If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.
- Nelson Mandela
At St Gregory's, learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. Our high quality languages education fosters students’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. Our teaching enables students to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing.
Teaching focusses on developing the breadth and depth of students' competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing, based on a sound foundation of core grammar and vocabulary. We aim for students to understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources. We encourage them to speak in the target language to develop their confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation. We work a lot on writing varying length, purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt so that students can be well prepared for the AQA MFL GCSE specification that we study at Key Stage 4.
Our language teaching provides the foundation for learning further languages, equipping students to study and work in other countries and be global citizens.
Course Code: A Level Spanish AQA 7692
Exam Board Specification: https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/spanish/a-level/spanish-7692/specification
WHY SPANISH?
A radical and exciting departure from the GCSE, you will undertake far higher levels of independent study and research and a more rigorous approach to grammar. Reading of Spanish newspapers and visiting Spanish speaking countries is encouraged so you can really master the language and learn to value the different Spanish speaking cultures.
The course has four main themes: Aspects of Spanish Society; Artistic culture in the Spanish World; Multiculturalism in the Spanish World; Aspects of Political Life in the Spanish World. You will also study and critically appreciate in writing two works, one of which must be literary and the other may be a film.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
ASSESSMENT
EXTRA AND SUPER CURRICULAR
Support in finding a work placement in Spain if you wish. Support in finding a good summer school to study with over the summer holidays of Year 12.
FUTURE PATHWAYS
A university degree in Spanish complements subjects such as Business, Economics, Science, History, Philosophy, Geography, European Studies, Law, International Relations, English and Drama. Apprenticeships and careers in Journalism, Hospitality, Conservation, Finance, Public Relations, Marketing, Diplomatic Civil Service and as an Interpreter or Translator.
COMPLEMENTARY A LEVELS
Sciences, Maths, Business, Sociology, Psychology, English, History, Fine Art, Drama, Geography – in fact, almost all subjects work well with Spanish!