Flying start: A Level Spanish

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¡Bienvenidos al curso de A level Spanish en Thomas Rotherham College!

¡Hola!

Gracias por interesarte en el curso de español con nosotros ☺

Welcome to Spanish A level at TRC!

I know you have worked hard to get your language skills to a good

standard and, as your future teacher, I am determined to help you

get ready to make a flying start with us at college. Just the fact

that you are reading this shows that you want to keep your

knowledge of Spanish and interest in the culture of Spanish-

speaking countries in a good place, and if you can manage to

complete some of the activities or all of them in this pack, you

will be in a really good position when we start in September.

Don’t worry if you haven’t practised much over the last few

weeks/months. In fact, you might feel that you have forgotten it

all but, trust me, it is all there ☺

The following activities will help you:

- Identify what you already know from GCSE Spanish

- Prepare for the first topic of the A level course (changes in

the families in the Hispanic world)

- Engage with some grammar revision (nouns, articles,

adjectives and the present tense)

- Enjoy Spanish by learning it through songs and films

I am very much looking forward to meeting you in September and

help you become a fluent Spanish speaker with a really good

knowledge of the Hispanic world out there ☺

Best wishes

Francisca (Fran)

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Planner

The following plan is meant as a guide to help you structure the activities in this flying start pack between June and August. However, if you would like to complete this at a different pace and/or spend less or more time on each activity this is entirely your choice.

Week and activity number

Page number Time allocation Complete?

1 5 30-40 minutes

2 6 1 – 1 ½ hours

3 6 30-45 minutes

4 7 1-2 hours –depending on current knowledge and level of understanding

5 8 1 hour

6.1 8 45 mins-1 ½ hours

6.2 & 6.3 8-9 20-30 minutes

7 9 30-40 minutes

8 10 Length of the film/series

9 10 45 mins - 1 hour

10 11 1 -1 ½ hours depending on current knowledge and level of understanding

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The Spanish course at TRC follows the A Level AQA Specification which includes an interesting range of topics for you to study throughout the two years. Link to the specification - https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/as-and-a-level/spanish-7692

Your knowledge of these topics and the grammar you study will all be tested at the end in 3 papers. Paper 1 – Listening, Reading and Translations - At GCSE you had these skills tested in different papers. At A level, this exam combines the same sort of activities - Verdadero/Falso/No se menciona/ Choose the correct statements/Translate into Spanish and English/ Answer in Spanish/ Find the synonyms, … Paper 2 – Writing - Your writing skills will be tested through two essays, one on a film and one on a book we study together. I will be teaching you how to write an essay in Spanish. ¡Divertido! Paper 3 – Speaking - Your conversation skills as follows: a) Talking about a topic on a card, which has some pictures and questions (similar to those at GCSE) and b) Talking about a topic of your choice you will have prepared. ¡Será interesante!

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EJERCICIO 1 – Conocimiento de la cultura y la sociedad Now, let’s see where you are with your knowledge of Spanish culture and society. Here are a few questions for you to answer. You are ‘allowed’ to research only 3 of them if you get stuck! ¡Venga! ¡Inténtalo! Puedes hacerlo ☺ a) La capital de España es ________________

b) España tiene un rey y una reina - ¿Verdadero o Falso?

c) Rosalía es una cantante muy famosa ahora por su canción ‘Malamente’

d) En España hablan español y también otras lenguas - ¿Verdadero o Falso?

e) La paella es un plato típico de la región de ______________

f) En México celebran el Día de los __________ en noviembre

g) El Real Madrid y el FC Barcelona son dos grandes equipos de _____________

h) Las Islas Canarias están situadas en el Mar Mediterráneo - ¿Verdadero o Falso?

j) El tango es un baile de ______________ (¿Argentina, Venezuela o Colombia?)

k) La Costa del Sol está en el este, oeste, norte o sur de España (circle the right answer)

And now, try this one too. You will be an expert in Spanish culture once you have completed both of these quizzes. https://www.enforex.com/spanish-culture-test.html

Write here 5 things you have learnt about Spanish culture that you didn’t know before Escribe cinco cosas sobre la cultura de España y del mundo hispánico que has aprendido

