* Spanish * Predictions / discussion / aftermath (One thread please)

Mr.BA

Hey Everyone,

Just a bit of advice that I gave a few times in the last few years. For Spanish (even though not until another week) make sure to look at what opinion topic comes up in German and French papers, French in particular, because much of the time a similar opinion question come up in Spanish as it did for other languages.
My ideas for the Opinion Question
- ''La Economía'', make sure to know things on the Economy and the Global Market
- ''El Tercer Mundo'' question like this hasn't popped up in a few years, could pop up again.
- ''El Medio Ambiente'' again, another one that hasn't sparked in a while.

Also think of Social Behavior Questions
- El Alcoholismo
- Las Drugas
- Los Estudiantes en las escuelas y los exámenes

These are only some ideas but if you prepare something on all of these, you are bound to be able to tie these in to a question that could be similar in topic.
I have recently graduated from Spanish and Geography in UCD so if anyone once advice from me about those subjects or other fields in UCD I can help a bit lol!

Buena Suerte en los exámenes

Mr. BA!

megumiwinS

So your advice is go through topics like the ones below?
- La Economía
- El Tercer Mundo
- El Medio Ambiente
- El Alcoholismo
- Las Drugas
- Los Estudiantes en las escuelas y los exámenes

Thanks so much!

polka dot

Okay we have never covered the economy or the Third World in Spanish. Should I be worried? :eek:

megumiwinS

polka dot wrote: »

Okay we have never covered the economy or the Third World in Spanish. Should I be worried? :eek:

Nope because there will 2 choices anyway :rolleyes:

polka dot

megumiwinS wrote: »

Nope because there will 2 choices anyway :rolleyes:

I'll just hope that the first one isn't the economy and the second one the Third World :P Hehe.

Thanks for this thread. At least I have an idea what to study now.

Lexii307

What about the recession? Is that not an obvious one?

polka dot

Lexii307 wrote: »

What about the recession? Is that not an obvious one?

Pretty sure that would be the same essay as "La Economía!"

Lexii307

polka dot wrote: »

Pretty sure that would be the same essay as "La Economía!"

Well i meant really more the effect on people as a result like social problems...

polka dot

Lexii307 wrote: »

Well i meant really more the effect on people as a result like social problems...

Ah yes, this is the type of essay I have. Social problems and the recession. We can hope!

Mr.BA

There are many topics that can come up. Social Problems seem to be the most common topic thing to come up.
However, certain topic might come up but explained in a different way.
For example
2010 : ''El silencio no existe en el mundo moderno.'' = There is no silence in the modern world
So what could you write? Violence, murder, overpopulated cities, riots (outside government buildings because of the economy) and much more.
No matter what topic comes up, you are able to turn it around and parts from other topics that might relate to the topic asked on the day, just like what I did for Riots and related it to the Economy.

2009: ''Falta el sentido cívico en la sociedad moderna.'' = Lack of civil sense in modern society.
Again you could write about the economy or crime. Also in 2009 a question about Alcohol came up.

In 2008, beautiful topics came up.
Climate Change
How money doesn't resolve all problems. (This was a blessing for the exam).
For this one you could talk about the third world and the global economy.

Guys to be honest, these are only my opinions and NOT whats coming up in the exam. BUT do look at the French and German papers and see what kind of topic comes up and Spanish should be something similar

Anymore questions give me a buzz

Buena Suerte

Lexii307

Mr.BA wrote: »

There are many topics that can come up. Social Problems seem to be the most common topic thing to come up.
However, certain topic might come up but explained in a different way.
For example
2010 : ''El silencio no existe en el mundo moderno.'' = There is no silence in the modern world

In 2008, beautiful topics came up.
Climate Change
How money doesn't resolve all problems. (This was a blessing for the exam).
For this one you could talk about the third world and the global economy.

