JUNIOR CERT SPANISH AND METALWORK:THERE WERE no complaints from either Spanish or metalwork students as they left exam halls yesterday.
Junior Cert higher-level Spanish students were kept busy in the morning tackling a large range of comprehensions. “There is an awful lot of reading in the paper at Junior Cert level,” said Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland representative Máire Ni Chiarba, a teacher in Coláiste an Phiarsaigh, Glanmire.
Topics ranged from butterflies to horses, music festivals to recycling. “An article about an earthquake and another about glaciers were okay but I’d wonder about the level of interest they’d inspire in students,” Ms Ní Chiarba said.
Ordinary-level students sat down to a paper that was appropriate for their level, she said. The subject matter was well pitched and included a piece about a Real Madrid footballer and an interesting article about how Mexico tops the world obesity rankings.
The afternoon exam was metalwork. Both higher- and ordinary-level students had completed 75 per cent of their exams in the form of a project in which they had to manufacture a model of a vintage car (higher level) or a scooter (ordinary level). Higher-level students also did a three-hour practical test.
The papers were “fine,” said ASTI representative Kenny Donagher, who teaches in Sligo.