Spanish GCSE

[ILiveInSalemsLot]

What can my ds do over the summer to improve his Spanish?
He’s decided to do it for gcse but isn’t that strong in it. He’ll be going into yr10 and does some duolingo every now and then and, apart from hw, that’s it.
Any ideas?

My Dd recommends conjuguemos a free website. This is what her school made them use for congregating verbs.
Another one is learnspanish.com
Hope this helps

Conjugating verbs🤦‍♀️

I would recommend watching tv shows dubbed in spanish with english subtitles, or vice versa. It's easy to do (he would probably watch tv anyway) but really can help if you follow along.

What about watching Spanish youtube channels? Does he usually watch youtubers? It should be easy to find similar content from a Spanish creator.

Another thing would be trying to read a book - even just a few pages a day. I wouldn't go for anything like Harry Potter, or anything too 'fantasy' like that with unusual vocabulary, but have a google and I'm sure there are good recs for beginners. Non-fiction perhaps?

Depending on budget, maybe an exchange program? You can find options in Lingoo.com. No cost for the exchange option bar travel costs and spending money. I found spending time in Spanish speaking countries gave me confidence, vocabulary and ongoing interest.

Dd watched Elite on Netflix which maybe be too girly or la casa de papel which she thought was ok.

Spanish equivalent of BBC iplayer called playz which you can download on the App Store

TV and films in Spanish is a good idea.

The key elements for GCSE are verbs and vocabulary so anything to help with those will be good. Try flash cards, post its stuck up about the house, little tests you can do with him.

Well done him for opting for an MFL!

Watch DVDs of films he knows with Spanish language selected and subtitles on. e.g. Toy story.

YouTube clips of Spanish speakers at markets, national holidays/celebrations, school days etc. VideoEle is a good one. I’ve asked my daughter (also going into yr19) to listen to 10 mins a day. A language is something to build up gradually I think - little and often.

Yr10 even...

Thanks so much. Fab ideas!

Useful thanks.

I would ask around if there are any local Spanish speaking families, perhaps with children a similar age, to just do conversation practice regularly.

At GCSE I'm not sure how helpful it is to speak conversational spanish with native speakers. Teachers, of course, but ime trying to chat with natives at this level can just knock their confidence. Even easy questions like "how old are you?" they can ask in a different way and when they can't respond they feel rubbish.

You can get a long way in any GCSE language by really knowing all the verbs and grammar. That's what i would focus on, think of them like times tables for maths.

I'm helping my son to up his grade a bit. He's Year 10. First thing we focussed on was learning all the vocabulary for gcse Spanish using Quizlet. He was quite happy to do an hour or so per day and he quickly started to retain the vocab. Our next challenge is grammar and his teacher has recommended language gym....

conversational Spanish can be very helpful although yes I agree it would depend if they spoke a particular dialect but it is the same as going on a Spanish exchange

fatarsesally wow at 1 hr a day! Well done to your ds.
Thanks for the tips on focussing on vocabulary and grammar.
I’ve had a chat with ds so he’s happy to try out the sites recommended and watch some programmes in Spanish.

nonicknameseemsavailable I don't think they were getting at dialect but just asking in a completely different format than the 'textbook' version.

Unfortunately learning a language to pass an exam in a limited timescale is quite different to learning a language to have a chat with someone/go to a country. For his GSCE he'll need to understand and use specific grammar structures, certain levels of vocabulary (and use appropriately within context e.g. gender and plurals) and so on. Very difficult to learn this through conversation.

yes you have to be grammatically correct but certainly from the point of view of general vocaulary and practice and assuming there is still aural and oral sections to the Spanish GCSE as there was when I did it then the more actual practice the better.

Take a TV show he knows well, we did Friends episodes and watch it in Spanish. There is also Peppa Pig

Duolingo every day and Memorise too. Ds1 has just sat his GCSEs. He did Duolingo every day from year 7 and was at the top of the class.