¡Buenos días a todos, espero que todo vaya bien! There is no rest for the wicked today on EveryLittleThing Blog; as one series comes to an end, another one begins. As the academic year slowly begins to come to its close, I'm aware that many Year 10 and indeed Year 11 pupils will be thinking about the subjects that they want to take at A-Level - for even if you have already submitted your preferences, it is not too late to change them and I know many people that did so on Results Day! Today, I'm kicking things off with a bang by talking about my A-Level Spanish experience - which, in all honesty, is rather unique given that, walking into my first lesson, I just about knew how to say: "¡Hola, soy Dora!". Nonetheless, I hope it provides an interesting insight if you are considering A-Level Spanish, taking up another language from scratch or indeedy if you're just nosey! Let me know any thoughts in the comments below and let's jump straight on in...
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WHY SPANISH?
In order for a seemingly rather brash decision to make sense, I thought I would take a little bit of time to explain why I decided to pick up Spanish A-Level from scratch.
Coming into Year 11, I had a very fixed idea of the subjects that I wanted to take for A-Level: English Literature, French, Maths and Biology. It was at the same time that I was starting to think more deeply about where I wanted to go beyond Secondary School and Sixth Form - of course, there's no requirement for you to have a fixed career path in mind, but certain degrees do require certain qualifications so it's a good idea to get a head's up before it's too late. Admittedly, coming from an Eastern European family with somewhat 'pushy' parents, I felt a certain degree of pressure to go into a field such as science, law or technology and I was almost convincing myself that Biomedical Science was the thing for me.
Interestingly, though, I had always struggled with Biology and it had always been my weakest science - no matter how many hours I would put into it. Exam season was looming around the corner and around a week before my Biology Paper One exam, I found myself having a mental breakdown in my Biology teacher's classroom because I had gotten so stressed over not being able to understand a particular topic. It was then that I realised that I couldn't do another two years of Biology - why had I been trying to tell myself I loved this subject when I clearly didn't?
French, however, was at the time one of my best subjects and indeed my most enjoyable subject and during the Summer, I decided that a languages degree was the thing for me. However, Spanish had always been a language on my radar; it was a language that, a few year groups prior to mine, was taught at my school and I couldn't help but still see the signs around school and wonder why certain things were the way they were, how they were pronounced and so on and so forth. Funnily enough, one of my first childhood memories is playing a computer game in Spanish and learning the numbers 1-10 - and from there on, as I walked up the stairs, I would always count in Spanish and not English, Lithuanian or even French. Given that we had a long summer ahead of us, I decided to pick up a couple of online courses and I fell head over heels in love with the language and all its quirks.
At this point, I had also decided to apply to another school over the summer holidays because I simply didn't want to stay at mine for various reasons - though, long story short, that fell through when, on results day, I asked my Head of Year if I could take A-Level Spanish instead of Biology at a nearby school in their partnership programme. To be quite honest, I still don't understand why my Spanish teachers decided to take me on - but let's just put it this way, now having an offer to study Spanish at university, it ended up being a good decision!
Coming into Year 11, I had a very fixed idea of the subjects that I wanted to take for A-Level: English Literature, French, Maths and Biology. It was at the same time that I was starting to think more deeply about where I wanted to go beyond Secondary School and Sixth Form - of course, there's no requirement for you to have a fixed career path in mind, but certain degrees do require certain qualifications so it's a good idea to get a head's up before it's too late. Admittedly, coming from an Eastern European family with somewhat 'pushy' parents, I felt a certain degree of pressure to go into a field such as science, law or technology and I was almost convincing myself that Biomedical Science was the thing for me.
Interestingly, though, I had always struggled with Biology and it had always been my weakest science - no matter how many hours I would put into it. Exam season was looming around the corner and around a week before my Biology Paper One exam, I found myself having a mental breakdown in my Biology teacher's classroom because I had gotten so stressed over not being able to understand a particular topic. It was then that I realised that I couldn't do another two years of Biology - why had I been trying to tell myself I loved this subject when I clearly didn't?
