Scheme of work (3 years)
The scheme is intended for students for whom the key stage 3 (KS3) course comprises three years.
The starting point is from a limited knowledge and experience of primary Spanish. For those with no prior knowledge, revision of basic vocabulary and structures can be built into early units of work. For those with much more primary Spanish experience, extension activities could be used.
The scheme is based upon a suggested time allocation of three hours per week.
Year 1
Unit 1: Relationships, family and friends
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
Meeting Greeting Dates Ages Birthdays Classroom objects and instructions Family members Pets Descriptions (physical and personality) Opinions Numbers (1–100) | Asking questions Imperatives Adjectives Regular verbs (-ar, -er, -ir) Key irregular verbs (tener, ser, estar, ir, hacer) Ser/estar with adjectives Subject pronouns Gender Articles Use of a and de + definite article Negatives Possessive adjectives | Recognising cognates and near cognates False friends Connectives Intensifiers Adverbs | Polite and familiar forms of verbs Facts about Spain |
Unit 2: Where I live
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
Countries Nationalities House and home including descriptions, rooms etc Daily routine Household chores | Irregular adjectives (including nationalities) More irregular verbs in the present tense Likes and dislikes followed by an infinitive | Dictionary skills Sound patterns (eg alphabet), some pronunciation rules | Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America |
Unit 3: Education
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
Description of school including facilities School subjects and opinions Teachers School routine (times) Uniform School rules | Giving reasons (including connectives, porque, ya que, puesto que) Adverbs of frequency Reflexive verbs Telling the time | Learning vocabulary Language learning strategies | Differences in education systems between Spain, UK and other Spanish-speaking countries |
Unit 4: Future plans
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
Future education plans (Key Stage 4 and beyond) Future life plans Where to live Family plans Future job intentions | Radical-changing verbs Use of me gustaría/quisiera + infinitive Immediate future tense (ir a + infinitive) | Memorisation techniques | Differences in jobs in different countries Working times |
Year 2
Unit 5: Holidays
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
Countries and languages Weather Past holiday destinations Holiday experiences Regions and sightseeing Future holiday plans Accommodation | Immediate future revision Future tense of regular verbs and key irregular verbs Preterite tense of regular verbs (-ar, -er, -ir) and irregular verbs ir and hacer | Asking questions Reading longer texts | Spanish holiday destinations Spanish conventions including eating times |
Unit 6: Travel
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
Means of transport Places in a town and directions Travel arrangements and preferences | Extended justifications and reasons for opinions Numbers 100–1000 Ordinal numbers primero, segundo, tercero, cuarto Imperatives Modal verbs with infinitive (deber, poder, tener que) | Advanced dictionary skills Pronunciation (erre, jota) Spanish accentuation rules | Greeting people in Spain Popular holiday destinations in South America |
Unit 7: Sports
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
Sports and games with opinions Past and future sporting events Famous Spanish sports people | Jugar/hacer/practicar and sports Prepositions Adverbs of place Revision of preterite Imperfect tense | Language learning strategies including identifying gender of words | Famous Spanish and South American sportsmen and women Vuelta a España El Clásico |
Unit 8: Hobbies
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
TV programmes Films and opinions Leisure time with friends Past and future hobbies Invitations Excuses | Tocar + musical instruments Revision of preterite tense Revision of imperfect tense Conditional tense Personal a | More complex sentence construction including the use of adjectives, adverbs, connectives and intensifiers to increase complexity | Famous Spanish and Latin American musicians/singers |
Year 3
Unit 9: Health
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
Parts of the body Illnesses and injuries Visiting a doctor/pharmacy Seeking and understanding medical help | Revision of adjectives Perfect tense of regular verbs and some irregulars (romper, ver, poner, decir) | Listening skills – detail and gist Extended conversations | Emergency procedures Differences in visiting a doctor in Spain |
Unit 10: Fitness/healthy lifestyle
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
Healthy lifestyles Avoiding obesity Active living Diet | Hay que/se debe/se debería + infinitive Revision of the future tense Si clauses: present and future tenses | Extended conversations Comprehension of longer texts with different tenses | Fiestas in Spain and South America, for example: San Fermín, la Tomatina, Las Fallas, La Feria de Sevilla, Semana Santa, Día de los Muertos |
Unit 11: Food and drink
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
Items of food and drink Different courses when eating out Meals and mealtimes Food preferences and opinions Shopping for food and drink Amounts, weights, prices Eating out Former and future eating habits | Revision of negatives Revision of the imperfect tense Revision of the conditional tense | Drafting and redrafting written work | Spanish eating habits |
Unit 12: Revision
Content | Grammar | Literacy/language | Culture |
Revision of all topics covered in units 1–11 | Revision of all grammar but concentrating on verb tenses, connectives, adjectives, adverbs and opinions with justifications to prepare for study at GCSE (Key Stage 4) | Reading Listening Speaking Writing | Spain and Spanish-speaking countries – differences in cultural outlooks |