Spanish - GCSE - Year 10

How and when will I study Spanish?

Spanish is taught for five hours per fortnight throughout this 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. It is an expectation that all students download 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?

A unique course

Video is a very important component of our unique course, and it features in two very different ways.

The excellent and now iconic adventure series Aventuras Vascas by Channel 4 allows us to accompany two British students to Bilbao in the north of Spain as they stay with their host families.

The way the course works is that when, for example, 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 then enhanced by carefully selected YouTube clips that provide exposure to authentic material covering both 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. You will complete these with the help of an online dictionary, electronic verb tables and our bespoke scaffolding, which covers a whole variety of opinions and experiences.
- There is 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.

Programa 1

Antes del viaje

In this opening section of our story, some UK students are desperate for some information about their host families for their upcoming educational visit to the Basque Country in Northern Spain. This is our cue to look at the following topics:

Modes of transport
Amount of daily screen time
Autonomous regions of Spain, focusing on the language and culture of the Basque Country.
Foreign travel and countries visited to date

In grammar, we focus on the preterite tense with particular reference to the verb ir - to go.

Llegada a Bilbao

Richard and Sophie land at Bilbao airport. Richard is met by Joseba, who seems none too friendly, but there seems to be no one waiting for Sophie. What will she do? Meanwhile, at TGS we explore the following:

- Our personal in-flight travel experiences
- The operations and growth of Spanish airline, Vueling

🇪🇸 You will reach this waypoint by October

- High-speed train travel in Spain and how to buy tickets
- Which media we use to know what is going on in the world
- Social media in Spain and how we ourselves use it
- General positives and negatives of this technology and reasons for its popularity

In grammar, we focus on six different way of expressing opinions.

Llegada a Getxo

Richard and Sophie arrive at their host families. Marivi the grandmother is a lot more welcoming than her grandson and Mikel turns up and drives Sophie to the flat where he lives with his Mum and sister.

Meanwhile we discover how the fishing industry used to work in the Old Port with the different but equally important roles of men and women.
Joseba seems to prefer sport on the TV but we discover a range of other types of programming as well as advertising. We even take a detailed look at an authentic Spanish advert for a famous haircare brand.
It may be summertime in our Basque adventure, but at this point in the year, we go on a topic excursion to find out how Christmas and New Year are celebrated in Bilbao and in the rest of Spain.

In grammar, we learn how the simple future is conjugated for regular verbs.

🇪🇸 You will reach this waypoint by December

Comiendo juntos

Richard is struggling with his Spanish but does his best to make friends with Joseba. For a moment it looks like there might be a breakthrough when they discuss music, but suddenly the mood changes. Meanwhile Sophie is presented with a speciality - octopus in black ink. Will she be brave enough to try it?

Meanwhile we learn techniques for describing photos and how to say what we ate the last time we went out for a meal.
We learn about the top 10 dishes in Spain, as well as a little about the Basque culinary tradition.

🇪🇸 You will reach this waypoint by February

We watch an amusing sketch about how not to behave in a restaurant, the Restaurante Dalí.
This leads us on a topic excursion on the life and work of the artist Salvador Dalí, gaining an appreciation of four of his most famous works.
We then turn to genres of music and the importance of music in all our lives, ending with a close look at the Spanish lyrics of a well-known ABBA song Gracias por la música, sung for us in concert by a Colombian tribute band.

Our grammar focus for this section is a revision of the present tense of -ir verbs, followed by how we conjugate these in the preterite.

Programa 2

Haciendo planes

Richard plans a trip to the city of Bilbao. We find out what happened to Mikel’s father. Joseba has problems - he failed his exams, his parents are away and he says he needs money.

In class, we examine how family life is structured and the diverse types of family that now exist, as well as how to describe our own family, saying who we get on best with and why.
We also find out why Joseba wants to leave school and what he thinks about his own parents.

🇪🇸 You will reach this waypoint point by February

Al museo

Richard and Joseba arrive at the museum but Joseba has other things to take care of. At the museum Richard spots a girl he likes, but will he get her name and number?

In this section we take a detailed look at the unique and striking architecture of the Museum itself, as well as four of its major exhibits: Maman by Louise Bourgeois, The Matter of Time by Richard Serra, Puppy by Jeff Koons and Installation for Bilbao by Jenny Holzer.
We also consider various ways of describing identity, such as nationality, origin, ethnicity, sexuality and religion.

La vuelta a Getxo

On returning to Getxo, Richard meets up with Sophie and tells her all about the trip, including the girl he met in the Guggenheim. Unfortunately, he forgot to ask her name, but at least he has her number. Or so he thinks.

In this section, we discuss the relative importance of the way people look and what we think about filters and Photoshop, and also cosmetic surgery.
We then delve into various types of personality and how best to describe ourselves and others.
We look at and reenact a scene from an iconic Disney movie in Spanish about appearance, before drawing conclusions about what matters most.

🇪🇸 You will reach this waypoint by May

We then move on to a more recent blockbuster and enjoy authentic Spanish-language trailers, learning how to give information about a film, including its Spanish title, genre, themes, actors, and classification.
This leads us on nicely to a topic excursion on celebrity culture, looking in detail at two famous celebrities - a musician and a footballer.
We examine the many advantages and disadvantages of celebrity and stop people in the street to get their view.
We also discuss whether or not celebrities should use their fame to comment on social issues and to what extent celebrities are good role models for the rest of us to follow.
Finally, we return to Bilbao to stop various residents in the street again, this time to ask what they like best and least about life in the capital of the Basque Country.

In grammar in this section, we learn what a temporal clause is and how to use it.

🇪🇸 You will reach this waypoint by July

Independent Learning

As a GCSE student, you will most certainly need to study Spanish outside of lesson time to achieve a pass grade, defined as grade 4 and above. This will be one or more of the following.

Read, listen or watch Spanish material posted on Google Classroom in order to consolidate content, ready for recap and recall.
Review grammar notes made in class
Complete any new PRQ assignment for which there was no time in class or for which you were absent.
Learn by heart some of the prepared personalised material that you constructed in class.
Improve your Spanish using 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.

Note: there is never any week that you do not have independent learning 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.

You will find details of all ILTs (Independent Learning Tasks) in Google Classroom and on the Independent Learning Hub.

Note that the use of Google Translate and other translation packages and AI is not allowed in lessons or for any work done at home, other than when specific permission is given by the teacher for checking PRQs.

How will I be assessed?

In Year 10, there will be regular testing and this will be entirely electronic using locked Chromebooks in strict exam conditions. We will start off in the Autumn term with initial diagnostic tests in both listening and reading to give you a indication of your current comprehension of Spanish.
Early in the Spring term there will be further eAssessments in both listening and reading, plus some speaking and writing test practices based on PRQ assignments completed to date.
In the Summer, you will sit full Mock papers (electronically) in both Listening and Reading at Foundation tier. This will give you an accurate GCSE benchmark grade for where you are currently in terms of receptive language skills.
All those who achieve a grade 4 or higher in both Listening and Reading will qualify to move up to Higher Tier in the November Mock. If you do not succeed the first time, do not worry — you may qualify to move up in the November Mock ready for February, or in February ready for the real thing in May/June.
The department encourages all students to aim high but recognises that Foundation Tier will be better for some students, and enters candidates for the tier in which they are likely to enjoy the most success and gain that all-important Spanish GCSE qualification!

For your information, the actual GCSE next year will be assessed by means of four components, all worth 25% of the final grade. This chart summarises how this brand new GCSE is structured.
The Examination Board is AQA and the specification number is 8692. You can see the full specification here.

Oportunidades | Opciones | Cultura

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