Curriculum

Key Stage 3

• About Me - (Personal Details –name/age/where you live/what you look like/personality)
• My Family
• My Home
• My School
• The colours
• Days/Months/Seasons
• Weather
• In the shop
• Traveling
• Directions
• In the café
• Cultural Project (3 Weeks- ICT CCS Assessment piece)
• Numbers

Some time is allocated on the programme of study to facilitate a language clinic at the end of each term. This time is used to revise work that students may have difficulty with or to help pupils with areas they have missed through absence.

Relevant grammar points are taught throughout the topic areas where they naturally occur.

GCSE

For both GCSE and A Level Spanish we follow the AQA specification as we believe it to be a well balanced and interesting course.

The current GCSE course gives equal weighting to all 4 skill areas (Listening/Speaking/Reading/Writing). Below is an overview of the subject content

Themes and Topics

The themes on which the assessment materials are based on include:

My World

Holiday Time & Travel

Work & Lifestyle

The Young Person in Society

Language Tasks

Themes and Topics

My World

1A: Self, Family and Friends

1B: Interests and Hobbies

1C: Home and Local Environment

1D: Daily Routine

1E: School and Future Plans

Holiday Time & Travel

2A: Travel, Transport and Finding the Way

2B: Tourism

2C: Accommodation

2D: Holiday Activities

2E: Services

Work & Lifestyle

3A: Home Life

3B: Healthy Living

3C: Part-Time Jobs and Work Experience

3D: Leisure

3E: Shopping

The Young Person in Society

4A: Character and Personal Relationships

4B: The Environment

4C: Education

4D: Careers and Future Plans (post age 18)

4E: Social Issues, Choices and Responsibilities

A Level

At A Level the specification has recently changed. The new programme of study

is designed to encourage candidates to:

• develop the knowledge and skills acquired at GCSE level and use the language learned in a wide range of contexts
• gain a useful insight into another culture and reflect on aspects of contemporary society
• enhance their employment prospects, facilitate foreign travel and experience the enjoyment and motivation of improving their linguistic level.

AS Outline

The AS course covers:

• Media: TV, advertising and communication technology
• Popular culture: cinema, music and fashion/trends
• Healthy living/lifestyle: sport/exercise, health and well-being and holidays
• Family/relationships: relationships within the family, friendships and marriage/partnerships.

The AS specification has 2 units:

• Unit 1: Listening, Reading and Writing
• Unit 2: Speaking Test.

A2 Outline

The A2 course covers:

• Environment: pollution, energy and protecting the planet
• The multi-cultural society: immigration, integration and racism
• Contemporary social issues: wealth and poverty, law and order and the impact of scientific and technological progress
• Cultural topic: the study of a target language speaking region/community or the study of a period of 20th century history from a target language-speaking country/community or the study of a novelist/dramatist/poet from a target language-speaking country/community or the study of a director/architect/musician/painter from a target language-speaking country/ community.

The A2 specification has 2 units:

• Unit 3: Listening, Reading and Writing
• Unit 4: Speaking Test.

Information

Cultural Celebrations and Events

• This year we celebrated the European International Day of Languages in the school by organising various competitions, displays and events to highlight cultural aspects of the target language countries as well as teaching pupils key phrases in a variety of European languages.
• As part of our annual Diversity Week celebrations students will explore Spanish culinary traditions, Christmas customs and Spanish song and dance. This cultural extravaganza is always a popular event amongst students.
• In February forty two of our GCSE pupils will participate in an educational visit to Barcelona where they will visit a range of historically and culturally important sites such as the world famous Sagrada Familia, The Picasso Museum and Parc Guell. Our sporting pupils are particularly looking forward to our visit to the Barcelona Neu Camp.
• We have recently set up a link with a Spanish school with whom we hope to organise an exchange programme. In the past we were involved with a number of other local schools in an exchange to Granada which was extremely beneficial and enjoyable for all involved.

Spanish has become a popular language within the school. Our pupils find it a very useful language to have as many of them regularly travelling to Spanish speaking countries on holidays, indeed an increasing number have holiday homes in Spain.

Students also have a greater awareness that Spanish as one of the most widely spoken languages in the world is a valuable asset to them. By opting to study Spanish pupils are potentially opening up opportunities for study abroad as well as enhancing their future career prospects on an international level.

Every year we are joined by a Spanish Language assistant. This year we welcomed La Señorita Celia Martín Andrade from Taragona as part of our team. Celia mainly works with our A Level pupils on a one-to-one basis assisting them to improve their oral communication and encouraging them to develop a deeper interest in Spanish current affairs. She also helps promote cultural awareness among our key stage 3 and 4 pupils by organising various activities and events.

This year we have taken a new approach to language provision in Key stage 3. Students in Year 8 now have two periods of Spanish, French and Irish each week. At the end of their first year pupils will have sampled all 3 languages and will be able to make an informed choice as to which two languages they would like to continue to study in Years 9 and 10. Students in Years 9 and 10 will now have 3 periods of Spanish each week.

In Year 8 the main emphasis is on oral communication and students are encouraged to practice their oral work and perfect their pronunciation both in class and at home using a variety of interactive activities and CD’s specifically designed within the department to meet their individual needs. Within the department we use a wide range of on-line resources to enhance language learning- these include:

• Oscail 24/7 (School based website to aid learning both within and outside of the classroom)

• Yacapaca (a range of on-line activities for assessing all year groups and ability ranges)

• Babelzone (games/songs and quizzes to introduce fun language learning activities)

• Español Extra (a wide range of resources both for language learning, cultural awareness and assisting A Level literature study)

• Authentik (on-line resources for both GCSE and A Level students)

• Kerboodle (this site complements course books used with both GCSE and A Level groups. It contains an extensive menu of activities in all key skill areas.

Click below for more information on why to change Spanish for A Level

Why Choose A Level Spanish

Department Staff

Mrs N Murray HOD

Miss L Mulholland