Second Language - Spanish

The ab initio course is designed for students who have little or no prior knowledge of the language.  The core syllabus consists of seven areas of study, which are then split into smaller, more manageable topics.  

The main titles are as follows:

• The Individual

• Education and Work

• Town and Services

• Food and Drink

• Leisure and Travel

• Environment

• Health and Emergencies

Topics may be visited many times during the course in order to re-enforce vocabulary and grammar.   Tenses and grammar are incorporated into the course.

ASSESSMENT:

This will take place formally at the end of the IB programme and will consist of the following papers.   All answers are to be in Spanish and dictionaries are not allowed.

1 Text Handling - 1½ hours (40%)

This consists of a variety of texts varying in length and style.   Question types include multiple choices, true/false, gap-filling, matching, re-ordering sentences.

Text handling makes up 32% of the total marks, and written responses make up 8%.   The written response section consists of an integrated reading and writing task where the candidate must write 40 words.   

2 Written Production - 1½ hours (30%)

Section A – 10% of this paper.   You must do one short task from a choice of two.   You must write a minimum of 60 words

Section B – 20% of this paper.   You must choose one task from a choice of three.  A minimum of 120 words is required.   All tasks are related to topics covered in the programme.

3 Internal Assessment - (30%)

This is oral or aural work which must be completed through the second year of the course.   A minimum of three pieces of work must be assessed.  An individual oral is compulsory.   This may take place at any time during the final year and consists of two elements:

- a presentation based on a visual stimulus linked to one of the core topics

- a general conversation covering a variety of themes relating to the topics.  The total time for this oral is 10 minutes.