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EJERCICIO 2 – Vocabulario The first topic you will be studying will be Los cambios en las familias (‘Changes in the families’). To help you with your first lessons on it, compile a list of words that you could use for the topic. Use your GCSE notes and a dictionary. You will need to have two columns (English and Spanish). For each of the set of words below (members of the family, pets, appearance, …), you must include a minimum of 12 words: For example:

Español Inglés

Sobrino/a Nephew/niece

Abuelos Grandparents

etc etc

a) Words for the different members of a family

b) Words for different pets

c) Words to describe people’s appearance (eg. blond, blue eyes, …)

d) Words to describe the way people are/behave (eg. understanding, protective, nice, nasty, …)

e) Verbs to use for this topic (eg. to love, to understand, to see, …)

Once you have compiled your list, go on the BBC Bitesize Spanish Revision pages and complete

some of the activities. Here is the link.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z4wf92p/revision/1

EJERCICIO 3 – Términos de gramática importantes Grammar is going to be an important part of your A level language course. Using your GCSE notes and doing some research, write a definition for each of the following words.

Grammar Term Definition Examples

A verb is …

A noun is …

A pronoun is …

An adjective is …

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An adverb is …

A preposition is …

A conjunction is …

EJERCICIO 4 – El uso de los nombres, artículos y adjetivos

Copy the following link onto a browser. https://studyspanish.com/grammar

Read about the following aspects of grammar:

1. Gender of Nouns I & II

2. Definite and Indefinite Articles

3. Adjectives I & II

You will have studied them all at GCSE and we will be doing revision exercises in the first few lessons. As you go through the theory, make notes on aspects you don’t understand/find hard. This is a screenshot of the page you will see when you go on the website above. If you look at the left-hand side menu, you will just need to select the areas I have listed. a) Practise nouns and articles using this link https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zjpqnrd/revision/1 b) Practise the use of adjectives using this link https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zr742sg/revision/1

Una isla en el Océano Atlántico

Gran Canaria

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EJERCICIO 5 – Una canción en español Listening to Spanish music will help you improve your language skills greatly. Here are a few catchy songs in Spanish (canciones pegadizas) for you to listen and enjoy. Once you have listened to them, choose one and translate it into English.

a) Si tú la quieres – Aitana y David Bisbal

David Bisbal, Aitana - Si Tú La Quieres - YouTube

b) Bailando – Enrique Iglesias

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUsoVlDFqZg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsb1Y_j10Hw

c) Malamente – Rosalía

ROSALÍA - MALAMENTE (Cap.1: Augurio) - YouTube

d) Resistiré – Varios artistas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDjGu84acSY

EJERCICIO 6 – Los verbos en presente

6.1 Revision of the present tense Mastering the verbs in Spanish will be one of the key aspects of the A level course. At GCSE you will have studied most of the tenses, but you probably feel that you can’t use them and you have forgotten all the endings. Don’t worry! We will revise all the tenses in class together and we will make sure you can use them successfully ☺ ¡Lo prometo! Go on the BBC Spanish GCSE Revision website again to revise the present tense. You will not necessarily be able to use it all without errors, but have a go at practising the activities. They will help you feel more confident about the use of this tense. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z7kgjhv/revision/1

6.2. Complete the following sentences with the right form of the verb (in the present tense), as in the example.

Ejemplo: Los martes, (yo) ……bailo…… salsa en un club. (BAILAR) 1. En la clase, (nosotros) …………………………… las canciones en español. (ESCUCHAR)

2. El lunes, voy a la piscina y (yo) ……………………………… (NADAR)

3. Normalmente, los niños …………………………… la tele cada día (VER)

4. Mi amigo Raúl ………………………………… en un bar que se llama Enigma. (TRABAJAR)

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5. Ellas ……………………….. pescado en el mercado (VENDER)

6. (Vosotros) ………………………………… en casa (DESAYUNAR)

7. Todos los sábados, ellos van a Madrid y (ellos) ……………………………… un regalo de sus abuelos.

(RECIBIR)

8. Alicia a veces ………………………… un plato cuando pone la mesa (ROMPER)

6.3. Put the verbs in between brackets in the correct form of the present tense: Te voy a hablar de mi familia. Nosotros ___________ (llevarse) muy bien y tenemos una muy buena

relación en casa. Yo _________ (levantarse) a las 8 de la maňana y mi hermano menor

____________ (despertarse) después de mí. Mis padres ___________ (salir ) de casa a las siete y

media y _______ (ir) al trabajo juntos, pues sus oficinas están situadas muy cerca la una de la otra.

