Leaving Cert Spanish: Topical paper with a sprinkling of ‘magic’

The higher-level Spanish exam was topical and fair, with no major surprises that may have thrown students, teachers have said.

David McArdle, ASTI subject representative and a teacher at De La Salle Secondary School in Dundalk, Co Louth, said students who had prepared essays based on previous papers would have been more than ready for the topics that arose.

Begoña de la Fuente, Spanish teacher at the Institute of Education in Dublin, agreed, praising the amount of choice available on the paper.

”The journalistic text was an inspiring story about a Colombian immigrant who fulfilled her dream to work in NASA,” Ms de la Fuente said.

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“The questions were straightforward and the vocabulary was familiar. In question three, students had to translate sentences from the text into English. This was very manageable as many of the words were quite similar to English and students of all levels could have made an attempt here.”

Martha Brazil, president of the Association of Teachers of Spanish in Ireland and a teacherLoreto High School Beaufort in Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, said the comprehensions were achievable.

“We welcomed the topical and cultural elements involved such as the pandemic, Desigual clothing store and Picasso.”

The opinion topics were understandable and broad and there was great scope for students to give their opinion on them and write a good essay.

”If students had studied their tenses well they should have found the dialogue, note or diary written questions accessible and we welcomed the well prepared topic of the environment for the formal letter which students would have been happy to see,” Ms Brazil said.

The aural exam was well received, too.

”The pace of the aural exam and the topics mentioned were welcomed, however, there were suitable challenges within the listening for higher level students,” Ms Brazil said.

Mr McArdle was critical of the instructions for one of the essays.

“Students are told to write between 80 and 150 words but, realistically, they would need to write 200-300 words to get full marks,” Mr McArdle said.

“The marking scheme demands an introduction, three paragraphs and a conclusion, which can’t be done in 150 words. For several years, we have asked for this to be changed. While every student has been told this by their teachers, the State Examinations Commission needs to consider native Spanish-speaking students who may not have a teacher for this subject.

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The ordinary level paper was relatively straightforward, Mr McArdle said, with diary entries and notes all being accessible.

The Oscar-winning Disney film Encanto, which draws from a strong Latin American tradition of magical realism, featured on the paper.”We were pleased with the cultural topics such as the Disney movie Encanto and olive oil,” said Ms Brazil.

“There was plenty of choice in the written questions which should have favoured most students who prepared their tenses and topics well.”

Try this one at home:

Leaving Cert Spanish, higher level

You have just started working in a youth hostel in Toledo. Leave a note in Spanish for the manager, Luis. Include four of the following points: Say that you have cleaned the bedrooms. Tell him that the WIFI is not working. You are going to town now to buy summer clothes. Mention that the group from Cork arrived this afternoon. Say that you will start work tomorrow morning at 7am.