Spanish - Year 7

How and when will I study Spanish?

Students starting their secondary education should ordinarily have studied a language regularly in the primary phase and therefore have created a good foundation on which to build their language skills. Those already at The Gatwick School will have done mainly Spanish, whilst those joining us from other schools may well have done French. A minority may have done another language entirely or even very little or no language. For this reason, we split the Modern Foreign Languages allocation of 5 hours of lessons per fortnight and share this time equally between Spanish and French, so that everyone gets to try everything. In practical terms, this means one half term there are 2 hours of French and 3 hours of Spanish per fortnight and the other way around in the second half of the term.

Both languages are taught through electronic media based on engaging and authentic material, including great video clips and real Spanish text. It is supplemented by Scaffolding for Productive Language, which is bespoke, editable content enlivened by great images, and our colourful and imaginative content is uploaded to Google Classroom daily, so that students can review it at home. If you don't have it already, we strongly encourage downloading Google Classroom on mobile phones or other devices you may have. The Gatwick School also subscribes to Linguascope for great interactive activities. Click on the fish icon above. Login details for students are available from MFL staff.

¡Vamos a decir hola!- Let’s say hello!

Names, greetings and asking how people are
Saying and asking about age
Dates and birthdays
Classroom instructions
Days of the week and the Spanish alphabet
IT computer components
Managing a Chromebook in Spanish

🇪🇸 You will reach this waypoint point by February

What else should I know?

Previous knowledge of Spanish is helpful but not necessary, as we go back and do all the basics again but using different material than in the primary phase.
You will do your work in an eeBook (electronic evidence book) rather than a traditional exercise book. This is permanently shared with your teacher who will review it and make comments electronically as applicable. You will have one eeBook for classwork and another one for grammar notes.
You will need to be prepared to write reflections on your progress when asked to by your teacher.
The use of Google Translate and other translation packages and AI is not allowed in lessons. This is because you are here to actually learn the language, not to let software do the work for you.

¡Vamos a conocernos! - Let’s get to know each other!

Countries and nationalities
Where you live and what languages you speak
Talking about and introducing your family
Talking about pets
Describing your eyes, hair, size and colour

🇪🇸 You will reach this waypoint point by July

¡Vamos a la tienda de Luis! -Let’s get to Luis' shop!

Meet the cast of characters of this video series: Luis the owner, his aunt Tía María and all the children.
Experience the chaos and the disagreements as Luis experiments with different ideas of what kind of shop he wishes to run.
Visit the school and homes of the children.
Get to know Oviedo in Asturias in the north of Spain and see how this is quite different to the image we are likely to have of Spain as a sunny, Mediterranean country.

🇪🇸 This theme is studied periodically throughout the year

Independent Learning

You will definitely need to do some independent learning outside of lesson time each week, in order to ensure your success in Spanish. This will be one or more of the following.

Learn a new Personal Response Question
Consolidate new vocabulary from a specified vocabulary list or use The Gatwick School Linguascope account, a great way to learn interactively.
Review a grammar note so you come to learn how the language works.
Review lesson slide(s) uploaded on Google Classroom.
Complete any activity you were unable to finish in class or for which you were absent.

How will I be assessed?

In class, you will always get plenty of feedback from your teacher as you go along. Listening and reading activities are self-marked with teacher guidance, whereas as developmental advice on speaking and writing is by the teacher. You will be expected to be able to show that you have learnt your Personal Responses Questions informally in lessons at this stage.

More formal testing (recorded in the teacher's eGradeBook) is done online using locked, school-managed Chromebooks in strict test conditions. The assessment types are as follows:

eVocab tests

These are very quick to do but will give you and your teacher a good indication of how well you are taking in new vocabulary. They take place several times a year, according to the topic, and as they are entirely computer-based, you will get your results right away.

eChallenges

These are different from eVocab tests in that they are about applying words in a context, rather than just knowing how to translate a word. That's why they are a challenge. You can expect to have at least two per year in Year 7. You will also get your results right away for this kind of assessment.

eListening

This is a test in which the teacher plays some short, Spanish audio recordings twice each, and you answer from a range of five multiple choice answers. There is also a transcription section in which the teacher reads out a sentence in Spanish and you type out what you hear. Spelling and accents do not have to be totally accurate when testing this skill. Your results will be released via email later, following teacher review.

eReading

This is another type of short eAssessment, in which you have to answer from a range of multiple choice answers related to very short texts. There is also a translation sentence, in which you need to translate a sentence from Spanish into English. Your results will be released via email later, following teacher review.

Oportunidades | Opciones | Cultura

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