Spanish Department

In the Spanish department we are celebrating the success of two of our students who are heading to Cambridge. Adifah Haffeji in Year 7 was victorious at the regional Spanish Spelling Bee, where she had to translate and spell as many words as possible in Spanish in one minute. She will now compete in the national final to be held at the university on the 1st of July. Annette Elmes in Year 13 also faced fierce competition and a tough interview process and has been offered a place at St John’s College to read Spanish and Portuguese. Both girls have worked tremendously hard and we look forward to hearing more about their Cambridge adventures!

COLOMBIA TALK Charleigh Adams

We were lucky enough to listen to an informative talk all about the country of Colombia from Diego Bravo, the Spanish language assistant in Boys’ Division, who is from the Colombian city of Medellin. Topics ranged from the culture to the climate and its fantastic coffee. It was really interesting to hear a first-hand account about how such an infamous country has developed and overcome issues from its past. This was incredibly useful as we gained a different perspective on this area of the Spanish speaking world and Diego helped to dispel some of the negative views which are often associated with this fascinating area of South America. In November, sixty of our talented linguists took part in an event to find out more about the value of languages and the opportunities available for further study and within the world of work. Sonya Bernhard from Manchester University gave the girls a wealth of information about the different degree options available for studying languages including combinations with other subjects such as Economics, Science, Maths, History, Engineering and Law. Girls were then given a glimpse of the difficulties and delights of the “year abroad” by Jess Melling, a former student. Jess was lucky enough to split her time between Spain and Chile and girls gained an insight into the life skills to be learnt from time spent working and studying in another country. Girls also had a new language taster session in either Mandarin, Dutch or Swedish to highlight the possibility of studying languages “ab initio” at university.

Adifah Haffeji Annette Elmes

SPANISH FILM EVENINGS

‘El Laberinto del fauno’ links mythical and historical elements to show how a young girl uses her imagination to create a fantasy world with monsters in order to escape the horrors of Franco’s dictatorship. At times this film was quite graphic to show the lengths that people would go to in order to defend Franco’s regime. This film helped us to understand the hardships of the post-war period which further developed our knowledge for the AS exam. We highly recommend watching Spanish films and TV shows (maybe with English subtitles) as it is an easy and fun way to develop your language skills. Anita Cardoza & Lexi Isherwood

‘Las Trece Rosas’ is an emotional and moving film set in post-war Madrid about 13 brave young women who fight for what they believe in against the Franco regime. We study this film as part of the Spanish course and we all really enjoyed this different approach to studying the language. Even though the film is sad, we learnt a lot as it has a very powerful message. It also helped us gain more A04 (exam speak for cultural knowledge) about Spain, which is an important part of the oral exam. The film also helped us discover more about this key part of Spanish history which still has repercussions in the Spain of today. Lauren-Rae McGann & Imogen Bootle ‘Sin Rodeos’ is a film about a woman who is deeply unhappy with her life, seeking the help of a “guru” who helps her changes things for the better. We thoroughly enjoyed the film, as it had a unique plot making it entertaining. We would definitely recommend going to Spanish film evenings because they are a lot of fun and they allow you to become more fluent in the language as well as develop your vocabulary. Mariyah Karim & Charley Wakefield

TOP TIPS FOR AS

• Take advantage of Netflix’s Spanish programmes and subtitles/dubbing (we recommend Elite and Casa de Papel). • Make a group chat to keep on top of deadlines and share ideas. • Find your own AO4 (cultural knowledge) for each topic throughout the year – it’s far easier to remember if you have found it yourself. • Follow ‘BBC Mundo’ on the Apple news app. • Be brave enough to organize your own Spanish trip. There are plenty of organizations which run trips and you can even get funding from the Scott Trust. • Act on the advice given by Nuria (the Spanish language assistant) and prepare properly for each session so that you can take full advantage of them – don’t miss them!

Emily Rajbhandari & Lizzie Crowther

• Pick a few contrasting countries in Latin

America and focus on those for your AO4. • Group revision is really helpful for the film – watch it in the Gerrard room and discuss points you have found. • Actually do the grammar work that you get sent over summer – it really helps consolidate and lay the foundations for new grammar.