Leaving Certificate Spanish Courses: Prep For Your Exam

Considering a Leaving Certificate Spanish Course? 

Leaving certificate Spanish courses provide students with helpful, comprehensive notes with all of the examination topics covered in great detail. There are also continuous written assignments, which are corrected and graded to allow you to see real progress being made. You will gain constructive feedback which will increase your motivation and determination to succeed. The courses generally feature written examination practice which gives you an idea of what the day will be like and helps you to get to know your own timings. The courses are well suited to those who are taking leaving certificate Spanish and want to improve or increase their chances of achieving a high grade. The good news is there are tons of leaving certificate Spanish courses currently available. 

About Spanish 

Spanish is an Indo-European language that originates from Vulgar Latin. This was the most popular and colloquial sociolect of Latin and was spoken by settlers, soldiers and merchants of the Roman Empire. The language developed in the North centre of the Iberian Peninsula and belongs to the family of Romance languages alongside Portuguese, Italian, French and Romanian. Spanish is also the second most spoken language in the world having almost 500 million speakers. The Spanish language is said to be one of the easiest to learn, being taught in many secondary schools. 

What Will I Learn? 

Building a big vocabulary of words is essential to doing well in this subject. The oral exam is crucial and it is worthwhile to practice by speaking Spanish out loud as much as possible. You can expect to learn the leaving certificate Spanish syllabus. Therefore, you will learn how to do the oral, written, aural and reading sections of the exam paper. More specifically, you will learn announcement, description, dialogue, the weather and the news. You will explore journalistic text, opinion text and prescribed literature. Students will learn short comprehensions and how to write a dialogue, letter or email and a diary entry or note. 

The Exam 

(1) Oral Examination (25%) the Spanish oral exam has two sections, personal questions and role-plays. It generally takes fifteen minutes. 

Part 1 

Initially you will be asked personal questions to see if you know your tenses. Ensure you respond in the correct tense (present, past and future and/or conditional tenses). If you make a mistake, don’t worry, just say “Lo Siento” (I’m sorry) and then provide the correct tense. 

Part 2 

Students will have 5 role plays prepared in advance and the examiner will choose one. Do your best to avoid simply reading off a learned piece monotonously. You should try to learn a series of phrases for each role play.  

(2) Listening Examination (20%)  

Practice makes perfect when it comes to the Aural section. Most students forget to prepare for the listening comprehension (Aural) exam which can take up to the 30 minutes of the exam.  

(3) Written exam (55%)  

In this section of the exam you will be tested on your ability to comprehend written Spanish in addition to your ability to write in Spanish. Having a big vocabulary is essential here so you should try get in to the habit of taking down any new words you come across and revise them on a regular basis.  

Career Opportunities with a Leaving Certificate Spanish Course 

Having a foreign language is a requirement for lots of CAO courses so it is unwise to drop your language unless you are positive that it will not make you ineligible for a course you may pick in the future. Spanish is incredibly useful for travel and a wide range of careers. 

If you’re serious about doing a leaving certificate Spanish course, check out courses near you in the Nightcourses.co.uk national course finder.