This A-level builds on the knowledge, understanding and skills gained at GCSE. This is an academic course with an ambitious and transformative content, which will not only equip students with transferable skills highly sought after by universities and employers, but which will also enhance their general culture, self-confidence and develop their intellectual curiosity and capacity for critical thinking.
The content focuses on how Spanish-speaking society has been shaped, socially and culturally, and how it continues to change. Aspects of artistic life and social backgrounds are covered including issues such as integration, immigration, politics, heritage, technology, the evolving structure of the family unit and modern history. For example, students look at immigration from political and social perspectives and at the way in which immigration has a positive impact on society. Students will therefore develop their knowledge and understanding of these themes relating to the culture and society of countries where Spanish is spoken and this will further improve their understanding of the wider global world enabling them to question, reflect and discover important issues.
A wide range of up-to-date authentic spoken and written sources is used as a basis to improve students’ linguistic abilities within the context of these themes. Emphasis is put on building a rich vocabulary and idiomatic personal style backed up by sophisticated grammar systems. Tasks such as class discussions, presentations, translations, essays and comprehension exercises are used in and out of the classroom as independent, autonomous learning is also encouraged. Intensive practice in small groups and on a one-to-one basis with staff allow MV16 students to progress at a brisk but enjoyable pace.
The Spanish A Level course is suitable for students who wish to progress to employment or further study, including degrees and higher degrees where their academic and linguistic skills and their understanding of other cultures will be well received, even on competitive courses such as Medicine and Law.
There are three exams at the end of the two-year course:
Paper 1 - Listening, reading and translation - 2 hours - 40% of the qualification
There is no access to a dictionary during the assessment which draws on vocabulary and themes studied during the course. It is divided into 3 sections:
Listening and responding to spoken passages from a range of contexts and sources. Students will have individual control of the recording. All questions are in Spanish, to be answered with non-verbal responses or in Spanish (30 marks)
Reading and responding to a variety of text types and genres written for different purposes. All questions are in Spanish, to be answered with non-verbal responses or in Spanish (30 marks)
Translation into English of a passage in Spanish (20 marks)
Paper 2 - Written response to works and translation into Spanish - 2 hours and 40 minutes - 30% of the qualification
There is no access to a dictionary or to texts and films during the assessment.
This paper is divided into 3 sections:
Translation of an unseen passage from English into Spanish (20 marks)
Short essay in Spanish on the film studied in class (50 marks)
Short essay in Spanish on the book studied in class (50 marks)
Paper 3 - Speaking - 21 to 23 minutes - 30% of the qualification
No access to a dictionary during the assessment (including 5 minutes preparation). Internally conducted and externally assessed.
Oral exam: 21-23 minutes (including 5 minutes preparation time)
There are 2 tasks for this assessment:
Discussion of a theme from the specification based on a stimulus containing 2 different statements (30 marks)
Independent research presentation and discussion of their research of a theme selected by the student (42 marks)