Spanish - GCSE
How and when will I study Spanish?
Spanish is taught for five hours per fortnight throughout the two -year GCSE course, which builds on prior language skills developed in Key Stage 3. For this reason, prior study of Spanish is a prerequisite for success on this course, as you learn to develop the themes outlined below. All resources are electronic and are a carefully curated combination of educational and authentic sources, as well as bespoke content. Students will need to actively participate in class to improve all four language skills and - crucially - be prepared to spend time regularly consolidating new vocabulary, structures and phrases between lessons, which will be uploaded to Google Classroom. If you don't have it already, we strongly encourage downloading Google Classroom on mobile phones or other devices you may have at home.
The Gatwick School also subscribes to Linguascope for great, interactive activities. For access, click on the fish icon above. Login details for students are available from MFL staff.
Along with English, Maths, Science, Geography or History, a language is essential to achieving English Baccalaureate status. Therefore, GCSE Spanish is a qualification very much worth achieving.
What will I study?
Me, Family, Friends & Technology
Talking about physical characteristics and personality traits
What you were like when you were younger and to what extent you have changed
Acknowledge different types of family units in modern society and describe your own family, including who you get on best with and why
Whether or not you have someone you would consider a best friend and the qualities that you seek from your friendship group
Which social media you use and how specifically you use your mobile phone
Free Time & Festivals
What type of music you prefer and to what extent music is important in your life
Talking about film genres and the last film that you saw in terms of venue, who you went with and what the film was about, including its setting, protagonists and key themes.
Describing your favourite type of food and what you ate the last time you went out for a meal
What sports you currently do and any you might have tried in the past
What festival either in Spain or Latin American you might like to go to and why this appeals, as we look at various events from the Tomato-throwing festival in Spain to Day of the Dead in Mexico
Home, Social, Global
Describing the area you live in and what you think about it
Your views on living in a big city, the countryside or on the coast.
What people need to do to to achieve a healthy life style and to what extent you do these things yourself
What you identify as the most serious current environmental problem and your views on measures that should be taken
Your opinion on the biggest social problems in the country right now and the problems, pressures and challenges that young people face.
Travel & Tourism
Talking about any places in Spain or Latin America you might already have visited
Your views on 'stay-cations' and tourism in the UK.
Your travel arrangements on a previous holiday, whether that be by air, sea or land, and how the journey was
Holiday accommodation, whether hotel, apartment, villa or camping, and what you thought of it
The kind of things you like to see and do when you are on holiday
Any problems you might have experienced on holiday
What the weather was like whilst you were away
What countries you would like to visit when you are older.
All themes are studied periodically throughout the year (See how that works below).
Life at School
Describing The Gatwick School and saying what you think of it.
Talking about the subjects you study for GCSE and your reasons for choosing these
What you think of the structure of the school day, from lengths of breaks, starting and finishing times, to lesson length and whether you would change any of the school rules currently in place
Talking about the best lesson you had yesterday and the reason for this, as well as a lesson you liked less and why
Identify pressures and problems that exist in school
Describing a school trip you have been on and whetehr it was a worthwhile expericne
Education post 16, Careers & Ambitions
Talking about where you would like to study after you finish your GCSEs and what exactly you would like to study there.
Your views on whether a university education matters for future success, plus any other things that might be important in this goal
What kind of career you would like to pursue in the future and what your plan B might be if things don't quite work out as planned
Whether you think that it is a good idea to work abroad for a while and where you might like that to be
Your ambitions for later in life, whether personally or professionally
Say to what extent financial success matters to you or whether there are other aspects of life that matter more
Video content
Video is a very important component of our bespoke course, and it features in two entirely different ways.
The excellent and now iconic adventure series Aventuras Vascas by Channel 4 allows us to accompany British students Sophie and Richard to Bilbao in the north of Spain as they stay with their host families. When they travel, we link to the assignment on air travel; when they eat, we write about food; when they go to the famous Guggenheim Museum, we learn more about its exhibits, when they discuss school rules and uniform, so do we; and when they encounter some worrying issues, we think about social problems for young people.
Each scene is analysed in detail for vocabulary and structures, and there is an opportunity to role play these to practise oral skills.
This innovative approach allows us to vary the content regularly, rather than addressing topics in a traditional, linear sequence.
This content is supplemented by selected YouTube clips that provide exposure to authentic material covering Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries. This is key to our wider educational goals of challenging students and teaching Spanish for the real world.
What else should I know?
Your Personal Response Questions will be prepared electronically in class under controlled conditions, but with the help of an online dictionary, electronic verb tables and our bespoke scaffolding, to cover a variety of opinions and experiences.
There will be a separate eeBook for PRQ Assignments, as well as new eeBooks for classwork and grammar.
To be successful, it is essential to be able to describe events in the present, past and future time frames, link sentences using conjunctions, be able to extend ideas, express opinions and give reasons for your views.
Spanish is a phonetic language, which means that it is pronounced how it is spelt - once you know the rules of course! That is a big advantage when it comes to spelling, which of course matters in writing assessments.
On this course, you will improve your Spanish accent and intonation and develop more confidence in your ability to communicate in this language. This does mean that you will be required to speak not only individually with the teacher but also with and in front of others.
At The Gatwick School we include - time permitting - more detailed cultural content on a range of topics across the Hispanic world.
Homework
As a GCSE student, you will most certainly need to to learn some prepared material that you construct in class in order to achieve a pass grade, defined as grade 4 and above. This will be one or more of the following.
Complete any new PRQ assignment for which there was no time in class or for which you were absent.
Consolidate new vocabulary from the material studied or use The Gatwick School Linguascope account. You can still use the beginners section for vocabulary building but you should also now be looking at the intermediate section too, particularly the introductory dialogues
Review grammar notes and verbs and verb endings.
Read, listen or watch any Spanish material specified by your teacher.
Note: there is never any week that you do not have homework in Spanish. You should be doing at least one of the above regardless and must take some responsibility for your own learning at this level.
The use of Google Translate and other translation packages and AI is not allowed in lessons or for any work done at home. You are here to actually learn the language, not to let software do the work for you.
How will I be assessed?
In Year 10, there will be regular testing each term using older style past papers and this will be mainly electronic. In Year 11, we will use a combination of electronic and paper testing and focus on more recent past papers. In November, there will be Mock exams in Listening and Reading and in February, we add Speaking and Writing. Then in April, all four language skills will be assessed in a formal Mock exam setting.
The GCSE itself will be assessed by means of four components all worth 25% of the final grade:
Listening - 35 or 45 minute exam responding to slow, native speaker recordings including multiple choice options, and answers in English and Spanish.
Speaking - 7-9 or 10-12 minute individual oral, taken in advance just after the Easter holidays in Year 11, consisting of describing and responding to a photocard, taking part in a role play and a general conversation on prepared topics.
Reading - 45 or 50 minute exam responding to written extracts, including multiple choice answers and written answers in Spanish and English. There is also a short translation from Spanish into English.
Writing - For Foundation candidates, a 60 minute exam: writing four sentences in response to a photo, writing a short passage (40 words) in response to brief bullet points, 5 sentences to translate from English into Spanish, and a structured writing task (90 words). For Higher candidates, a 75 minute exam: a structured writing task (90 words), responding to detailed bullet points, a structured writing (150 words), responding to two bullet points, and a short paragraph to translate into Spanish (50 to 60 words). There is a choice of questions at both tiers.
The length of each exam will depend on whether you choose foundation or higher tier. Note that all components must be taken at the same tier.
The Examination Board is AQA and the specification number is 8698. You can see the full specification here.