Spanish

All languages courses at Hampton Court House are delivered by teachers who embrace the idea that languages are the bedrock of the world’s cultural heritage.

Every language offers a rich and unique insight into different ways of thinking and living as well as into the history of the myriad of culture and peoples across the globe. At Hampton Court House, Spanish is taught by native teachers, with a methodical approach, based on accurate grammar and precise syntax that results in confident users of the language who can communicate effectively both, orally and in writing.

Jose M Alvarez-Campos MA

Rebeca Pernas BA

GCSE

Spanish is taught from Year 9 up to Year 11 by native speaker Rebeca Pernas.

Year 9 is an introductory course that provides a strong foundation of the language and prepares students to embrace the GCSE Spanish course. All students at Hampton Court House have the option to take the Spanish introductory course in Year 9, after studying French and Mandarin in the Middle Years, and then decide if they continue with the language up to GCSE.

In Year 10 and 11 students follow the Hampton Court House GCSE course. This is an ambitious course that prepares the students to face the GCSE demands and take the students beyond the syllabus. Although we follow the Edexcel GCSE Spanish course, resources are prepared by the Spanish Department in order to stretch the candidates and permit a smooth transition to A Level.

The GCSE course prepares the students on the four language skills of speaking, writing, listening and understanding and reading and responding while covering a range of relevant contemporary and cultural themes:

Identity and culture
Local area and travelling
Education and school life
Future aspirations and work
International and global dimension

A Level

The Spanish A Level course is taught by native speaker Jose Alvarez. The course will enable students to engage critically with intellectually stimulating texts and films, developing an appreciation of sophisticated and creative uses of the language and understanding them within their cultural and social context. Students will also develop control of the language system to convey meaning, using spoken and written skills, including an extended range of vocabulary, for both practical and intellectual purposes. Moreover, students will develop as researchers.

A knowledge of Spanish facilitates diverse areas of employment as journalism, law, international business, finance, the civil service, translation, tourism and academia.

Spanish Theatre Trip

Los estudiantes de español A Level tuvieron la oportunidad de ver ‘La casa de Bernarda Alba’ de Federico García Lorca, en el Teatro Cervantes de Londres. La obra, representada en español, explora los temas de la represión, la pasión y el conformismo en una familia dominada por el matriarcado... de Bernarda Alba.

Los estudiantes de español A Level analizan la obra en preparación para su examen escrito y ver la representación profundiza en el conocimiento de esta universal obra maestra de Lorca.

Students of Spanish in Years 11 to 13 went to see ‘La Casa de Bernarda Alba’ (The House of Bernarda Alba) by Federico García Lorca at the Cervantes Theatre in London.

The play was performed in Spanish and explored the themes of repression, passion and conformity through the depiction of a matriarch’s domination of her five daughters.

Students taking A level Spanish study the play in preparation for their examinations. By seeing ‘La Casa de Bernarda Alba’ in performance, they have broadened their knowledge and understanding of this masterpiece by Lorca.

Image from website of Cervantes Theatre, London

Guernica

As part of Hampton Court House’s cross-curricular Spanish Civil War week, the animation club made a short film to evoke the carpet bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by General Franco and his allies.

Estudiantes de A level español eligen las películas Machuca y Volver

Los estudiantes de A Level en español eligen Machuca y Volver para su estudio cinematográfico.

Chloe, Brynley y Calvin disfrutarán en Machuca de una historia de amistad entre dos estudiantes con el trasfondo social de pertenecer a clases sociales distintas. Los estudiantes analizarán las políticas... del gobierno socialista de Salvador Allende y las circunstancias que llevaron al golpe de estado del Augusto Pinochet en el Chile de 1973.

Dhelia, por su parte, disfrutará en Volver de uno de los trabajos más exitosos de Pedro Almodóvar. Volver es una historia costumbrista que mezcla las tradiciones de la España más profunda con la supervivencia, el humor y la locura. Un magnífico retrato de la Castilla más tradicional.

Year 12 Spanish students choose the films Machuca and Volver for their Spanish language film studies.

Chloe, Brynley and Calvin are looking forward to watching the film Machuca which is a story of friendship between two school boys from different social backgrounds. Year 12 will analyse the policies of the socialist government of Salvador Allende and the circumstances that resulted in a coup d’état in Chile led by Augusto Pinochet in 1973.

Dhelia will enjoy watching Volver, one of Pedro Almodóvar’s most successful films. Volver is a story of local customs which mixes the most deeply rooted Spanish traditions with survival, humour and madness. The work is a magnificent portrait of the Castile region of Spain at its most traditional.