Spanish
The Course
Eduqas A Level Spanish
Teaching and Learning
A Level topics are:
- Being a young person in Spanish-speaking society (families and citizenship, youth trends, education and employment)
- Understanding the Spanish-speaking world (regional culture and heritage, media, art, film, music)
- Diversity and difference (migration and integration, cultural identity and marginalisation, cultural enrichment and celebrating difference, discrimination and diversity)
- The two Spains: 1936 onwards (el franquismo, post-civil war Spain)
Literature and film studies:
- The House of Bernarda Alba
- Pan’s Labyrinth
The exam structure:
Paper 1: Speaking exam (30%). Students prepare and discuss a topic of interest to them and then have a discussion with the examiner about what they have studied during the A level course
Paper 2: Listening, reading and translation exam (50%)
Paper 3: Critical analysis of the book and film studied (20%)
The Spanish teaching staff use a wide variety of teaching techniques at Sixth Form level. ICT is regularly used to enhance learning and students will have access to Spanish literature, television and films. They will also be actively encouraged to participate in a work experience visit to Spain, either in Year 12 or Year 13 (or both!). Over the course of Year 12, students will learn to study more independently, and this will be consolidated in Year 13.
Assessment
The A Level exams are taken in May/June at the end of Year 13.
Spanish is a skills-based as well as a content-based subject.
Entry
Please refer to The John of Gaunt entry requirements
Attendance
2years for the full A Level
Why study Spanish?
Spanish is a very versatile subject that can easily be combined with other subject areas both at Sixth Form level and University level. Studying Spanish gives you a very useful skill that can help to improve your job prospects. Most languages students spend periods of time studying or working abroad. This can be a very rewarding experience as you learn a lot about other cultures, and it also looks impressive on a CV. Spanish is spoken not just in Spain, but also throughout most of South America and the ability to speak Spanish multiplies your opportunities to travel and work in other countries in the future. Finally, if you like talking and debating issues, this really could be the subject for you!
Links to Higher Education
Students with an A Level qualification in Spanish have many options available to them:
Modern Languages degree. This can be in Spanish, or you can combine it with another language. Many universities offer the chance to pick up a second language ab initio (from scratch!) Alternatively, you could use your language learning skills to begin a new language at University. Students from The John of Gaunt School have gone on to learn new languages such as Russian, Arabic, Italian, Korean and Swedish at University.
Other related degrees, such as European Studies or Computational Linguistics. These have a significant amount of language content.
Degrees in other areas. Many degrees offer modules in a modern language, often with the opportunity to spend time studying abroad. Languages combine well with almost all subjects, for example Law, Marketing, Business, IT and Sciences.
Links to Careers
Career routes for Modern Languages graduates include working for an international company, the travel industry, marketing, the media, the diplomatic service, translating and teaching. However, speaking a foreign language is a skill which can be used in a multitude of other career areas, such as Law, the Armed Forces, scientific research and many others. Remember that the ability to speak Spanish could be the one thing that makes you stand out from the rest of the applicants for a job! You could also have access to a whole range of jobs in Spain or another Spanish-speaking country.