Cuando mi hermano está desayunando yo __________ (ducharse) y luego __________ (vestirse). Mi

hermano ____________ (terminar) el desayuno y se mete en el cuarto de baňo cuando yo he

terminado. Después de prepararme, bajo las escaleras y __________ (tomar) un zumo de naranja y

un bocadillo. ___________ (gustar) el bocadillo de queso y jamón por la maňana para desayunar !!

EJERCICIO 7 – Traducción al inglés España es un país lleno de fiestas populares durante todo el año. Todo empieza con las

celebraciones de Navidad y las cabalgatas de los Reyes Magos que traen regalos a los niños

(la noche del 5 de enero). En febrero llegan los Carnavales (los más famosos son los de Cádiz

y los de Santa Cruz de Tenerife), y en marzo celebran las Fallas de Valencia con sus enormes

estatuas

de cartón. Alrededor de abril está la Semana Santa y la Feria de Abril (en Sevilla). En verano,

que es la época con más fiestas en España, tienen lugar los Sanfermines (en julio) y la

Tomatina (en agosto)

Aquí tienes un enlace (link) para aprender más sobre las fiestas en España. This is going to be one of the topics at A level too. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zd2whbk/revision/1

Dos mujeres en La Feria de Abril de Sevilla

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EJERCICIO 8 – ¿Por qué no ver una película?

¿Te gusta el cine? Watch at least one film or series (with English subtitles) before

we start in September.

Otras películas o series recomendadas:

- Ocho apellidos vascos - Ocho apellidos catalanes - Diarios de motocicleta - La casa de papel (Money Heist) - Las chicas del cable (a series) - El laberinto del fauno

EJERCICIO 9 – Investiga sobre un lugar de España (o del mundo hispánico) que te gustaría visitar o has visitado

Hay muchos, muchos sitios en España y en el mundo hispánico para visitar. Barcelona, Tenerife, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Mallorca, Madrid, Burgos, Santander, La Habana, Bogotá, … Choose a place (it can be a region, a city, a town, a historical site, a building, …) from one of the Spanish-speaking countries and research it. Then, write about half a page in Spanish including the following information:

- ¿Dónde está? - ¿Cuántas personas viven allí? - Descripción - ¿por qué es importante? - ¿Tu opinión sobre el sitio?

Have you watched any Spanish films or series recently? We will be studying a film at A Level (Volver, by Pedro Almodóvar). I would recommend you watch it through the summer. You can watch it on Amazon Prime or iTunes or purchase the DVD on Amazon or Ebay.

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EJERCICIO 10 – Escribe sobre ti

Your 1st ASSESSMENT. You must submit this answer on the 2nd lesson in September. Your teacher will be grading this and will take it into account for your 1st progress report.

As mentioned above, the first topic you will be studying will be Los cambios en las familias (‘Changes in the families’). To help your teacher learn about you as we start the course, you need

to write at least 1 ½ pages in Spanish about yourself and your family .

Make sure you include information on the following points: a. Who you are (name, where you live, what you look like and what you are like as a person)

b. Your hobbies/what you like to do in your spare time (when, why, with whom, …)

c. The place where you live (what it is like, what is good/not so good about it)

d. Your family (have you got a big/small family and what’s good or not so good about its size, how

many siblings, what your family members are like, what your parents do for a living, …)

e. How you get on with the different members of your family and what you do as a family

together – e.g. go out to the cinema, shopping, eating, holidays, …

f. Your future aspirations/plans and why

g. Why you have chosen Spanish as one of your A levels

h. What your other subjects are and why you like them

i. Your most recent holiday/travel experience

¡¡Felicidades, por haber terminado todas las actividades!! ☺

Bring your work to the second lesson in September. I will be rewarding your dedication and hard work, and you will find the work you have done very useful in your lessons

straightaway.

¡Buen verano!

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