Getting started in teaching LCA Spanish
The following suggestions/contacts may be useful to teachers new to LCA Spanish in the first few weeks of term.
LCA Support Service:Leaving Certificate Applied Office
Clare Education Centre
Kilrush Road
Ennis
Co. Clare.
Phone:065-6845504
Fax:065-6842930
Website: Click on the Leaving Cert Applied (LCA) tab
To get you started in the weeks before inservice you might try the following:
1)Speak to your Coordinator and ask for the Spanish Module Descriptor(or download from the website) and any other information and material he/she may have that would be useful to you.
2)Speak to any other Spanish teacher in your school who may have taught LCA Spanish before and get some advice/materials.
3)Go into the Department of Education website and download past Exam Papers, marking schemes, Chief Examiner’s Reports etc. re. LCA Spanish.
4)Get hold of any 1st year Spanish text books, especially any work books, tapes and games, and see what material you could use to get started (Unit 1 - name, introductions, live in.., I am from Ireland, map of Spain, family)
5)First Class – class discussion on Spain, Vox Pop Survey to see who has been there, what they liked etc. Brainstorm list of Spanish words they know (olé, gracias, hasta la vista..). Create first Word Bank.
6)Visit the Library – assign them different information to find (football, food, Barcelona, Ibiza, Bullfighting..) and get them to write down the names of any books they find. This will be useful for the research key assignment later in term.
7)Teach bite-size amounts of new vocabulary. Do not throw too much at them at once. Very important to engage them and get them interested, not turn them off.
Continuous reinforcement, vary activities as much as possible.
8)Active learning methodologies – roleplay, games, posters, pair work, discussion, brainstorming, vox pop, visits, word banks etc.
9)Get students to have a separate folder for their Spanish – will be getting a lot of handouts as there is no particular book for LCA Spanish. They could design the front of their folders with a map of Spain or their personal details (preparation for the Key Assignment – ID card).
10)See attached breakdown of Unit 1, Module 1, which should help you to start.
Unit 1:Introductions and Greetings
Key Vocabulary:
Greetings and introductions - themselves and others.
Ask someone their name and say theirs.
Ask someone where they live and say where you live.
Ser – “soy” and “es”
Nationalities – I am Irish, Spanish, and the names of a few countries.
Basic occupations – profesor, camarero, estudiante etc.
Names of Spanish cities, ports, airports etc. Map of Spain.
Family
Nombre, Apellido, Fecha de Nacimiento, Nacionalidad, direccion.
Roleplays:Introductions
Their names
Where they live, nationality, occupation
Talk about their family
Posters:Large map of Spain
Family trees
Games:Hangman (Names of Spanish cities/islands..)
Word Banks:Greetings
Nationalities and Countries
Family
Occupations
At the end of this unit, or by unit 2 (as they need to learn Months and some numbers) the students should be ready to complete Key Assignment Number 1:
Make an I.D. card (Names, Date of Birth, Nationality, Address)