A twelve page booklet to help students prepare Laura Esquivel’s novel Como agua para chocolate for paper 2 (writing) of the new A Level Spanish specification (2018 onwards).
The booklet includes:
a summary of the requirements of the paper
the assessment objectives and mark scheme
two initial activities to “get the students thinking†(20 questions about key aspects of the short novel, and a variety quotes for the students to discuss)
the four essay questions from the AQA sample materials and the two questions from the 2018 exam
a further 18 essay questions (some of them adapted from past exam questions from the outgoing specification), covering a wide range of aspects of the novel, to provide the students with plenty of practice opportunities
four pages of useful language to write an essay
a self-assessment check-list for the students to use to reflect on their own work.
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This resource contains a series of reading and writing activities to support Spanish A Level students studying El laberinto del fauno. It focuses on the different techniques used by del Toro, specifically the use of allegory, the elements of the fairy tale, the use of colour and the different kinds of shots and camera angles.
It also provides the students with several essay questions, independent learning and research opportunities, as well as a checklist to self-assess their essays.
There is a free sample of this activity on this link:
Lesson on how to conjugate and use the future simple in Spanish. Suitable to GCSE students of all abilities.
The lesson includes differentiated good and better WILFs, several writing activities of different levels of difficulty, a game of battleships and an extension with an in-depth explanation on how to use the tense and further activities for higher ability students.
Please note that the presentation was created on Notebook and then converted to PowerPoint, which loses some of the features and changed the layout of some slides.
This file contains a series of activities to study the characters of the film El laberinto del fauno:
Adjectives: match a series of adjectives to the main characters, then write a paragraph about each character using those adjectives.
What’s in a name. Match the names of the main characters to their etymological origin and the characteristics traditionally associated to the name. Then reflect about the importance of this (if at all) in El laberinto del fauno.
Independent research: research Hamlet’s Ophelia and see if any parallelisms can be established with El laberinto’s Ofelia.
Translation practice: translate a paragraph that contains language and ideas form the previous two activities from Spanish into English.
Extension: write a similar paragraph about a different character.
Independent research: find out whether any parallelisms can be established between Ofelia and Don Quijote, another famous character in Spanish narrative renown for his obsession with books.
Characters and quotes. Find a quote (from the list provided) that summarises each character’s personality and/or attitude. Justify your choice.
Role plays: three role plays based on the film.
Relationships: reflect about the relationships amongst the different characters. A list of useful nouns is provided.
Essays: two AS and two A Level essay questions about the characters in El laberinto del fauno.
Checklist: A very extensive checklist for the students to reflect on AO3 and AO4 of their essays.
UPDATE (12/02/19):
This resource now includes a presentation (Powerpoint and Notebook) to support the students, as well as a grammar workheet (five pages) to introduce the use of the subjunctive with verbs of desire).
PLEASE NOTE: this resource is part of a much more comprehensive and more detailed resource, the Pan’s Labyrinth Student Support Guide that can be found on this link:
/teaching-resource/spanish-a-level-el-laberinto-del-fauno-gu-a-de-estudio-pan-s-labyrinth-student-support-guide-12002448
The guide is over 70 pages long, and a free sample can be found here:
/teaching-resource/el-laberinto-del-fauno-planos-y-ngulos-de-c-mara-pan-s-labyrinth-shots-and-camera-work-12002490
A very comprehensive set of resources to study the topic of festivals in Spain. The presentation (25 slides) includes reading and writing activities, two role plays, six photo cards and two translations (Spanish into English and English into Spanish). The set also includes 6 worksheets that complement the presentation.
Finally, there is a grammar activity that focuses on the use of impersonal verbs (“se†+ he/she form of the verb) and the conditional.
UPDATE: This resource now includes a worksheet with 8 activities based on the Mexican festival Dia de los muertos.
A set of 20 writing mats/templates covering a series of different topics in Spanish. The topics include leisure activities, the weather, festivals, films, basic personal information, holidays, school subjects, healthy diet and charity work.
All mats are bilingual (all the content is in English as well as Spanish), and there is an emphasis on opinions and tenses.
The mats are designed for KS3 students mainly, but they can also be used for a variety of revision or starter activities at KS4.
These mats are perfect to set cover work (students can use them to write sentences and paragraphs on each topic, use them to produce posters and classroom displays, or to create revision mind maps).
I have also used them in lessons. Some of the activities I have used these templates for include:
dictation: read a text that uses the language in the mats and ask the students to write it down.
dicta-translation: read a text based on the mat in Spanish and ask the students to write it down in English, or the other way round.
paired dictation and translation: same as above but the students read to each other.
“great minds think alikeâ€: ask the students to write a number of sentences and then ask them to find out, by reading their sentences to each other, if someone else wrote the exact same sentences, thus proving that they are great minds.
“stand up ifâ€: ask the students to highlight sentences in the mats. Then read a text based on it and ask the students to stand up (and then immediately sit down) every time that you read a word or phrase that they’ve highlighted.
speed reading: time the students while they read from the template, see how many sentences they can read out/who is the first to read a full text etc.
And of course the students can use the writing mat to write their own texts.
More mats will be added shortly on topics such as health, school and relationships.
Seven worksheets to help teachers provide their students with an overview of the new French GCSE course (AQA specification), the requirements of the new speaking and writing exams (both at foundation and higher level) and mark schemes, and four sheets to provide the students with immediate, personalised feedback for their mock or practice speaking and writing papers.
