Chapters
Speaking Spanish isn’t the easiest thing to do.
Even if the language is phonetic, which means the letters are pronounced more or less the same way consistently, it can still be challenging to produce speech spontaneously.
The main challenges are mastering those few tricky consonants that impede fluid speech, knowing the right vocabulary, and a lack of confidence in your abilities. Each of these challenges can be a huge stumbling block to speaking in Spanish, so you need to identify what it is you struggle with most so you can more quickly address the key issues.
Even once you’ve mastered the main elements of speaking, there is still the small matter of putting all the letters, words, and phrases together into coherent sentences and working them into a natural dialogue with someone else.
I would suggest Spanish students try going through previous GCSE and A-level solutions under exam settings in order to calm any jitters on the big day if they truly want to maximize their leaving cert mark on the Spanish test.
Additionally, students preparing for their exams in the UK should regularly check and refer to the notes they have taken throughout the years.
Although you could feel secure in your mastery of a certain subject, when you move on to new information, you'll likely see a decline in your understanding as the workload begins to creep up!
As the class progresses through the course, it is imperative that you revise this content in your own time. This will help you in the long run and reduce the amount of work you have to accomplish independently in the program's final phases. Without a doubt, this will help your grades in Spanish!
While it can seem difficult to improve your A Level or GCSE Spanish-speaking proficiency, we’re here to tell you that it isn’t impossible.
In this guide, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best resources and methods for effective A-Level and GCSE Spanish revision for the speaking component of the Spanish exam.
How to improve your Spanish
Expressing your thoughts. Here, you are trying to train your brain to pluck words from your memory with the same fluidity that you manage with English. In Spanish, there is not just one way to say something. The English language has one of the largest vocabularies in the world because we have single words that describe a single situation, feeling, sensation or thought.
In Spanish things are more fluid, more relaxed and more emotive. Try not to confine yourself to learning Spanish in a scientific manner: have fun, play around with the words and enjoy talking!
Practice! The more you practice speaking Spanish, the more natural it will come to you. Make sure you understand the format of your Spanish-speaking exam and practice every element of it, whether that be a presentation, answers to questions on different conversational topics, role-plays, or anything else. Try and get someone to speak with rather than just speaking to yourself because this will allow you to really understand the language and develop a conversation, which is what you want to replicate in the exam.
Finally, you must try to relax! The last few minutes before your oral exam can be almost painful. Keep calm and remember that all you are doing is going into a room and having a conversation with someone. Breathe deeply, drink some water and remember that the examiner is not trying to catch you. He or she wants you to be comfortable enough to answer their questions in a natural manner.
In short, it's quite simple, try to get some practice speaking Spanish if you are looking to ace your Spanish exam GCSE.
Discover some of the best Spanish lessons near me in the United-Kingdom here.
Listen and Learn
To get better at speaking Spanish, you need to learn to listen and listen to learn.
Listening to Spanish is vital for improving your speaking proficiency for several reasons.
First, listening to native speakers will help you understand how sentences and words are used and structured in Spanish. This is important because if you try to talk in Spanish as if you were talking in English, you would likely be misunderstood by a Spanish speaker. The two languages are different not only in content but in grammar too.
Secondly, if you don’t listen to much Spanish, how can you expect to master the pronunciation of its sounds? There are many tricky sounds in Spanish, and that’s not even to mention the trilled ‘r,’ so it really pays to listen to how these sounds are made.
Understanding Speech
Understanding how Spanish is spoken is the first step to speaking more competently.
One of the best ways to improve your speaking without actually saying anything is to listen to native Spanish speakers on a regular basis.
There are a few ways to do this, and we’ll take a look at each option now.
Radio
The radio may seem a little old-fashioned, but it remains one of the best ways to hear native Spanish speakers chatting away about any old topic. While you may not understand everything at first, each time you listen to a conversation in Spanish, your ear has a chance to better tune itself to the language. That means that over time you’ll be able to more easily recognise speech patterns, including timing, the pitch they use for questions versus statements, and how they form sentences.
Podcasts
Podcasts are an excellent listening resource, and there are plenty of beginner-friendly Spanish podcasts out there to enjoy.
Listening to a podcast, you can hear the language while also picking up valuable lessons, provided the podcast is about learning Spanish.
Mastering Pronunciation
Listening is also crucial for mastering pronunciation.
If you go into the speaking exam without having listened to much Spanish, it’s going to be much more difficult for you to nail the pronunciation. You can tune your ear to the sounds of Spanish using various resources, and this will help you learn good pronunciation before it’s too late.
Pronunciation Tools
Websites like Forvo allow you to find out how just about any word is pronounced in Spanish. The website asks native speakers to say a word and then provides several of these recordings for you to listen to.
This is a useful tool to use if you have any doubts surrounding how to say a certain word.
Videos of Pronunciation
As well as listening, you can find videos on YouTube that show you how tongue placement and the shape of your mouth can affect your speech.
This is a great thing to do if you’re struggling with the basics, or you just can’t seem to trill your ‘r’s.’
Getting ready for the oral exam in Spanish
You might wish to turn your attention to the oral test if you want to maximize your mark on the topic. You can earn some points before you even take a seat in the exam room because this part of the evaluation occurs before the writing and listening portions of the test.
This also implies that when the oral test deadline approaches, you can focus your study efforts on getting a good score on it. As soon as your conversational assessment is complete, you can return to studying for the written exam.
Students have a strong motivation to improve at this aspect of their Spanish exam because of the number of marks that are awarded. This is fantastic for students entering the program with some level of Spanish and those who hope to graduate with a solid command of the language.
The benefit of preparing for your Spanish oral test for the leaving certificate is that you will improve your grade in the subject and graduate from the leaving cert program speaking a second language.
Plus, since Spanish is a phonetic language, pronunciation of the words you end up guessing shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
Also, look at how to revise for Spanish listening assessments.
Record Yourself
The first technique is simple: talk to yourself and record it on your phone or another audio recording device. You can either do a stream-of-consciousness style speech or read some Spanish text aloud.
Speaking off the top of your head will train your ability to think on your feet and come up with fast responses. It will also help you to power through those moments of doubt or indecision when you’re stuck searching for a word.
Reading from a text will help you to focus on the pronunciation of each sound, and hearing the recording afterwards will be a good indicator of how you’re doing in that regard. Reading aloud will also help you familiarise yourself with the common sounds and sentence structure seen in Spanish.
Mental Chatter
If you’re really self-conscious, what you can do is conduct a mental dialogue in Spanish. This is even better when you’re out and about. You can combine this with freestyle rap and rap in your mind about what you see as you go on a walk. You can try to make the words rhyme or simply rap your grocery list in Spanish. This should get you in the right frame of mind for when you actually have to speak Spanish in the exam.
It’s also a great way to warm up before you have to start the exam. As you’re waiting outside, for example, instead of fretting about the exam, you can calmly list the things around you in Spanish to switch the voice in your head. If you walk into the exam with your mind already focusing on Spanish, then your responses should be a little quicker.
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