A series of reading, writing and translation activities to explore the main themes of Pan’s Labyrinth: obedience, the treatment of masculinity and femininity, and the use of violence. The resource is 20 pages long and it includes short written questions, translation activities, gap-fills, true, false and not mentioned activities and several essay questions. PLEASE NOTE: this resource is part of a much more comprehensive and more detailed resource, the Pan’s Labyrinth Student Support Guide that can be found on this link: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/spanish-a-level-el-laberinto-del-fauno-gu-a-de-estudio-pan-s-labyrinth-student-support-guide-12002448 The guide is over 70 pages long, and a free sample can be found here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/el-laberinto-del-fauno-planos-y-ngulos-de-c-mara-pan-s-labyrinth-shots-and-camera-work-12002490

This booklet contains eight questions that follow the format of the 90-word questions in the new French GCSE writing exam. They cover all aspects of Theme 3 (Current and future study and employment), and they can be used in lessons, but also as an easy way to set useful homework activities for the students. All questions include four bullet points that the students are prompted to cover, and they explicitly require them to include references to three time frames and opinions (as per the AQA mark scheme). A booklet with 24 questions covering all three themes can be found here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/new-french-gcse-writing-exam-90-word-questions-11822119

This resource has 54 sentences (18 for each of the three themes of the new GCSE), all of which contain one or more mistakes. I have based them on some of the most common mistakes my GCSE students have been making over the last few years, and they include, amongst others: word order adjectival agreement the use of the infinitive verbs like gustar Additionally, the resource includes a brief explanation of the rules each section focuses on.

A series of activities to help students research (and write about) the use of colour in Guillermo del Toro’s film El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth). It includes a lot of screen shots to illustrate the main points, a translation, an essay question, and opportunities for independent work (the influence of Dario Argento). PLEASE NOTE: this resource is part of a much more comprehensive and more detailed resource, the Pan’s Labyrinth Student Support Guide that can be found on this link: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/spanish-a-level-el-laberinto-del-fauno-gu-a-de-estudio-pan-s-labyrinth-student-support-guide-12002448 The guide is over 70 pages long, and a free sample can be found here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/el-laberinto-del-fauno-planos-y-ngulos-de-c-mara-pan-s-labyrinth-shots-and-camera-work-12002490

A couple of lessons to prepare the topics of daily routine and reflexive verbs.

A three-page file with a lot actual information about Spanish culture and society, focusing on the topic of Immigration (part of the theme Multiculturalism in Hispanic society of the new Spanish A Level). It provides students with facts and statistics, which should be very helpful in preparation for Paper 3 (the speaking exam). The information can also be used for translation practice and it can be very easily adapted into a variety of reading activities.

A series of reading, writing and translation activities to help Spanish A Level students explore the use of monsters in Guillermo del Toro’s film El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth). The resource is divided into two sections (“Monstruos, humanos y religión” and “Los monstruos y el miedo a la diferencia”), and the activities include: Spanish to English translation Read a text and correct the mistakes Explain del Toro’s quote about monsters Answer questions in Spanish on a longer text Two English into Spanish translations A Level Essay The final pages of the resource include useful vocabulary to write an essay and a check list to help the students reflect on what they have written.

A booklet with eight 150-word questions to revise the theme of Identity and culture of the new Spanish GCSE exam. There are two questions for each of the topics in Theme one (Me, my family and friends, Technology in everyday life, Free-time activities and Customs and festivals in Spanish-speaking countries). Each of the questions contains two bullet points that the students are expected to cover; the bullet points are written to resemble the ones found in the 2018 paper and those in the sample questions provided by AQA. At least one of the bullet points in each question prompts the students to refer to either the past or the future, and several questions ask the students to write their “recommendations”. Finally, the booklet also contains a copy of the mark scheme for the 150 word question and an overview of the themes and topics.

A series of activities to help students reflect about the elements of the fairy tale in Pan’s Labyrinth. The resource first explores the structure of the fairy tale and how this is reflected on Pan’s Labyrinth, it is then followed by a reading and writing activity (90-word summary) about the most common elements in fairy tales (characters, setting…). The next section includes a series of questions about how all of the above is shown in the film. Finally there an AS-type essay question. PLEASE NOTE: This resource is part of a much longer and much more exhaustive resource, my Pan’s Labyrinth Student Support Guide, which can be found here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/spanish-a-level-el-laberinto-del-fauno-gu-a-de-estudio-pan-s-labyrinth-student-support-guide-12002448 There is a free sample of the guide on this link: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/el-laberinto-del-fauno-planos-y-ngulos-de-c-mara-pan-s-labyrinth-shots-and-camera-work-12002490

A three-page file with a lot actual information about Spanish culture and society, focusing on the topic Cyberspace, part of the theme Aspects of Hispanic culture of the new Spanish A Level. It provides students with facts and statistics, which should be very helpful in preparation for Paper 3 (the speaking exam).