UPDATE: the feedback sheets now include the 2018 grade boundaries, to make it easier for the teachers to estimate a grade.
A set of two lessons to talk about current social issues. It includes key vocabulary, a sentence-builder / template to help the students talk and write about social issues, and role plays, photo cards and translations to revise the topic. Additionally, there is a brief explanation on how back-to-front verbs work, using "Me preocupa" as an example.
This resource has 54 sentences (18 for each of the three themes of the new GCSE), all of which contain one or more mistakes. I have based them on some of the most common mistakes my GCSE students have been making over the last few years, and they include, amongst others:
word order
adjectival agreement
the use of the infinitive
verbs like gustar
Additionally, the resource includes a brief explanation of the rules each section focuses on.
Support booklet to help prepare students for the new Spanish AS speaking exam (Paper 3). It includes a summary of the specification and exam requirements, copies of the mark-scheme, sample stimulus cards and a variety of questions to prepare the six sub-themes of the AS paper 3. A second file includes a feedback sheet based on the paper 3 mark scheme for quick, personalised feedback.
This resource is a version of the popular board-game Trivial Pursuit based around the themes and sub-themes of the new Spanish A Level course (AQA specifications).
I have assigned a category to each colour:
Aspects of Hispanic society (red)
Artistic culture in the Hispanic world (yellow)
Multiculturalism in Hispanic society (purple)
Aspects of political life (blue)
Grammar (orange)
Translation (green)
The resource includes a printable board (better printed in colour and enlarged to A3) and 24 question cards (with one question for each category, so a total of 192 questions). Additionally, there is a file with six counters and six “score cardsâ€, with a “pie†for the students to colour the different sections as they achieve them.
This resource can be used as a whole class activity if displayed on the board, but it can also be printed (in colour!) for students to work in groups of up to six.
Two practice writing papers (one foundation, one higher) following the format of the new GCSE writing exam. The foundation paper includes four questions (describe the photo, 40 words question, translation and 90 words question) and the higher paper includes three (90 words question, 150 words question and translation). The papers focus on Theme 1 of the new spec (Identity and culture) and they cover family and relationships, technology and leisure.
I have also included two feedback sheets (one foundation, now higher) that include"check-lists" (based on the AQA mark scheme for writing) to provide quick, personalised feedback for each of the questions. The check lists provide the students with feedback on what went well (WWW) and what they need to do to improve further (TIF).
The resource also includes an explanation of the requirements of the Foundation and the Higher writing papers and a copy of the mark scheme for each question.
Also available in French: /teaching-resource/new-french-gcse-practice-writing-paper-and-feedback-sheets-theme-1-identity-and-culture-11668337
A very comprehensive set of sentences (suitable for all abilities) and paragraphs (mainly higher) to translate from Spanish into English. The resource includes 120 sentences and 6 long paragraphs and they cover the following aspects of Theme 3 (Current and future stydy and employment), organised as follows:
Part 1: My studies
Part 2: School life
Part 3: Education post-16
Part 4: Jobs, career choices and ambitions
Finally, the six longer paragraphs include language related to all four categories.
The sentences include references to a variety of tenses (present, preterite, imperfect, present perfect, conditional, future), as well as a wide range of complex structures (negatives, comparatives, conditional clauses…).
UPDATE: I have added to the resource a translation into Spanish of the two translation activities (at foundation and higher tier) of the 2018 French GCSE AQA exam.
Two practice writing papers (one foundation, one higher) following the format of the new GCSE writing exam, and focusing on the topics covered in Theme 2.
The foundation paper includes four questions (describe the photo, 40 words question, translation and 90 words question) and the higher paper includes three (90 words question, 150 words question and translation).
I have also included two feedback sheets (one foundation, one higher) that include"check-lists" (based on the AQA mark scheme for writing) to provide quick, personalised feedback for each of the questions. The check lists provide the students with feedback on what went well (WWW) and what they need to do to improve further (TIF).
Also available in Spanish: /teaching-resource/new-spanish-gcse-theme-2-writing-exam-and-feedback-sheets-11587008
This four-page file includes a lot factual information about Spanish and Latin American culture and society, focusing on the topic of Monarchies and Dictatorships, part of the theme Aspects of Political Life in the Hispanic World of the new Spanish A Level. It provides students with wide range of facts and statistics about the topic, which should be very helpful in preparation for Paper 3 (the speaking exam). The information in the file can also be easily adapted to reading or translation activities.
This file consists of six discussion cards based on the sub theme “Monarchies and dictatorships†of the New Spanish A Level theme Aspects of political life.
The cards cover a variety of aspects of the sub-theme: Franco’s dictatorship, The Spanish Monarchy and Latin American dictators. Each card contains a lot of factual information and three questions to discuss the sub theme. FInally, the six cards are followed by a list of twenty questions to enable the students to study the sub theme further, as well as a list of useful language for the speaking test.
Three booklets to prepare students for papers 2 and 3:
Paper 2 (writing) - Volver
Paper 2 (writing) - La casa de Bernarda Alba
Paper 3 (speaking)
Each booklet includes a wide range of questions to provide the students with plenty of practice, as well as detailed explanations of the paper's requirements, assessment objectives and mark schemes.
The fourth booklet contains a very comprehensive (118 pages) overview of the main aspects of Spanish grammar that the students are expected to be able to use on their A Level course.