Specialist School

 Mathematics and Physics

Thornhill College Girls' Grammar School
Adveniat Regnum Tuum

"Educating concerned, informed, adaptable members of the world community"

Thornhill College, Culmore Road, Derry

Spanish

Our aim is to encourage pupils to develop a love for Spain - its language and culture, and to use it as a means of communication whenever possible. 

We encourage pupils to visit Spain and to this end we organise a school language trip to Spain every other year.

Click for photos of the recent Spanish Dept trip to Spain

KS3 Spanish

In Key Stage 3 Spanish, pupils develop reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. They learn to talk about themselves and the world around them.

From the beginning of Year 8, pupils are exposed to the Target Language and encouraged to use it naturally. Greetings, prayers and simple classroom instructions are introduced immediately and Spanish is used as much as possible.

The aim of the Key Stage 3 course is to teach pupils about Spain and its culture as well as the Spanish language. Pupils have access to a wide variety of resources such as text books, CDs, videos, computers, and Spanish websites. Authentic resources e.g. menus, leaflets etc are used regularly in order to make the Spanish experience as real as possible.

The Spanish Club

The department has a thriving Year 8 Spanish Club. Activities are led by the Language Assistant and one of the Spanish teachers. This is an excellent opportunity for the pupils to have fun through the target language by taking part in Spanish games, quizzes, activities and build on the vocabulary that they have learned in the classroom.

Club Español

           Spanish Department Trip to Spain

A five/six day visit to Spain is organised every two years and is generally based in N.E. Spain. The whole group stays in hotel accommodation for the duration of the trip. Activities include classes in Spanish, cultural visits, shopping trips, excursions etc

GCSE Spanish

The CCEA Programme of Study is followed at GCSE level. In Key Stage 4 Spanish, pupils further develop their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. They build on their previous studies and learn about each topic in more detail. They learn how to express themselves more freely and give more opinions on their likes and dislikes, thoughts and feelings. Pupils are provided with more real life situations (role plays) so that they would be able to confidently ask for information, directions, assistance or have a regular conversation in Spanish

They also study careers, the world of work and future aspirations which ties in with the decisions that they make in Year 12 about their future areas of study.

Pupils have access to a wide range of resources including text books, CDs, DVDs, computers (language learning programmes and Spanish websites) and magazines.

AS & A2 Level Spanish

The study of Spanish to advanced level enables pupils to achieve oral and written proficiency in the language.  It also allows them to gain a cultural understanding of the countries/ communities where Spanish is spoken.  During Years 13 and 14, pupils have regular conversation classes with the Spanish assistant.  Pupils are taught in the language, whenever possible, and have access to authentic resources such as Spanish magazines.  In the Sixth-Form, pupils are taken to Language Conferences held at the University to enhance their language learning and academic performance, as well as to gain an understanding of the opportunities that languages can offer in the future.

Contexts for learning (A-level Topics)