A series of reading and writing activities to explore the historical background of Guillermo del Toro’s film El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrnth), focused specifically in the causes and course of the Spanish Civil War and the idea of “las dos Españas” and the representation of this concept in the film, a section about “los maquis” and a section about fascism. PLEASE NOTE: this resource is part of a much more comprehensive and more detailed resource, the Pan’s Labyrinth Student Support Guide that can be found on this link: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/spanish-a-level-el-laberinto-del-fauno-gu-a-de-estudio-pan-s-labyrinth-student-support-guide-12002448 The guide is over 70 pages long, and a free sample can be found here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/el-laberinto-del-fauno-planos-y-ngulos-de-c-mara-pan-s-labyrinth-shots-and-camera-work-12002490

A booklet with eight 90 word questions to revise the theme of Identity and culture of the new Spanish GCSE exam. There are two questions for each of the topics in Theme one (Me, my family and friends, Technology in everyday life, Free-time activities and Customs and festivals in Spanish-speaking countries). Each of the questions contains four bullet points that the students are expected to cover; one of the bullet points refers to the past and, when possible, it starts with "qué hiciste", as many of the AQA sample questions do; another bullet point requires the students to use either the future or the conditional, and another one prompts them to say their opinion. Finally, the booklet also contains a copy of the mark scheme for the 90 word question, which is the same at foundation and at higher level. A similar booklet including questions for themes 1, 2 and 3 can be found in this link: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/new-spanish-gcse-writing-exam-practice-90-word-questions-11820179

A speaking activity (discussion card) and a reading activity about the feminist strike in Spain on the 8th of March (2018). The speaking card includes a photograph of the huge demonstration in Madrid, some facts about the strike and three questions to encourage the students to discuss the topic, and the reading activity is an adapted version of a newspaper article followed by three activities: find synonyms, translation and 90 word summary. It falls under the topic equal rights, but it can also be used to illustrate to discuss protests and strikes, as part of the “Los movimientos populares” sub theme.

A three-page file with a lot actual information about Spanish culture and society, focusing on the topic Traditional and modern values, part of the theme Aspects of Hispanic culture of the new Spanish A Level. It provides students with a lot facts and statistics, which should be very helpful in preparation for Paper 3 (the speaking exam). Additionally, the information included here can be easily adapted into a variety of reading and translation activities.

This double-sided mat provides the students of all abilities with a lot of useful language to support them when writing about Customs and festivals. Page one contains a lot of vocabulary (nouns, adjectives, conjunctions, time phrases and intensifiers) as well as a series of scaffolding structures (“sentence starters”). The second page contains twelve key verbs conjugated in the first person singular (yo) in six different tenses (the preterite, the imperfect, the present, the future, the conditional and the present subjunctive). Finally, there is also a section on complex structures on the second page, with examples of comparatives and superlatives, idiomatic expressions, conditional sentences (“si fuera…”), the present perfect and negative sentences.

This resource contains four reading and speaking activities to introduce key vocabulary and concepts about the topic sexism and feminism (El machismo y el feminismo) within the Equal rights sub theme of the AQA A Level specification. The first activity has 16 statements and the students are expected to decide to what extend they agree with them. The second activity contains 20 examples of sexist behaviour for the students to decide whether they have witnessed or engaged in that kind of behaviour themselves, followed by a speaking activity to defend/criticise those behaviours. The third activity is a discussion card based on a cartoon, and the final activity is a quiz/questionnaire for students to reflect on how sexist (or not) they are.

I find this the single more useful worksheet I have written. It is a simple template to write an extended sentence about how opinons havechanged (When I was little I liked... because it was..., but now...). I have been using it with all my Spanish groups (7-11) in the last couple of years, insisting that they always use the structure in their written and oral work, and by doing this they automatically include two tenses, a variety of connectives and adjectives and opinions in all their work. I have also included two further resources as examples of how I've been using it.

This three-page file includes a lot actual information about Spanish culture and society, focusing on the topic of Spanish regional identity (festivals, gastronomy and regional languages), part of the theme Artistic Culture in the Hispanic World of the new Spanish A Level. It provides students with facts and statistics, which should be very helpful in preparation for Paper 3 (the speaking exam). The information in the file can also be easily adapted to reading or translation activities.

Three activities adapted from online questionnaires / quizzes to discuss whether the students depend too much on their mobile phones, social media and the internet in general. Useful vocabulary for the new A Level topic of Cyberspace.

A worksheet that I have used with the younger students to practice descriptions in Spanish. It includes a writing frame to describe people’s physical appearance and a list of adjectives to describe personality. The worksheet is based on the film “Zipi y Zape y el club de la canica”.