In Higher Spanish  you will build upon your existing knowledge of the language to achieve greater flexibility of expression and a considerably more sophisticated level. By the end of the course you will be able to understand complex written and spoken Spanish and communicate successfully with others on a wide range of topics relevant to everyday life. You will also have the opportunity to explore and understand the culture of the country/countries where the language is spoken, for example by studying a foreign-language film.

The topics studied fall into four broad themes:

• Society (e.g. relationships, social problems, media & technology, prejudice)
• Learning (e.g. importance of education, experience up until now, university, lifelong learning)
• Employability (e.g. working life, gap year, future aspirations)
• Culture (e.g. travel, living/working abroad, importance of languages, foreign cinema & literature)

 

Assessment

 Your Higher is made up of two Units:

• Understanding Language (Reading and Listening)
• Using Language (Talking and Writing)

To pass each Unit you will need to sit assessments, called NARs.

In Understanding Language you must pass:

• One Reading NAR
• One Listening NAR

In Using Language you must pass

• One Talking NAR
• One Writing NAR

These assessments will take place at the end of a period of study on a given topic, and you will have ample time to prepare.

 In February you will sit a Talking exam. This will be a presentation lasting around 2½ minutes made to your teacher on a subject of your choice, followed by a conversation with your teacher (30% of total mark).

At the end of S5 you will sit the external Higher exams.

You will sit two papers on the day of your exams:

Paper 1: Reading and Directed Writing (40% of total mark)

Paper 2: Listening and Writing (30% of total mark)

Although the exams may seem far away, all your work during S5 contributes to the final outcome and every lesson and homework exercise counts. Your teacher will ensure that your classes provide you with everything you need to do well, and more; the extent to which you take advantage of the teaching, resources and advice given is equally important if you want to succeed.

The pace at Higher is fast and the course is very full. You must take a mature approach to your studies and communicate with your teacher. If you are absent, you are expected to take the initiative in finding out what work you have missed and asking for any resources or help you need to catch up.

Your teacher wants you to succeed and will try to support you as much as possible; your job is to give it all you’ve got!

 Above all, remember that in Higher Spanish you are learning a real life skill. If you are going to watch a film at the weekend, why not watch one in Spanish on Netflix? This is good for your language skills and you learn more about culture at the same time. If you like to listen to music on your phone before you go to sleep, why not listen to what’s in the Spanish charts on Youtube? You can usually find the lyrics for any song on the internet and read along.