Spanish

Course summary

With 570 million speakers worldwide, Spanish –the world’s second most widely spoken language – is one of the most popular choices of language at A Level for Dulwich College pupils. The Remove plunges A-level pupils into the rich culture of Spain; each pupil researchers one key aspect of Hispanic culture, ranging from the importance of flamenco to the gipsy population of Andalusia to the controversial monument built by Franco to honour those who died during the Spanish Civil War. Pupils present the key issues and Spanish vocabulary relating to their theme in front of their peers and the topic is debated as a class. Culture is at the heart of the A Level course: pupils use authentic sources online, in film, and in the press to enrich their knowledge of Spain and Latin America. They also study prescribed cultural topics - two films and at least one text in the target language – developing a deep understanding of cinematic and literary techniques. They write two essays on their cultural topics and are assessed for both language quality and content. During their final year, pupils focus on an area of independent research on a topic of their choice. In the past, these have included the role of dictatorships in Latin America, the issue of racial identity in the Caribbean, and the role of politics in bullfighting. Core linguistic skills that are developed during regular classroom lessons include: • Listening and reading comprehension, including summaries of passages in the target language using a range of synonyms • Active grammatical awareness and accuracy • Discussion and debate a wide range of prescribed topics in the target language • Writing essays on the cultural topics in the target language All Spanish pupils receive weekly oral classes lasting 30-60 minutes with our native language speakers in pairs or individually in the Remove and individually in Year 13). These not only help prepare pupils for the oral examination but also help develop pupils’ understanding of the films and texts that they are studying.