Tips to Achieve a Top Grade in the Spanish GCSE Writing Exam
This summer is the first set of the new style Spanish GCSE exam. The new “higher” tier exam involves three questions. You are given two options for the first two questions.
The first question is to write approximately 90 words responding to 4 bullet points. This may be in the style of a letter to a friend or an email.
The second question is a longer, more open written task of approximately 150 words in which you only have 2 compulsory bullet points to respond to. This could be a blog article, an email or an article for a magazine.
The third question is a translation from English into Spanish of a minimum of 50 words.
Tips to get top marks
How to re-learn a language you have forgotten
A lot of the people that I teach are often not complete beginners in Spanish. Often they have learnt the language in school years ago or they did an evening college course or they followed a CD course in their own time but have had several years or months break. They normally think they will never be able to get the language back or re-learn it, however the truth is that it can be easily done and does not need to take long either. What you have learnt well previously will have stayed in your long-term memory. It just needs a little refreshing.
For example, one of my clients learnt Spanish O’level in school over 30 years ago, however, because he learnt it so well at the time, he still remembers many verbs and how to conjugate them in different tenses. It is amazing how much he is able to reactivate because it is still there unused in the brain!
How to recover the language previously learnt
Why Hire a Private Language Tutor for Your Child’s GCSE
According to the British Council, millions of children did not receive any language tuition during lockdowns in England. During the first lockdown more than half of primary school children and 40% of secondary school pupils did not do any language learning.
With these worrying statistics the government will not meet its target of three-quarters of pupils taking a modern language GCSE by 2022.
The poor take up of languages in schools is concerning as a country trying to compete in international markets. According to Lady Coussins, co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on modern languages, “Having a foreign language skill, even at a basic level, improves social mobility and employability. Without it, our young people are at a disadvantage in a global labour market.”
Considering this lack of language study due to the pandemic, if your child is due to take a language GCSE exam either next summer or in 2023 this is highly concerning. Continue reading
10 Essential Spanish Phrases for Modern Travellers
You may have learnt some basic Spanish phrases from travel guides or phrase books before your trip or holiday, but have you learnt the really useful up-to-date phrases that the modern traveller cannot do without? Here are ten Spanish phrases you really need to know to stay connected whilst abroad:
1. Is there free wifi here?
¿Hay wifi gratuito aquí?
2. What is the wifi code?
¿Cuál es el código wifi?
3. Is there internet connection in the room?
¿Hay conexión a internet en la habitación? Continue reading
5 Tips to Avoid Overwhelm When Learning a Language
Perhaps you have decided to start learning a foreign language for your next holiday, for work, to improve your CV or simply to do something different and challenging. When first starting out learning a language it is difficult knowing where to start. You are bombarded with so much advice online about the best ways to learn a language and there are so many different resources and apps to choose from, it is hard to know where to start and understandably people feel completely overwhelmed and may even be put off from starting.
In today’s blog post we will give you 5 tips to help you get started learning a language and to stop you feeling overwhelmed. Continue reading
What NOT to do when learning a language
Learning a new language is really exciting when you first start out. Once you start learning the first few phrases and are understood by native speakers, it is a great feeling. As you progress you may start to wonder if you are learning in the best way. Some people develop habits whilst studying a foreign language that do not give the best results. In this blog post we will go through some of the things you should avoid doing when learning a foreign language. Continue reading
How to Excel in the DELE B1 Exam
The Spanish DELE certificate is an officially recognised qualification all over the world.
This proves your level of proficiency in Spanish and tells people that you have the knowledge and linguistic skills to communicate effectively in Spanish in a variety of everyday situations.
There are 6 different levels; A1 and A2 for beginners, B1 and B2 for intermediate learners and C1 and C2 for advanced learners.
In this blog post we will focus on helping people to prepare for the B1 exams. Continue reading
8 Speaking Exercises You Can Do On Your Own to Improve your Spanish
Speaking is the most important skill to master to become fluent and communicate effectively with people. However it is also the most difficult skill to improve compared with reading and writing.
Myths about improving speaking
1) You have to be in a classroom.
2) You have to live in a Spanish-speaking country.
This is just not true. Thanks to technology today you can easily improve speaking a foreign language from the comfort of your own home on your own.
8 speaking activities you can do on your own:
The Best Apps to Learn Spanish in 2021
Spanish is one of the easiest and most useful languages to know. In the US and Europe it is the most popular foreign language to learn for English speakers. Spanish is spoken in many countries in the world apart from just Spain; Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and with over 480 million native speakers in the world you will find it easy to find someone to practise speaking with.
Benefits of learning Spanish:
- make friends in other countries
- one of the easier languages to learn
- enhance your CV
- best language to learn for travel
- understand Spanish songs
- keep your mind sharp
In today’s blog post we will help you discover some of the best Spanish learning apps available today: Continue reading
Learn Spanish with Songs: El Apagón by Malú
One of my favourite Spanish songs. Follow the lyrics in Spanish with the English translation below:
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