Guys to be honest, these are only my opinions and NOT whats coming up in the exam. BUT do look at the French and German papers and see what kind of topic comes up and Spanish should be something similar

Anymore questions give me a buzz

Buena Suerte

We were given essays on silence in the modern world and climate change, but it is true that it is unpredictable Hopefully we all do brilliant

Muggwoffin

Just checked out the French paper there, the opinion pieces were

The importance of being independent (Presumably for the youth, I don't speak French, I'm just going on lexical similarity)

In Ireland criminal deviancy is a serious problem. People don't feel secure, something about champagne ("ni à la campagne"*). The number of rapes, violence and something called "cambriolages" are increasing. What do you think?

I would be happy to do both in Spanish, the amount of cambriolages in Ireland has gotten ridiculous.

Checked out the German paper and couldn't make sense of it.
*This is a joke.

Phareon

In Ireland criminal deviancy is a serious problem. People don't feel secure, something about champagne ("ni à la campagne"*). The number of rapes, violence and something called "cambriolages" are increasing. What do you think?

From a student who does /did/ French

Devient is 'has become', not deviancy.
'Vols' are thefts, not rapes, but maybe rape could have been brought into it.
'Cambriolages' are robberies.
'La campagne' is the countryside. It meant people don't feel safe in the city or the country.

And, yeah the first was about youths dreaming of being independent.
Hope it helps for your Spanish!

And if it makes you feel any better, I couldn't make out the German either :O

Muggwoffin

Phareon wrote: »

From a student who does /did/ French

Devient is 'has become', not deviancy.
'Vols' are thefts, not rapes, but maybe rape could have been brought into it.
'Cambriolages' are robberies.
'La campagne' is the countryside. It meant people don't feel safe in the city or the country.

And, yeah the first was about youths dreaming of being independent.
Hope it helps for your Spanish!

And if it makes you feel any better, I couldn't make out the German either :O

Ahh, I see, I was getting "Vols" as rapes from the Spanish "Violacíones".

luciemc

I do French and Spanish so here you go:-

(there are six opinion questions on the French paper)

1. All teenagers dream of being independent and making their own decisions. Do you too think it is important to be independent?

2. Crime is becoming a serious problem in Ireland today. Many people no longer feel safe in towns or in the countryside. It seems that the number of robberies, burglaries, aggressions and murders is rising. What do you think of this problem? Are there any solutions?

3. "Drinking too much is a nightmare". This is the slogan of a prevention campaign aimed at teenagers launched by the Council of Paris to aid the fight against 'binge-drinking', a manner of consuming alcohol popular among young people. It is usually the consumption, in one sitting, of 5 or more glasses for men and 4 or more glasses for women.
Give your reactions.

4. Refereeing in sport.
"One must always accept the decisions of a referee, even if they make an error. He deserves the respect of players and of supporters, because he has a difficult role" says Guillaume, who is 20 years old.
"Mistakes in refereeing are too numerous. Me, I lost an important match last week because of the referee! In my opinion, it is time to introduce video refereeing" says Nadine, who is 19 years old.
Give your reactions.

5. According to a recent study, only 21% of young French people think that religion plays an important role in their lives. Do you think that in Ireland, like in France, religion has become less important in the lives of young people?

6. What do you think of social networks, for example Facebook or Twitter?


Some of it sounds sort of awkward in English, I tried to translate it all as directly as possible <_<

anyone here do German?

Camilo

So Spanish is on Tuesday and i havent a Philius Fogg as to what i should be reading over or studying apart from a bit of vocab

Any suggestions?

partyatmygaff

I do French but if I were you I would study something like this for essay writing. Something similar helped me for French and it's more helpful than learning off reams of vocab.

shelly818

I was just looking over my notes for the economy and I dont think i've got enough anyone have any ideas what to say or any stand out sentences I could use???

Mr.BA

Hey guys

Sorry for not being on this in a few days. I heard about some of the French questions and I think studying anything got to do with adolescence would be a great thing to be prepared for since it looks likely something of that sort will come up.

But I haven't heard anything from the German paper. If similar topics came up for that, that was also in French there is a good chance it would come up in Spanish also.

