How Spanish is taught at Hurtwood

Our goal is to provide our students with a solid linguistic and cultural knowledge and understanding of the Hispanic and Latino culture. We provide the students with an interdisciplinary perspective of language, culture and literature. Regular contact with guest native speakers who visit Hurtwood House is offered to our students. Radio and TV programmes in Spanish are also used in our lessons, along with daily newspaper articles that lead to oral group discussions. We have direct access to the Internet in our classroom. An interactive board is also at our disposal, together with computers fitted with relevant software for our lessons. Thus, our students can listen to language CDs, have personal sets of tapes made, view videos and use foreign language software - all of that with a view to creating exciting learning scenarios for our students.

For us, Spanish teaching is not just about grammar. We are keen to use the latest materials in our lessons, and our aim is to make our students feel stimulated, independent and self-sufficient in the language. We don’t want to create speakers who can only “get by” in any of the numerous Spanish-speaking countries in the world. We want them to achieve a high level of proficiency in the target language.

SPECIFICATIONS

Our students of Spanish are offered the three main areas of tuition in the EDEXCEL board: GCSE, AS and A2. Further to the implementation of Curriculum 2008, valid for Advanced Subsidiary (AS) examination from 2009 and A2 examination from 2010, students are prepared throughout the transition period from the old curriculum to the new one. More details on the new curriculum can be found in the Spanish handbook.

If our students’ circumstances (level different from the above three, timetable of subjects, etc) do not allow for any of the three levels, they may also opt to attend lessons on a one-to-one basis, once the teacher’s timetable has been scrutinised for available teaching periods. In addition to that, when students feel that extra teaching time is needed to consolidate particular areas of their Spanish, we offer them support lessons at times convenient for both teacher and students.

What skills do I need?

To start a course in A-level Spanish we would expect the student to have studied it at GCSE level first and gained a pass grade. As our GCSE course is designed for beginners, any student is most welcome.

After A-level

As world economies become globalised, the demand for people with exceptional communication skills will continue to increase. Our Spanish Department is firmly committed to the promotion and development of these skills.
All our courses enable our hard-working students to achieve high goals in the language, with a view to enhancing their ability to use Spanish to their maximum potential at university level. It goes without saying that numerous career and employment opportunities are available to Spanish graduates. These opportunities may be solely based on modern language skills, or modern language skills may be a prerequisite for career growth.

Suggested reading

Please see the Spanish handbook (available on request) for updated details on set reading texts, topics and textbooks, as well as for the yearly scheme of work for all groups.

Students with specific learning difficulties

1: Assessment and marking

The department endeavours to help students find their own learning style, early on in the year. (kinaesthetic, auditory or visual)

Students are assessed should there be any concern. (i.e. students muddling letters)

Info about individual students with SLD is circulated and members of the department are aware of any potential problems.

Marking is done in no particular colour in Spanish, French or German. Some students might find pencil less threatening than red pen. Different colours are used depending on the student’s needs and preferences.

The correction discussed with the student in a supportive way. Pair work, comments checklist and individual oral feedback are also common within the MFL department.

Laptops can be used by students in order to make corrections easier. Students might decide to use different fonts and background colours to suit their learning difficulties.

The department also makes sure students are shown how to use symbols on the computers. (accents, for instance)

Positive marking is practised within the Languages department.

SLD students will not be penalized for not completing homework, communication is encouraged and effort grades used as an incentive to improve the student’s ability to meet deadlines.

The department will discretely make allowances depending on the individual learning difficulty.

Students will be given targets on a regular basis in class as well as on the IEP’s. These targets are then reviewed to encourage progression. (pro-active approach to learning)

2: Discipline

The department has very low numbers in each class ranging from 2 to 12 students in any one class. This makes it a lot easier to help students with SLD individually and therefore prevents disciplinary issues.

Allowances are made for students with organizational issues. (i.e. the MFL department will spend individual time with the student to help with organization and check that prep is recorded. Deadlines will be flexible and homework will be assisted if necessary.)

