Spanish language practice

[chickedeee]

DD has gcse Spanish next year and due to lockdown is receiving online lessons but no face to face or zoom calls just google classroom.

This is working well for most subjects except her Spanish, has anyone used any online language platforms, duolingo for example, or alternatives and if so what did you think?

I was contemplating Spanish tutor for speaking/listening as this is the bit that is missing at the moment but would rather see if other options available.

School had arranged an exchange to Madrid however this has all been cancelled due to Coronavirus

DD is taking A-Level Spanish in September and rates Duolingo.

Duo lingo is good. There used to be a site where you could watch little clips of Spanish movies. Have a Google. ..

Thanks for suggestions of duolingo I will have a look

I taught MFL and now tutor it. Duolingo is good for vocab acquisition and practice, so worth doing, but not so good for actual exam style speaking and listening. Can't do any harm tho.

Other than that, watch things in Spanish, such as films (hmmmm, lots of Spanish films are a bit saucy!) even just a Disney film run in Spanish will help.

Can she draft out some speaking answers and practise via Zoom with a friend? Could always get the answers checked with a teacher for accuracy if they are willing. I realise this won't help her accent as such, but that's not really a massive element tbh. Fluency as in answering quickly and accuracy are more important.

For listening, do you have a GCSE workbook? If not then I would recommend one, they have access to listening tasks.

Look at the exam spec to see what she'll have to do for speaking and practise a few where she has done the topic. She'll do a photocard and a role play so try writing answers for some she can access, time it if you can to see what she'll do in the exam.

Past papers are on line for listening, don't just stick to current AQA spec (there are only a couple!), try ones from other boards and old spec, yes the exam will be different but it's all practice listening - so look at Edexcel, AQA, OCR, you'll probably find them going back as far as 2010 if you look.

Sorry for long post! HTH

Was about to add Spanish films, available on Netflix.

Thanks everyone

Great suggestions clary' thanks

DD1 is also in Y10 and doing Spanish GCSE. The school online lessons are great but DD herself said she'd like some oral practice as she finds that hard anyway. A tutor advertised on a local Facebook group and DD has been having an hour with her each week. It's been lovely to hear her being positive about Spanish and it's already helped with her confidence. She uses Duolingo too and sometimes Seneca as a way of mixing up the presentation of vocab but the oral and auditory practice she's getting from the weekly tutoring sessions is what's making the biggest difference for her.

SE13mummy thanks for your comments. The online practice sounds like it has been useful for your dd. This is what I thought may help my dd.

We have been struggling to find someone

Just bumping for more suggestions

There is a company set up by some students at Oxford - the Coronavirus Tutoring Initiative. (DD - University of Birmingham has signed up to tutor in French). Contact between tutor and tutor is through Bramble.
coronavirustutoring.co.uk/

I don't know if you have Netflix or similar, but it's sometimes possible to get Spanish dubbing over English programmes. The IT Crowd is one such programme. It's good for listening practice.

Hi @chickedeee, have you found an online Spanish tutor for your DD yet to help with speaking and listening? This online tuition company offer 1:1 lessons in Spanish and I have heard through my friend that they have an exceptional Spanish teacher who really helped to boost their DD's grade.
Their website is: www.giftedthinkers.co.uk
Hope you find what you're looking for!

Thanks, we found a Tutor and my daughter has found it very helpful 😊

Glad to hear you've sorted it

Has anyone seen the Memrise app. My son does Ed Excel Spanish GCSE. There is a board spec version but seems difficult to decipher on how to use. I wonder if it is any good