French, however, was at the time one of my best subjects and indeed my most enjoyable subject and during the Summer, I decided that a languages degree was the thing for me. However, Spanish had always been a language on my radar; it was a language that, a few year groups prior to mine, was taught at my school and I couldn't help but still see the signs around school and wonder why certain things were the way they were, how they were pronounced and so on and so forth. Funnily enough, one of my first childhood memories is playing a computer game in Spanish and learning the numbers 1-10 - and from there on, as I walked up the stairs, I would always count in Spanish and not English, Lithuanian or even French. Given that we had a long summer ahead of us, I decided to pick up a couple of online courses and I fell head over heels in love with the language and all its quirks.
At this point, I had also decided to apply to another school over the summer holidays because I simply didn't want to stay at mine for various reasons - though, long story short, that fell through when, on results day, I asked my Head of Year if I could take A-Level Spanish instead of Biology at a nearby school in their partnership programme. To be quite honest, I still don't understand why my Spanish teachers decided to take me on - but let's just put it this way, now having an offer to study Spanish at university, it ended up being a good decision!
WHAT THE A-LEVEL COURSE LOOKS LIKE
Before I get into my personal experience doing the A-Level, I thought it might be helpful to outline how the course is structured for anybody that may be interested. For reference, I am on the AQA exam board and so this will be based on the AQA course - but, by all means, do research the exam board that your school studies if it differs!
The Spanish A-Level is 100% exam based and is divided into three papers. The first paper accounts for 50% of your overall grade and it is where you have reading and listening exercises as well as two translations - going both from English to Spanish and Spanish to English. The total marks for the paper are out of 100 and you are given 2 hours and 30 minutes in which to complete it.
Something worth noting is that the listening aspect of the paper is completely different to that at GCSE because you are in control of the clips - which will either be uploaded onto a mini MP3 player that you use or on a computer. This is brilliant as it means that you are in control of the order in which you do your paper (I always did it back-to-front) and how long you listen to clip - as well as having the ability to replay bits you didn't understand.
The contents of this paper are based around the 12 themes that you study throughout the A-Level course, which go in the following order:
The Spanish A-Level is 100% exam based and is divided into three papers. The first paper accounts for 50% of your overall grade and it is where you have reading and listening exercises as well as two translations - going both from English to Spanish and Spanish to English. The total marks for the paper are out of 100 and you are given 2 hours and 30 minutes in which to complete it.
Something worth noting is that the listening aspect of the paper is completely different to that at GCSE because you are in control of the clips - which will either be uploaded onto a mini MP3 player that you use or on a computer. This is brilliant as it means that you are in control of the order in which you do your paper (I always did it back-to-front) and how long you listen to clip - as well as having the ability to replay bits you didn't understand.
The contents of this paper are based around the 12 themes that you study throughout the A-Level course, which go in the following order:
AS (YEAR ONE)
| A2 (YEAR TWO)
|
The second paper is the writing paper, accounting for 20% of your A-Level. For this paper, you will be expected to write two essays for the film/book(s) that you have studied. You are not allowed to take the works into the exam with you. In hindsight, this sounds rather daunting - particularly when you see that the recommended word count is 300 words per essay - but trust me, this part of the exam is A-okay when it comes down to it because your language skills improve so drastically and a lot of people end up writing a lot more than 300 words!
The third and final paper is the speaking paper, which accounts for 30% of your A-Level. There are two parts to this exam. In the first, you will be given a photo-card as you were at GCSE that corresponds to one of the themes studied. However, you will not be asked to describe what it happening; there will be three key questions that you will need to answer, with spontaneous questions asked by the examiner along the way, as well as you asking a relevant question yourself. As with the GCSE, there is 5 minutes preparation time for this. The second part consists of your IRP, or Independent Research Project. This is a bit like an mini-EPQ; you have to research an aspect of Hispanic society so that you can have a 9-10 minute discussion about it with your examiner. You will have a 2 minute presentation prior to this discussion, which is the only bit of the exam that you memorise - the rest is spontaneous, although the way you phrase your answers is essential when it comes to leading into questions you're prepared to answer. Again, this part of the exam is not as daunting as it sounds with sufficient practice.
