Hurtwood House School

Our goal is to provide our students with a solid linguistic and cultural knowledge and understanding of the Hispanic and Latino culture, which is why we give our students a rich mix of the language, culture and literature. Our students get to meet guest native speakers who visit Hurtwood House and Spanish radio and TV programmes are also used in our lessons, along with daily newspaper articles that lead to oral group discussions. Add to this the internet, language CDs, and personal sets of tapes, videos and foreign language software – and you can start to see why learning Spanish is an exciting option for our students.
 
For us, Spanish teaching is not just about grammar, our aim is to make our students feel stimulated, independent and self-sufficient in the language. We don’t want to create speakers who can only ‘get by’ in any of the numerous Spanish-speaking countries in the world. We want them to achieve a high level of proficiency in the language.

Our students of Spanish are offered the three main areas of tuition in the EDEXCEL board: GCSE, AS and A2. Further to the implementation of Curriculum 2008, valid for Advanced Subsidiary (AS) examination from 2009 and A2 examination from 2010, students are prepared throughout the transition period from the old curriculum to the new one.

Unit 1: Spoken Expression and Response in Spanish

Externally assessed

Availability: January and April/May

First assessment: January 2009

Content summary:

Youth culture and concerns

Lifestyle, which covers health and fitness

The world around us – travel, tourism, environmental issues and the Spanish-speaking world

 Education and employment

 Assessment:

 8 - 10 minute assessment in two sections

Section A requires students to respond to four Edexcel-set questions on a stimulus related to the student’s chosen general topic area.

Section B requires the teacher/examiner to engage the student in a discussion that, although still relating to the same general topic area and its linked sub-topics, moves away from the main focus of the stimulus. Centres will need to record the full assessment of all students on either cassette or CD.

All students for this Unit will be assessed by Edexcel.

Unit 2: Understanding and Written Response in Spanish

Externally assessed

Availability: January and June

 First assessment: June 2009

 Content summary:

This unit requires students to understand and convey their understanding of Spansih language texts and recordings. In addition, students will need to produce an essay to demonstrate an ability to manipulate the Spanish language in continuous writing. Students will be expected to recognise and use the Spanish language in a variety of contexts and in relation to a prescribed range of general topic areas.

The unit draws upon four general topic areas

Youth culture and concerns

Lifestyle, which covers health and fitness

The world around us – travel, tourism, environmental issues and the Spanish-speaking world

Education and employment

Assessment:

2 hours 30 minutes paper in three sections.

Section A requires students to listen to a range of authentic, recorded Spanish-language material and to retrieve and convey information given in the recording by responding to a range of Spanish-language questions.

Section B requires students to read authentic, Spanish-language printed materials and to retrieve and convey information by responding to a range of mainly Spanish-language test types.

Section C requires students to write 200-220 words in the form of a letter, report or article in Spanish based on a short, printed Spanish-language stimulus.

All students for this unit will be assessed by Edexcel.

Unit 3: Understanding and Spoken Response in Spanish

Externally assessed

Availability: April/May

First assessment: June 2010 

Content summary:

This unit requires students to demonstrate the effectiveness of their Spanish-language skills by presenting and taking a clear stance on any issue of their choice. They will be expected to interact effectively with the teacher/examiner, defend their views and sustain discussion as the teacher/examiner moves the conversation away from their chosen issue. They will be expected to use the language of debate and argument to discuss the issue and will also be assessed for understanding as well as communication and quality of spoken language.

Assessment:

11 - 13 minutes assessment

Students first outline their chosen issue for about one minute, adopting a definite stance towards the issue. They should then defend and justify their opinions for up to four minutes. The teacher/examiner will then initiate a spontaneous discussion in which a minimum of two further unpredictable areas of discussion will be covered. Centres will need to record the full assessment of all students on either cassette or CD.

All students for this unit will be assessed by Edexcel.

Unit 4: Research, Understanding and Written Response in Spanish

Externally assessed

Availability: June

First assessment: June 2010

Content summary:

This unit requires students to demonstrate skills in advanced-level Spanish writing (discursive or creative essay) and translation from English into Spanish. The unit also requires students to demonstrate evidence of independent, advanced-level Spanish-language reading and research of a chosen text, play, film or topic area that links to the culture and/or society of a Spanish-speaking country, countries or community. The content of this unit will be linked to the following general topic areas:

Youth culture and concerns

Lifestyle, which covers health and fitness

The world around us – travel, tourism, environmental issues and the Spanish-speaking world

Education and employment

Customs, traditions, beliefs and religions

National and international events – past, present and future

Literature and the arts

Assessment:

2 hours 30 minutes paper in three sections.