Support in class and outside the classroom will be given to those students who need it.

Foreign students are encouraged to have a bilingual dictionary at all times.

3: Self-Reliance

The Unit 1 ( the ORAL ) encourages individual research, however guidance is provided on an individual basis. Each student is seen by their teacher in order to organize their research. Some students are given more guidelines than others depending on their learning difficulty. This gives them the confidence to go away and research their chosen topic successfully.

The intranet is also used as a means of encouraging students to become responsible and self reliant learners. Lesson materials as well as PowerPoint presentations are posted on the Intranet. Pod casts and homework are also available for language students. MP4 facility gives the SLD student an essential visual background which helps with comprehension of the material.

4: Differentiation

Objectives are shared with the students at the beginning of each lesson. This enables SLD students to feel in control at every moment during the lesson. They know what is coming next which helps with their confidence. This reduces the risk of SLD students being lost during a lesson.

Material seen in class is projected for more visual support. Coloured overlay and background for text work is also used. Clear handouts are provided, large fonts can be used.

Topics and material are selected to suit the individual learner and trigger interest.

Use of paragraph and well spaced lines when preparing material.

Breaking down the lesson into small units to avoid boredom.

Transcripts can be provided as extra support for listening tasks.

Students are encouraged to write legibly as well as using word processing. (Prep can be word processed)

Again students are seen individually outside the classroom to go over material that they found challenging in the classroom.

Students are given individual attention during the lesson thanks to low numbers.

5: Monitoring

Students are monitored every day in the MFL classroom. Students cannot miss a lesson without being found. The system in place is such that it is impossible for a student to miss a lesson deliberately without an excuse. (i.e. attendance board in the staffroom, sick list on the Intranet, House Masters chasing enquiries about absences)

Email correspondence is encouraged between students and teachers. Should an absence occur, teachers in the department will help students individually to catch up.

6: Staff development

Staff has regular Insets on SLD

A list of SLD students is circulated at the beginning of the year

Staff discuss approaches to teaching and learning

ESOL students

Many of the students whose first language isn't English are able to learn the speech patterns long before they learn the written language. Thus, the first thing that we do when working with ESOL students is find out what they do know. Once we have figured that out then we can begin to work on teaching them new words and grammar skills in Spanish. For example, if a student is very fluent in spoken English but has difficulty with reading and writing it, we will possibly realise while working with this student that she/he can read and understand English very well, but needs time to translate what she/he is reading into Spanish, absorb what she/he read and then translate the ideas and concepts back into English to respond to them in speech or writing.

This is a very drawn out process for students and they may need extra time to complete work for this reason. Once we understand that this is what happens to some of our students, we slow down the pace of the reading and give them time to translate back and forth. After a few weeks students are able to speed up the process and their reading and writing improve as do their comprehension.

Having said that, the process of teaching Spanish to ESOL students is not only about slowing down for them to comprehend. We also believe that what helps even more is facilitating the connection without translation. If these particular students have to translate into Spanish to respond, they may never reach the level of fluency needed for academic language. Thus, a really good strategy is to use visual aids and pictorial representations of concepts.

Lesson observation

Each of the members of our Modern Foreign Languages Department is observed by the School’s Senior Management Team once a year. After the observation week, all teachers receive valuable feedback on their classroom performance and their students’. The MFL Department also adhere to the mutual observation scheme.

Meetings All members of the Modern Languages Department have a weekly meeting to discuss initiatives, analyse progress of students and devise new programmes.

Grading The weekly grades are the cornerstone of our system of monitoring the students’ progress. They exist so that the student knows where he or she stands in relation to his or her progress in the subject on a week-to-week basis. They provide both teacher and student with the opportunity to address any problems and put things right swiftly. The grades also provide parents/guardians with information about their child’s progress.

