There are a few 'useful essay phrases' resources out there online but I put together this one because: 1) I was mainly looking for useful phrases pupils could make use of in the (new AQA) speaking exam when talking about the various topics 2) Existing resources seemed more geared towards structuring an essay 3) ...and many contained many pages of often quite convoluted essay phrases students were fairly unlikely to remember or find an opportunity to use. Yes, virtually all of these phrases would be perfectly suitable in written work too but I have tried to compile a relatively brief (just over 2.5 pages) list of what seem to me the most handy expressions that could be plausibly used when speaking. I have gathered the ones which take the subjunctive in a separate box at the beginning of the document. Easily editable. And there is a box at the end for students to add further phrases.

This is a triple worksheet (three pages) about future plans (not future jobs as such but more general: I'm going to take a gap year, go to university, learn to drive, etc). Sheet 1 is a vocabulary sheet for this topic. Sheet 2 has some simply match-up and gap-fill tasks to introduce key vocabulary. Sheet 3 has four sample paragraphs about people's future plans. There are questions testing comprehension but also getting pupils to highlight useful language such as time phrases, connectives, etc. The idea is to get them to think about how they can write sophisticated paragraphs about this topic.

This worksheet has two sides: one with a 150-word environment question, with a model answer to highlight, dissect and analyse (to give students ideas for their own writing) second side gives a 90-word environment question, with an inadequate sample answer for them to analyse, annotate and improve in pairs Students found this useful to prepare to write their own answer to an GCSE question on the environment. Took up a good chunk of the lesson.

Worksheet to practise regular ER verbs. Includes a section on negative sections using ne...pas.

Useful for practising the Conditional Tense in the context of the Racism topic. Gets students practising relevant vocabulary while practising their grammar at the same time. (If you use the new Oxford 'AQA Spanish' text book you'll find that p.35 in Section 2.2A (Las medidas contra el racismo) covers the Conditional Tense in just this context.) Contains: 1) Worksheet with 20 sentences about combatting racism for students to translate into Spanish. Each requires a verb in the Conditional Tense, including some of the main verbs with irregular stems (and a couple of derivatives, e.g. intervenir). 2) Simple Powerpoint presentation where the sentences appear one by one, followed by the answer. You could do a few on mini-whiteboards/iPads as a class and then pupils fill in the rest on their sheet.

Introduces present tense of regular AR verbs (main model verb: estudiar). Short practice exercise. Plenary game (pupils gain points for their team by creating a phrase, e.g. if they say 'bailan', the teacher clicks "they" and "dance", revealing a number of points under each square which are added together and given to that team)

Double-sided sheet with an overview of all the main Spanish verb tenses. Ideal ‘quick reference’ sheet for Key Stage 4 and 5. Pupils can stick it in front of their books/files. Sections are numbered so you can quickly refer them to the right section. Includes stem-changing and key irregular/semi-irregular verbs. PDF and editable Powerpoint* version included. *Note that if you don’t have the latest (2016) version of Office, the formatting of the PPT version will appear wrongly. But the PDF will be fine. FRENCH VERSION ALSO AVAILABLE IN MY SHOP :)

Lesson Powerpoint and accompanying worksheets (and vocabulary sheet) on talking about what your IDEAL SCHOOL would be like. Key verbs introduced, model texts with ideas. Everything you need for teaching this sub-topic. BONUS As a little extra, I’ve included some slides about talking about EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES and WHAT MY PRIMARY SCHOOL WAS LIKE

Worksheet to prepare pupils to talk about their ideal school uniform (using the Conditional Tense). They read 6 speech boxes about six people's ideas about what their ideal school uniform would be like, underlining all the uses of the Conditional. Then they Find the Spanish for various useful phrases

‘Find Someone Who’ speaking activity sheet (survey: find someone who… wants to go to university, etc) Small worksheet (two copies per page, to save on photocopying!) to introduce/practise phrases like: Tengo la intención de ser profesor. Quiero tener una familia. Espero encontrar trabajo. Me gustaría vivir en el extranjero. Pienso tomarme un año sabático. Quiero trabajar como voluntario. Espero ir a la universidad. Tengo la intención de seguir estudiand