Let me know please

Buena Suerte,
Mr.BA

irishgirl10

How much should you write for the diary entry/note and essay?..

And how are people studying for spanish!?

ChristinaIndigo

Really don't have a good feeling about this exam....

howlermonkey

We've never really done anything got to do with being independent but that would be a really interesting opinion to ask to do

Mr.BA

irishgirl10 wrote: »

How much should you write for the diary entry/note and essay?..

And how are people studying for spanish!?

With every student I taught I always get asked this question.
The Diary entry/ note is simply saying exactly what it says on the tin!

Just write a note/ diary of 6 to 8 sentences.
What examiners like to see is very neat work, so I would advise to skip a line when writing the diary or note. But if you feel as though your writing is big and will need to use all the lines, fire away. Just make sure whatever they ask you to write in the Diary or Note is what you write. Add a little to it if you want as well to gain extra marks, but do not waffle!

All the best in the exam tomorrow guys.

Buena Suerte.

Mr.BA

También, don't forget to post up hear how you did in the exam and how you felt it went. I'd be happy to answer any questions that arose in the paper.
Please be patient though as I won't be home until after 6pm.

Adios!

Mr.BA

Camilo wrote: »

So Spanish is on Tuesday and i havent a Philius Fogg as to what i should be reading over or studying apart from a bit of vocab

Any suggestions?

Look over past opinion questions, sample diary entries or notes that you did for homework during the year.
Also don't forget about the listening exam. Go back over some old aurals and see if you can grasp what they ask you.
Studying vocab is important, but try to have sample answers prepared especially for the opinion question.

Buena suerte para mañana!!

Mr.BA

Camilo

Anyone else find it interesting how little attention Spanish is getting on boards? Every other subject seems to get alot more attention on here

But aye, quite worried about this. Hate the bloody opinion question, i just freeze up.

irishgirl10

Thanks! Im so nervous for this exam

Mr.BA

irishgirl10 wrote: »

Thanks! Im so nervous for this exam

Don't worry. You'll be grand. All the work is done.
Just take your time and don't panic. Answer everything you can first.

Also to calm yourself look at the Diary and the opinion questions first. And then go through the rest of the paper because you'll be able to pick up some vocab from other parts of the paper!!

All the best for tomorrow and let us know how it goes

Mr.BA

AG2R

Dropping down in this tomorrow. Haven't a hope in HL.

AG2R

So glad I dropped down now. delighted with how that went. 50 minutes til the Aural.

wazzarooney

Nice enough paper

AG2R

****ing Aural raped me though

Camilo

Paper was lovely enough but what was with the tape? Not sure if this was somehow just my school but the pauses inbetween sections were most certainly not 40 seconds and the weather and Q7(aural) were bloody rediculous

trotsky93

you're a dead give away mcguire

JReilly

The paper was okay. I found the texts to be hard, but the letter, dialogue, opinion piece and diary entry were good. The aural was complete crap to be honest. I could barely understand what was being said.

Eoin MurMur

trotsky93 wrote: »

you're a dead give away mcguire

Tom?

trotsky93

kudos

gbro800

And I thought it was just me with the aural. I've seen a big improvement with spanish aural in recent months. I was the only one sitting as an external student today and I was struggling big time with the aural paper , I'll be lucky to get half the marks. Written paper was great though, very typical topics covered. ¡Adios Leaving Cert! :cool:

Fiona1993

What did people make of the HL Spanish paper today??
I thought it was ok apart from the aural which was desperate..

Mr.BA

Guys,

Well done on finishing Spanish!! Took a look at the exam and by god ye were blessed with everything that came up! The opinion questions were just amazing! You could have talked so much for how Ireland change in the last ten years and you don't need money to be happy!!
No matter what one you did, I'd say most of the country did great!

The note and the diary questions were superb.
Best Spanish Paper I have seen in a good few years!!

Enhorabuena!

polka dot

Beautiful Spanish paper. Opened it and nearly cried with happiness when I saw the comprehensions and the topic piece.