The third and final paper is the speaking paper, which accounts for 30% of your A-Level. There are two parts to this exam. In the first, you will be given a photo-card as you were at GCSE that corresponds to one of the themes studied. However, you will not be asked to describe what it happening; there will be three key questions that you will need to answer, with spontaneous questions asked by the examiner along the way, as well as you asking a relevant question yourself. As with the GCSE, there is 5 minutes preparation time for this. The second part consists of your IRP, or Independent Research Project. This is a bit like an mini-EPQ; you have to research an aspect of Hispanic society so that you can have a 9-10 minute discussion about it with your examiner. You will have a 2 minute presentation prior to this discussion, which is the only bit of the exam that you memorise - the rest is spontaneous, although the way you phrase your answers is essential when it comes to leading into questions you're prepared to answer. Again, this part of the exam is not as daunting as it sounds with sufficient practice.
MY EXPERIENCE
To say that A-Level Spanish has been a rollercoaster journey really is an understatement - but, long story short, it ended up by far being my favourite A-Level subject and the one that I ended up doing best in.
I'm not going to lie, the first few weeks were hard-going and I did have a period where I even considered dropping Spanish - but thank gosh I didn't! There were a few incidences that really pushed my sanity in those first few weeks, and I thought it might be humorous to share them. The first thing that tipped me over the edge was walking into a lesson believing I had learnt the core GCSE tenses, only to find out about the existence of about 10 other tenses - future perfect who? Not only that, but hearing about the existence of such thing as 'stem-changing verbs' was enough to send a chill down my spine - not more irregulars I had to learn, surely? And then I went into another lesson, it must only been my second or third, to be told that I had to give a presentation, in Spanish, about a Spanish festival - I guess you could imagine what I was doing that entire weekend. In spite of the difficulties, I decided to keep at it: I was learning new vocab everyday (even if it took me an hour to only vaguely learn 20 words at first), I was adding every new word I came across to some sort of Quizlet set, I was drilling grammar every single day, doing my homework, attending extra lunchtime sessions - my life, for a period of time, revolved around this one subject. Then the time came to do our first progress test and needless to say, I was absolutely bricking it. Something happened, however, that changed everything for me: I got a B in my first progress test - me, get a B? Impossible - I thought it must've been somebody else's paper! Alas, I did indeed get a B and that was when my mentality completely changed. I was in a very weird place with Spanish, admittedly, and looking back I think I must've had some sort of imposter's syndrome. Things only seemed to get better from there and it was around February time that everything began to 'click' for me. Now, I wasn't just doing a ridiculous amount of Spanish because I had to get my level up, I was doing it because I loved the subject - and I found the topics we studied in Year 12 incredibly interesting. Who would've thought that I would have gotten the chance to study a Spanish film? Not me! As the end of Year 12 loomed, I revised like an absolute mad woman for my mock exams and definitely ended things on a high with my mock results.
Year 13 was not overly different - though this was the year that I saw my other A-Levels take a turn for the worse as I had spent so much time on Spanish, both for the A-Level and to prepare for my MLAT exam as I decided to apply to Oxford. Though, given that I had to go through grammar book after grammar book to prepare for said MLAT exam, I didn't find the actual Spanish difficult in Year 13, I must admit that the sheer amount of content we had to know did get a little overwhelming at times and the added stress of the IRP didn't help. Nonetheless, my Year 13 experience was just as positive and what got me through was the fact that the Year 13 content was far better than the Year 12 content.
Despite some of the stresses, which I would argue that you encounter in most A-Levels, Spanish was by-far my most enjoyable A-Level. Personally, I found the specification to be very well-designed as it allowed you to really get to know the Spanish culture and mode de vie as well as the problems that persist in current society - it seemed as if every time I watched the news on RTVE or read El País, there was something relevant to what it is we were learning.
Similarly, I found the lessons to be a nice break from those such as maths, which became very 'full-on' and intense, especially in Year 13. With languages, it's not necessarily difficult - there's just a lot that you need to know.
Speaking of which, the workload was quite heavy and I know that it may be difficult for people whose priority isn't languages to keep up as languages just aren't the sort of subject you can cram - you need to be doing a lot and you need to be doing a lot consistently.
Teaching, however, is a factor that I believe is very important when it comes to an A-Level Language experience. I had amazing teachers for both years and there was a lot of support in place should you need it, such as extra lunchtime sessions and those with a Speaking Assistant. In addition to that, we had the right amount of teaching time - and that meant that my experience was a lot better than that for French, where I didn't have things such as adequate teaching time. I'm aware that, due to the dwindling numbers of pupils taking languages, some schools do skimp out on their languages departments - but at A-Level, you can't afford to be doing such a subject where the provisions aren't there.
