Spanish

Spanish Summary

The A-level Spanish course aims to build both your linguistic competence and your understanding of contemporary issues and themes from Spain and the rest of the Spanish speaking world. You will develop your vocabulary and grammatical understanding which will support your understanding of the topics that you study which range from music, literature, heritage and cinema, through to political issues such as immigration, crime & punishment and the role of the volunteer. In addition, you will study a film and a book and you will undertake a research project of your own choice on a topic of interest to you. Your research project must be linked to Spain or the hispanic world and will form the basis for your speaking exam. 

Entry Requirements

GCSE grade 6 or above in Spanish on the higher paper at GCSE 

Course Duration

2 years full-time

Specification

AQA

How you will study

Studying Spanish at A-level involves developing the skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking. You will study articles linked to the key themes of the course which will form the basis of activities to develop all of your linguistic skills and competence. You will be expected to discuss these issues in the target language and be able to develop and express opinions in both the written and spoken form.  

Component breakdown

Paper 1: Listening, reading & writing – 50% – 2hr 30min exam – a variety of tasks covering all topics of the A-level course. Listening and responding, reading and responding, translation into English, translation into Spanish. 

Paper 2: Writing – 20% – 2hr exam – write two essays, in Spanish, of approximately 300 words each in response to a choice of questions on the book and film that you will have studied over the course of the A-level. 

Paper 3: Speaking – 30% – 21 to 23 minute exam – prepare and respond to a stimulus card on one topic from the course (5 mins prep + 5 mins discussion). This is followed by the candidate delivering a 2 minute introductory presentation on their chosen research topic and then 9-10 minutes of follow up discussion with the examiner. 

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