Section A: A short, written translation exercise to test students’ ability to transfer meaning from English into Spanish effectively.

Section B: A Spanish-language essay in response to one from a choice of seven questions linked to the prescribed general topic areas that invite either discursive or creative writing.

Section C: A research-based essay in Spanish (240-270 words) to reward students for Spanish-language research skills linked to an area of interest to the student that relates to the culture and/or society of a Spanish-language country, countries or community. They have freedom to determine the content of their research (potentially in negotiation with their teacher) but it must relate to the four research-based essay topic areas for this unit.

 All students for this Unit will be assessed by Edexcel. Students are not permitted to take any books, dictionaries or texts into the examination room.

We reward our Spanish students for their ability to be able to speak freely in Spanish on a general topic area that they have chosen in advance. Students will need to demonstrate that they can engage in a discussion in Spanish that relates to a chosen general topic area and allied sub-topics. Students will be expected to give relevant and appropriate information, convey opinions, interact and respond to a range of questions. They must choose one of the following general topic areas:

 If our students’ circumstances (level different from the above three, timetable of subjects, etc) do not allow for any of the three levels, they may also opt to attend lessons on a one-to-one basis, once the teacher’s timetable has been scrutinised for available teaching periods. In addition to that, when students feel that extra teaching time is needed to consolidate particular areas of their Spanish, we offer them support lessons at times convenient for both teacher and students.

To start a course in A-level Spanish we would expect the student to have studied it at GCSE-level first and gained a pass grade. However, as our GCSE course is designed for beginners, any student is welcome.
 
After A-level
As world economies become globalised, the demand for people with exceptional communication skills will continue to increase. Our Spanish Department is firmly committed to the promotion and development of these skills.

All our courses enable our students to achieve their goals in the language, with a view to enhancing their ability to use Spanish to the maximum potential at university level. It goes without saying that numerous career and employment opportunities are available to Spanish graduates. These opportunities may be solely based on modern language skills, or modern language skills may be a prerequisite for career growth.

1: Assessment and marking

The department will help students find their own learning style, early on in the year (kinesthetic, auditory or visual) constantly assessing them to ensure that they’re not struggling with a particular area, which is why we ensure that details about students are circulated and that all members of the department are aware of any potential problems.

All of a student’s work is discussed with the student in a supportive way. Pair work, comments checklist and individual, oral feedback is also common within the Multi-Foreign-Language department. Laptops can be used by students in order to make corrections easier and some students find using different fonts and background colours suits their learning difficulties.
The department also makes sure students are shown how to use symbols on the computers – accents, for instance.

Positive marking is practised within the Languages department and Spanish Language students are not penalised for not completing homework. Communication is paramount and effort grades are used as an incentive to improve the student’s ability to meet deadlines.
 
The department will also discretely make allowances depending on the individual learning difficulty.

Students will be given targets on a regular basis in class as well as on the IEPs. These targets are then reviewed to encourage progression (pro-active approach to learning).

2: Discipline
The department has very low numbers in each class ranging from two to 12 students. This makes it a lot easier to help students with SLD individually and therefore prevents disciplinary issues.
Allowances are made for students with organisational issues (ie the MFL department will spend individual time with the student to help with organisation and check that prep is recorded. Deadlines will be flexible and homework will be assisted if necessary).
Support in class and outside the classroom will be given to those students who need it.
Foreign students are encouraged to have a bilingual dictionary at all times.

3: Self-Reliance
Unit 1 (the ORAL) encourages individual research. However, guidance is provided on a student-by-student basis. Each student is seen by their teacher in order to organise their research. Some students are given more guidelines than others depending on their learning difficulty. This gives them the confidence to go away and research their chosen topic successfully.

The intranet is also used as a means of encouraging students to become responsible and self-reliant learners. Lesson materials as well as PowerPoint presentations are posted on the Intranet. Podcasts and homework are also available for language students. The availability of MP4s also  gives the SLD student an essential visual background which helps with the comprehension of the material.

4: Differentiation
Objectives are shared with the students at the beginning of each lesson. This enables SLD students to feel in control at every moment during the lesson. They know what is coming next which helps with their confidence. This reduces the risk of SLD students being lost during a lesson.

Material seen in class is projected for more visual support. Coloured overlay and background for text work is also used. Clear handouts are provided, large fonts can be used. Topics and material are selected to suit the individual learner and trigger interest.
Use of paragraph and well spaced lines when preparing material.
Breaking down the lesson into small units to avoid boredom.
Transcripts can be provided as extra support for listening tasks.
Students are encouraged to write legibly as well as using word processing.

Again students are seen individually outside the classroom to go over material that they found challenging in the classroom.

