Interactive Internet websites / Additional Practice from SyngeSpan(2)
•  Spanish magazines and newspapers – some available online / Amigos Spanish vocabulary and verb practice through play
  • Methodologies used:
•  Individual work
•  Pair and group work
•  Team learning
•  Use of ICT to make learning more interactive
•  Role-plays and dialogues
•  Target language being used as much as possible throughout the class
•  Authentic material makes the vocabulary more real for students
•  Integration of all four language skills in every class, when possible (reading, writing, listening,
  • speaking)
  • Examination Practice Workbook
  • Assessment :
  • Students take weekly Tests on material covered in the previous days. Results are transferred to a league table and seating (aswell as supplementary work) are allocated on a performance based basis. Towards the end of the year they regularly test on exam questions. Results are recorded and performance monitored and used for critical self analysis and the setting of future goals.

Spanish at Senior Level

Transition (4th) Year

5 Classes (40 minutes each) per week

5th Year

6th Year

We Use Espanol en Accion (Folens) as our core text for Senior Cycle.

With this framework and with motivation to show how the language works at a n=more fluid level than Junior Cycle, widen vocabulary, and to develop communicative efficiency.

Objectives

By the end of the senior cycle students should have covered all of the themes below and have succeeded in achieving their potential in either the ordinary or higher level Leaving Certificate exam. In addition, it is hoped that sufficient enthusiasm can be imparted for the language and culture to encourage students to pursue the language at a higher level.

These are again supplemented by Audio visual resources supplementary grammar specific work sheets along with an interactive workbook in Sixth Year. Students are encouraged to be inquisitive and inventive. Youth and modern society, generational conflict, ageism, school, friendship, family, visiting a city, news, pets, plans, history,

Spanish classes take place in room 12, a bright room on the second floor, overlooking the south inner city.

He room has internet access, a whiteboard, a data projector and ample storage space. Unfortunately the non stick nature of the paint makes decoration a challenge.

All classes are of mixed ability. While it is desirable to have a higher and ordinary level class for the senior cycle this has not been possible to date since there is only one Spanish class per year. What is set out above is the objective – bearing in mind the huge difference in ability in the current classes there will, of necessity, be quite a divergence in how the material is assimilated by individual students. The challenge is to adopt a teaching approach, and provide appropriate material, which addresses the different levels of learning and learning experiences.

All classes at both Junior and Senior Cycle aim to cover the higher level curriculum. In consultation with the Career Guidance teacher, students are advised whether to take the higher level papers. This decision is deferred for as long as possible as it had been the experience that when students discover the difference in standard between the higher and ordinary level those taking the ordinary level tend to take a far more relaxed attitude than is desirable.

In relation to the oral exam the ability to conduct a general conversation without the appearance of rote learning is stressed. The role-plays are practised frequently and the importance of listening to the El Espanol Bien Hablado CD on a regular basis is emphasised, along with aspects of the students personal experience which can be elaborated as the basis of , hopefully, interesting conversation.

This loose plan will by necessity change over the coming years. Changes will, at that time, be reflected in this document.

Should you require any more information, please feel free to contact Synge Street CBS.

If you would like to contribute any ideas which may be of benefit to the teaching and learning of Spanish at Synge Street C.B.S.,

Please feel free to leave a comment below.