Spanish A level at St Peter's RC High School & Sixth Form Centre
Course description
Taking an A Level in a foreign language is a wonderful opportunity to revise grammatical structures and vocabulary from GCSE, as well as learning new lexical items and grammar points such as the subjunctive.
Course content
Reading and listening materials are drawn from the following broad topic areas:
- Aspects of Hispanic society: family, technology, voluntary work.
- Artistic culture in the Hispanic world: heritage, music, cinema
- Multiculturalism in Hispanic society: diversity, the marginalised.
- Aspects of political life in the Hispanic world: politics, immigration
You will also study one book and one film in depth, in preparation for the written exam.
In addition, you will undertake research into a topic of your choice, in preparation for the speaking exam.
You will be required to complete a considerable amount of independent study, in order to assimilate vocabulary and grammatical structures.
Entry requirements
The general requirement to enter St Peter's Sixth Form to study 3 A levels, is 5 GCSEs at grade C / level 4 or above including English and Mathematics. Equivalent qualifications will be taken into account.
Required for this course:
B in Spanish
Assessment
This is a two-year course, with exams taking place in the summer of Year 13.
Assessment is by three exams:
Paper 1: Listening, Reading and Writing – 2 hours and 30 miniutes, 50% of the overall mark (various comprehension texts and translations)
Paper 2: Writing – 2 hours, 20% of the overall mark (2 essays on the book and film)
Paper 3: Speaking – 20 mins, 30% of the overall mark (discussion of a stimulus card, discussion on a pre-prepared, researched topic)
Future opportunities
Studying a language helps you learn about the culture of other countries.
Skills such as listening and reading are transferrable to other areas. A qualification in a foreign language is a real asset on your CV.
In addition, many university courses allow you to combine the study of a main subject (e.g. Law, Business) with a foreign language which you perfect during your third year of study spent in the target language country. This invaluable experience can help to make you even more attractive on the jobs market.
How to apply
If you want to apply for this course, you will need to contact St Peter's RC High School & Sixth Form Centre directly.