I'm not going to lie, the first few weeks were hard-going and I did have a period where I even considered dropping Spanish - but thank gosh I didn't! There were a few incidences that really pushed my sanity in those first few weeks, and I thought it might be humorous to share them. The first thing that tipped me over the edge was walking into a lesson believing I had learnt the core GCSE tenses, only to find out about the existence of about 10 other tenses - future perfect who? Not only that, but hearing about the existence of such thing as 'stem-changing verbs' was enough to send a chill down my spine - not more irregulars I had to learn, surely? And then I went into another lesson, it must only been my second or third, to be told that I had to give a presentation, in Spanish, about a Spanish festival - I guess you could imagine what I was doing that entire weekend. In spite of the difficulties, I decided to keep at it: I was learning new vocab everyday (even if it took me an hour to only vaguely learn 20 words at first), I was adding every new word I came across to some sort of Quizlet set, I was drilling grammar every single day, doing my homework, attending extra lunchtime sessions - my life, for a period of time, revolved around this one subject. Then the time came to do our first progress test and needless to say, I was absolutely bricking it. Something happened, however, that changed everything for me: I got a B in my first progress test - me, get a B? Impossible - I thought it must've been somebody else's paper! Alas, I did indeed get a B and that was when my mentality completely changed. I was in a very weird place with Spanish, admittedly, and looking back I think I must've had some sort of imposter's syndrome. Things only seemed to get better from there and it was around February time that everything began to 'click' for me. Now, I wasn't just doing a ridiculous amount of Spanish because I had to get my level up, I was doing it because I loved the subject - and I found the topics we studied in Year 12 incredibly interesting. Who would've thought that I would have gotten the chance to study a Spanish film? Not me! As the end of Year 12 loomed, I revised like an absolute mad woman for my mock exams and definitely ended things on a high with my mock results.
Year 13 was not overly different - though this was the year that I saw my other A-Levels take a turn for the worse as I had spent so much time on Spanish, both for the A-Level and to prepare for my MLAT exam as I decided to apply to Oxford. Though, given that I had to go through grammar book after grammar book to prepare for said MLAT exam, I didn't find the actual Spanish difficult in Year 13, I must admit that the sheer amount of content we had to know did get a little overwhelming at times and the added stress of the IRP didn't help. Nonetheless, my Year 13 experience was just as positive and what got me through was the fact that the Year 13 content was far better than the Year 12 content.
Despite some of the stresses, which I would argue that you encounter in most A-Levels, Spanish was by-far my most enjoyable A-Level. Personally, I found the specification to be very well-designed as it allowed you to really get to know the Spanish culture and mode de vie as well as the problems that persist in current society - it seemed as if every time I watched the news on RTVE or read El País, there was something relevant to what it is we were learning.
Similarly, I found the lessons to be a nice break from those such as maths, which became very 'full-on' and intense, especially in Year 13. With languages, it's not necessarily difficult - there's just a lot that you need to know.
Speaking of which, the workload was quite heavy and I know that it may be difficult for people whose priority isn't languages to keep up as languages just aren't the sort of subject you can cram - you need to be doing a lot and you need to be doing a lot consistently.
Teaching, however, is a factor that I believe is very important when it comes to an A-Level Language experience. I had amazing teachers for both years and there was a lot of support in place should you need it, such as extra lunchtime sessions and those with a Speaking Assistant. In addition to that, we had the right amount of teaching time - and that meant that my experience was a lot better than that for French, where I didn't have things such as adequate teaching time. I'm aware that, due to the dwindling numbers of pupils taking languages, some schools do skimp out on their languages departments - but at A-Level, you can't afford to be doing such a subject where the provisions aren't there.
SHOULD YOU TAKE IT?