The grades consist of two components: one for attainment and one for effort. The Hurtwood attainment grades are in line with the national grading system at A-Level with A, B, C, D and E representing pass grades and U denoting fail grades. Our attainment grades for GCSE students also reflect the national GCSE grading system, but lower case letters are used so as not to confuse parents/guardians of students studying both A-Levels and GCSE’s. Hence, a, b and c represent pass grades whereas d, e and f are fail grades.

The attainment grade given to a student should indicate the quality of his or her work produced in the previous week. It is accepted that it is not a precise prediction of eventual examination results, but it is expected that an “average” taken over a period of time would give student, parent and management a reasonable indication of what could be attained in an examination. Split grades are permissible.

Quantity of work

Our students are expected to do at least 3 hours per week (for AS and 5 hours per week for A2) on their Spanish in their private study time and at home. Much of this time will be spent on specific tasks set by Sebastian and plenty of time should be set aside for such tasks. Please try not to fall into the “last minute trap”!
Every Monday Sebastian will state the work that will be used for weekly assessment. Thus, every student knows exactly what to expect from each week. In addition to that, each week’s homework will be published in the School’s Intranet every Monday. Students will be expected to write essays, do listening/reading comprehensions, and prepare oral presentations for their fellow classmates. As we go through the school year, students will also be expected to analyse in depth their oral/coursework/literary topics and to share that analysis in class.

Delivery of work

It is expected that you hand your work in on time. If there is a genuine reason which makes this difficult, you must see Sebastian as soon as possible. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out what you have missed and to catch up. If you are in doubt, see Sebastian. It is also assumed that the work be presentable. There should always be a margin and it is a good idea to write on alternate lines so that there is room for Sebastian to insert his comments.

Private study

This is both the time you have free at school and your time at home. Please do not fall into the trap of thinking that free periods are free time! They should be used to maximum benefit. You should set aside at least 2 hours per week for the copying up of notes and vocabulary, organising of files and the learning of vocabulary. Try to get into the habit of not only learning the week’s vocabulary but also revising the previous week’s. You will sometimes be set vocabulary learning as homework; if you are not, you still need to do the learning as a matter of course. This is your personal responsibility and if you neglect it, you will fall behind and find yourself with an impossible task before your exams. You are also advised to set aside weekly time to spend reading papers/mags in the library.

Plaza Conde Guadalorce (Pravia)

Textbooks

The main course books are Hodder “Edexcel Spanish for A Level” and “Animo” (AS) and Sigue 2 (A2), which is a course where the main language used is Spanish. The units focus on contemporary issues in Spain, Latin- American countries and the world. They also cover important points of grammar.
In the units themselves, the grammar is covered in Spanish but there is an extensive section of grammar at the back of the books in English which you should get in the habit of referring to. The books have accompanying audio-cassettes which we use regularly. We also use the vocabulary book Palabra por palabra and the grammar booster Repaso at AS Level. At A2 level we also use Uso de la gramática española: nivel avanzado.
As for GCSE, the textbooks we use are Mastering Spanish which compiles a fantastic combination of dialogues, vocabulary, grammar, listening/reading/writing exercises and target language culture, and Listos 3 Verde.

Folders

You will need to purchase folders with subject divider cards and appropriate stationery. You will be given advice about the organisation of your folder and will be expected to keep it in good order. All appropriate materials should be brought to lessons as required. Student binders should be divided into the following categories:

Gramática
Ejercicios del libro del texto
Vocabulario
Audiciones (noticias de la tele, CDs)
Lecturas
Composiciones y ensayos

Temas para el oral (Unit 1)

Articulos de la prensa.
Examen: specification of units, weighting, etc

As we progress through the school year, further sections will be added to include the following:
Temas para el oral: research, summary, student’s own presentations, etc
Temas o Textos literarios: same as above
Coursework: research, drafts, etc

Behaviour

All Sebastian will expect from you is punctuality, dedication and a committed as well as a fun approach to his subject. It goes without saying that good manners and politeness should also be part of your nature.

El Xiringüelu