Dialogue was easier than other years. Lots of would be and past tense verbs but if you knew them then it was grand

Didn't have that much of a problem with the aural. The one about the weather was just horrendous though. There was another one which took me a while to get all the answers too, can't remember which one. Unemployment in young people was ... incomprehensible.

All in all, I am delighted. If only the Machu Picchu question had made sense...

Belmono

Definitely a poorly-presented comprehension. The first question was strange: ‘What was the purpose of the trail?’ I assume it has to do with the first paragraph, and the fact that the trail led to Machu Picchu. The second question seems straightforward enough, but it’s the third question which seems odd. First off, there’s no reason in the world to have a question mark following the statement (did anyone actually proofread the paper? This happened more than once. Also the accent on the ‘e’ of ‘Esto’ in the text is crazy!). Second, the answers seem all to be in the second paragraph (nothing wrong with this of course). I’m guessing examiners will take any references to rivers, valleys, jungle and Andean heights. The third paragraph just appears to be there for decoration.

Mr.BA

Belmono wrote: »

Definitely a poorly-presented comprehension. The first question was strange: ‘What was the purpose of the trail?’ I assume it has to do with the first paragraph, and the fact that the trail led to Machu Picchu. The second question seems straightforward enough, but it’s the third question which seems odd. First off, there’s no reason in the world to have a question mark following the statement (did anyone actually proofread the paper? This happened more than once. Also the accent on the ‘e’ of ‘Esto’ in the text is crazy!). Second, the answers seem all to be in the second paragraph (nothing wrong with this of course). I’m guessing examiners will take any references to rivers, valleys, jungle and Andean heights. The third paragraph just appears to be there for decoration.

Sorry but I have to completely disagree!
Nothing in that paper should have been difficult. Everything was explained and outlined easily. Ok, I give you the benefit of the doubt with the comprehensions but everything else should have been grand. best paper in a long time.

Belmono

Mr.BA wrote: »

Sorry but I have to completely disagree!
Nothing in that paper should have been difficult. Everything was explained and outlined easily. Ok, I give you the benefit of the doubt with the comprehensions but everything else should have been grand. best paper in a long time.

You'll note that I was only referring to the first comprehension, and not to any other part of the paper.

sr27

I think this was the hardest paper I've seen. Having completed all previous papers (several times due to an imense lack of Spanish resources available in Ireland) I thought yesterday's comprehensions were hard enough. The texts were ok but the questions on facebook were a little awkward. This would have been fair enough if it wasn't for the shambolic aural exam that followed.

Having done the French paper last week, they were incomparable. French was unbelievably easy yet in Spanish, there wasn't enough time to read the questions or enough pauses to write your answers. The tone was awful and the some of topics were certainly not 'topical' as the syllabus says they should be.

Maybe my difficulties were to do with the fact I did the course in a year, having not done any Spanish for 2 years previous to that but I thought this paper was very unfair.

danielmonteiro

JReilly wrote: »

The paper was okay. I found the texts to be hard, but the letter, dialogue, opinion piece and diary entry were good. The aural was complete crap to be honest. I could barely understand what was being said.

JReilly?! Johnathan Reilly from Roscommon CBS?

BTW the spanish was easy. well I do speak portuguese and made an effort to addapt to spanish. hoping for the A2 or B1/B2

sr27

danielmonteiro wrote: »

BTW the spanish was easy. well I do speak portuguese and made an effort to addapt to spanish. hoping for the A2 or B1/B2

Can't have been that 'easy' if you're only thinking of B2s. I wanted an A1 and think my exam was around A2/ B1. Depends what you're aiming for I guess.

danielmonteiro

sr27 wrote: »

Can't have been that 'easy' if you're only thinking of B2s. I wanted an A1 and think my exam was around A2/ B1. Depends what you're aiming for I guess.

I'm sorry I forgot a word there. I meant it was easy ENOUGH.
haha
But whatever I get from B2 up or even B3 up is welcome.
No matter how easy/managable it was I always avoid saying A because I do't wanna be too optimistic.. do you get me?