On a purely personal basis, I would highly recommend taking A-Level Spanish - it ended up being my favourite A-Level by far! As a subject, I think it can provide a nice break from heavier counterparts such as maths or sciences and it is arguably one of the only A-Level subjects that equips you with knowledge that is directly beneficial in the 'outside' world. In addition to this, languages are very well regarded both among employers and universities - and, even if you're not looking for a career down the languages path, it can provide you with something to make you stand out. I also don't want to sound like a broken record, but I really did find the content interesting and very much relevant to today's Hispanic society.
That being said, I do think that there are a few points you need to consider:
And now for the people who are potentially considering doing an A-Level language from scratch, as I know there's about 2 forums on TSR for such matters and that's it...
Truth be told, unless you are considering doing a languages degree later on, I don't think it's worth putting yourself through the stress of picking up a new language at A-Level now. Instead, focus on getting secure grades in other subjects and learn whatever language it is you are considering 'on the side'. When it comes to university, I know that many institutions let you take extra classes at all levels for a small fee - so this is another possibility for you in the future!
Note also that individual schools will deal with such matters differently - I got lucky in being allowed to do Spanish with not that much said, but I assume that other schools will take greater issue. Make sure that, in explaining the situation to your school, you sound as if you have truly weighed up the situation and what this will mean for you. Explain thoroughly why it is you want to take the language and how you will be sure to keep everything else afloat. In the case of Spanish, it will be very helpful if you have another romance language under your belt at a high level - if it hadn't been for my Grade 9 in GCSE French, I honestly don't know how quickly I would have picked up Spanish. Similarly, make sure you are secure in the other subjects that you want to take because you will not have as much time to spend on them as you perhaps intended.
If it is something you pursue, I wish you the absolute best of luck and would recommend it if you're really passionate about the language! The first few weeks will be tough, but it's important that you keep sticking at it because you will get to where you need to be - I promise it's not impossible! Don't be afraid to participate and/or ask for help - this is something I wish I had done differently. Similarly, do the best you can to immerse yourself in the culture the best you can; part of the reason why I think I began to get good at Spanish quite quickly is because I listened to so much Spanish music, Spanish YouTubers and even Spanish films as well as reading Spanish articles and so on and so forth - I basically lived, breathed and ate Spanish for a solid year!
That being said, I do think that there are a few points you need to consider:
- Are you somebody who is organised and who will have the dedication to revise this subject continuously - not just a few weeks before the exam?
- Similarly, how well do you cope with a heavy workload? Many people decide to get a part-time job or learn how to drive in Sixth Form and this will naturally take away time from your A-Levels - are you somebody who won't let their A-Levels be put on a backburner?
- Does the school or sixth form college you are considering attending have good provisions in place for the subject?
- Just how interested are you in Spanish culture?
And now for the people who are potentially considering doing an A-Level language from scratch, as I know there's about 2 forums on TSR for such matters and that's it...
Truth be told, unless you are considering doing a languages degree later on, I don't think it's worth putting yourself through the stress of picking up a new language at A-Level now. Instead, focus on getting secure grades in other subjects and learn whatever language it is you are considering 'on the side'. When it comes to university, I know that many institutions let you take extra classes at all levels for a small fee - so this is another possibility for you in the future!
Note also that individual schools will deal with such matters differently - I got lucky in being allowed to do Spanish with not that much said, but I assume that other schools will take greater issue. Make sure that, in explaining the situation to your school, you sound as if you have truly weighed up the situation and what this will mean for you. Explain thoroughly why it is you want to take the language and how you will be sure to keep everything else afloat. In the case of Spanish, it will be very helpful if you have another romance language under your belt at a high level - if it hadn't been for my Grade 9 in GCSE French, I honestly don't know how quickly I would have picked up Spanish. Similarly, make sure you are secure in the other subjects that you want to take because you will not have as much time to spend on them as you perhaps intended.
If it is something you pursue, I wish you the absolute best of luck and would recommend it if you're really passionate about the language! The first few weeks will be tough, but it's important that you keep sticking at it because you will get to where you need to be - I promise it's not impossible! Don't be afraid to participate and/or ask for help - this is something I wish I had done differently. Similarly, do the best you can to immerse yourself in the culture the best you can; part of the reason why I think I began to get good at Spanish quite quickly is because I listened to so much Spanish music, Spanish YouTubers and even Spanish films as well as reading Spanish articles and so on and so forth - I basically lived, breathed and ate Spanish for a solid year!