Double-sided sheet with an overview of all the main French verb tenses. Ideal ‘quick reference’ sheet for Key Stage 4 and 5. Pupils can stick it in front of their books/files. Sections are numbered so you can quickly refer them to the right section. Includes key irregular/semi-irregular verbs. PDF and editable Powerpoint* version included. *Note that if you don’t have the latest (2016) version of Office, the formatting of the PPT version will appear wrongly. But the PDF will be fine. SPANISH VERSION ALSO AVAILABLE IN MY SHOP :)

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPs. You could base a whole lesson around these resources (or set them for homework/revision). Contains: A slide with a ‘mosaic writing’ activity (credit to Gianfranco Conti for this idea): i.e. Pupils are given a short paragraph in English about family relationships and have to construct a Spanish translation from the words provided in the grid. A worksheet with various tasks designed to build up/practise key vocabulary to do with this topic. The idea is that the gap-fill task can be completed purely by using words drawn from the first text - in other words, pupils are identifying and recycling the relevant language. Likewise the Translation sentences at the bottom can be done using vocabulary from elsewhere on the worksheet. Ideas for further exploiting the worksheet You can exploit the texts on the worksheet in other ways. E.g. spot the adjectives. Re-write one of the texts changing the underlined parts (teacher could project the texts onto board with some phrases underlined) to say something else, verbally or in writing e.g. alternative adjectives, different verbs, different family member words. Plenary with mini-whiteboard sentences to translate based purely on words and phrases from the text (or incorporating prior knowledge too for stronger classes). Reading texts aloud for pronunciation practice. Translate the first text. etc etc.

Basic worksheet on the imperfect tense. Pupils fill in the verb endings then do the gap-fill exercise.

10 page (+cover) Grammar Booklet. Perfect for end of year revision or consolidation work during the year. This was designed as a Grammar Revision booklet for first year Spanish students, covering: Gender: masculine and feminine nouns Singular and plural nouns 'The' (the definite article) 'A (an)' (the indefinite article) 'Some' Adjective agreements Me gusta(n) ‘My, your, his, her, its’ (Possessive pronouns) Regular verbs in the Present Tense Two irregular verbs: ‘tener’ and ‘ser’ There are step-by-step explanations and exercises for each grammar point. The vocabulary used presupposes familiarity with the first four chapters of Mira 1 (or a similar text book: it is typical'beginners'' vocabulary on family, pets, colours, etc)

Aim: to help GCSE (or KS3) pupils prepare to write their own paragraph about ‘last weekend’ (after previously learning the Preterite Tense and relevant activity vocabulary). Worksheet with 2 model texts about “el fin de semana pasado” (last weekend). Contains opinions and time phrases for pupils to find. Accompanying Powerpoint with a “One Pen, One Die” activity to do after the worksheet. Then a speaking pair game (roll the die, say the sentence, gain the points). Also a gap-fill activity to reinforce the language from the worksheet - could be used as a Starter the following lesson.

Worksheet (two sides): Side 1: practising present tense of ar, er and ir verbs (regular), plus tener and ser, Side 2 practising articles, possessive pronouns, me gusta(n), adjective agreements. Grammar and vocabulary based on early chapters of Mira 1.

Double-sided worksheet, designed for Year 12 to revise adjective endings, especially the more irregular ones.

Some basic immigration-related vocabulary for AQA A-Level Spanish. A4 Vocabulary sheet with Spanish and English in a grid.

Made for a Year 12 to re-cap regular Present Tense verbs. Presentation and a couple of practice games of Morpion. Could be used in other year groups.

Presentation of regular IR verb endings (present tense), with oral practice and practice activity. Plenary class game to finish: Two teams take turn to say a sentence, e.g. 'VivEN en Cuba'; the relevant box is clicked; if there is a cross underneath it, that team gets a point.