5: Monitoring
Students are monitored every day in the MFL classroom which is why they cannot miss a lesson without being noticed. The system in place is such that it is impossible for a student to miss a lesson deliberately without an excuse (ie attendance board in the staffroom, sick list on the Intranet, House Masters chasing enquiries about absences). Email correspondence is encouraged between students and teachers. Should an absence occur, teachers in the department will help students individually to catch up.

6: Staff development
Staff have regular Insets on SLD and the staff discuss approaches to teaching and learning for
ESOL students.

Many of the students whose first language isn't English are able to learn the speech patterns long before they learn the written language. Thus, the first thing that we do when working with ESOL students is find out what they do know. Once we know that, we can then begin to work on teaching them new words and grammar skills in Spanish at a pace that suits them and allows their learning to advance at a rate that suits their needs. 

Each of the members of our Modern Foreign Languages department is observed by the School’s Senior Management Team once a year. After the observation week, all teachers receive valuable feedback on their classroom performance and that of their students. The Modern Foreign Languages department also adheres to the mutual observation scheme.

All members of the Modern Languages department have a weekly meeting to discuss initiatives, analyse progress of students and devise new suitable programmes.

The weekly grades are the cornerstone of our system of monitoring the students’ progress. They exist so that the student knows where he or she stands in relation to his or her progress in the subject on a week-to-week basis. They provide both teacher and student with the opportunity to address any problems and put things right swiftly. The grades also provide parents/guardians with updated information about their child’s progress.

The grades consist of two components – one for attainment and one for effort. The Hurtwood attainment grades are in line with the national grading system at A-Level with A, B, C, D and E representing pass grades and U denoting a fail grade. Our attainment grades for GCSE students also reflect the national GCSE grading system but lower-case letters are used so as not to confuse parents/guardians of students studying both A-Levels and GCSEs. Hence, a, b and c represent pass grades whereas d, e and f are fail grades.

The attainment grade given to a student should indicate the quality of his or her work produced in the previous week. It is accepted that it is not a precise prediction of eventual examination results, but it is expected that an average, taken over a period of time, would give student, parent and management a reasonable indication of what could be attained in an examination. Split grades are permissible.

Our students are expected to do at least three hours per week for AS and five hours per week for A2 on their Spanish in their private study time and at home. Much of this time will be spent on specific tasks set by Sebastian (who is he?) and plenty of time should be set aside for such tasks.

Please try not to fall into the ‘last-minute’ trap!
 
Every Monday Sebastian will state the work that will be used for weekly assessment. Thus, every student knows exactly what to expect from each week. In addition to that, each week’s homework will be published in the School’s Intranet every Monday. Students will be expected to write essays, do listening/reading comprehensions and prepare oral presentations for their fellow classmates. As we go through the school year, students will also be expected to analyse in depth their oral, coursework and literary topics and to share that analysis in class.

It is expected that you hand your work in on time. If there is a genuine reason that makes this difficult, you must see Sebastian as soon as possible. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to find out what you have missed and to catch up. If you are in doubt, see Sebastian. It is also assumed that the work be presentable. There should always be a margin and it is a good idea to write on alternate lines so that there is room for Sebastian to insert his comments.

This is both the time you have free at school and your time at home. Please do not fall into the trap of thinking that free periods are free time! They should be used to maximum benefit. You should set aside at least two hours per week for the copying-up of notes and vocabulary, organising files and learning vocabulary. Try to get into the habit of not only learning the week’s vocabulary but also revising the previous week’s. You will sometimes be set vocabulary learning as homework but if you are not, you still need to do the learning as a matter of course. This is your personal responsibility and if you neglect it, you will fall behind and find yourself with an impossible task before your exams. You are also advised to set aside weekly time to spend reading papers and magazines in the library.

The main course books are Hodder ‘Edexcel Spanish for A-Level’, ‘Animo’ (AS) and ‘Sigue 2’ (A2), which is a course where the main language used is Spanish. The units focus on contemporary issues in Spain, Latin-American countries and the world. They also cover important points of grammar.
 
In the units themselves, the grammar is covered in Spanish but there is an extensive section of grammar at the back of the books in English to which you should get into the habit of referring. The books have accompanying, audio cassettes which we use regularly. We also use the vocabulary book ‘Palabra por Palabra’ and the grammar booster ‘Repaso’ at AS level. At A2 level we also use ‘Uso de la Gramática Española: Nivel Avanzado’.
As for GCSE, the textbooks we use are ‘Mastering Spanish’, which compiles a fantastic combination of dialogues, vocabulary, grammar, listening/reading/writing exercises and target language culture, and ‘Listos 3 Verde’.

El Mundo

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