Cork Airport and a turtle blown off route to Ireland feature in Spanish exam

Cork Airport generic stock file

The story of a turtle, who was blown thousands of miles off route to Ireland before being flown home to Gran Canaria from Cork Airport, featured amongst comprehensions on this year’s Leaving Cert ordinary level Spanish exam.

The Leaving Cert exams continued this Tuesday morning with both higher and ordinary-level Spanish.

Overall, both papers were straightforward, according to David McArdle, subject spokesperson with the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI).

A teacher at De La Salle Secondary School in Dundalk, Co Louth, Mr McArdle said his students, in general, were very positive about the exam.

“Overall, the higher level paper was very, very accessible.

“If students were using past papers for revision, which I’m sure they were, they would have found the paper very easy to do.

“A lot of similar vocabulary came up from previous papers, particularly the Section C questions which were the letter, diary entry, and the note.”

He added: “The letter was relatively straightforward, but students would have had to write plenty of detail to get the marks in it. The diary entry and the note, if students had plenty of practice with the past papers, students wouldn’t have had any problems here.” 

Section C, which focuses on dialogue and construction, is “normally very popular” with students.

This year it was about someone based in Madrid for a year who wanted to join a local basketball club. 

“The tenses were important here, particularly the past tense and your use of vocabulary for sports,” Mr McArdle said.

“Students would have found that easy enough from preparing for the oral exams, particularly their past tests.” 

Section A is based on prescribed literature, while Section B is based on a journalistic text which tends to be more popular with students. 

This year, the comprehension was based on increasing heatwaves in Spain.

“There was one or two bits of vocab here that could have been a wee bit tricky but the way the questions were asked, they could have avoided the difficult terminology.” 

'Positive paper'

Even though the comprehension wasn’t directly related to covid, students may have been able to use the vocabulary they picked up while discussing and learning about the pandemic, Mr McArdle believed.

“The likes of the word for ‘elderly’ would have been in the covid vocabulary as they were the most vulnerable."

Section B, the longer comprehensions, contained one or two synonyms which may have thrown students, he added.

However, the essay questions were “lovely”, he believed. 

These were based on family, the expense of being a student in Ireland, and young people having an easy life.

“Cost of living would have fit well there, and these were very topical.

“I would imagine students would have been very well prepared for the paper. A very welcome and positive paper.” 

The ordinary level paper was also “relatively straightforward”, Mr McArdle added.

The comprehensions were great, based on a trip on a hot air balloon, a chocolate candy company, a cinema for dogs opening its doors, Calvin Harris and his life in Ibiza, and a turtle returning home to Gran Canaria from Co Cork.

The paper’s Section B was similar to higher level, he added. 

If they had been practicing away, there should have been no surprises. The vocabulary was relatively straightforward.

The aural exam, the listening test, this year was also very accessible, according to Maria Fenton, Spanish teacher with the Insitute of Education.

“The majority of the questions were clear but one or two contained phrases that would distinguish those we more familiarity with the language.”

“Phrases like 'estar harto de' meaning 'fed up' or other terms like 'below average' and 'two centuries’ instead of numerals would have challenge weaker students.

“However, I suspect students will be very content with this section.” 

In the end, students will likely feel happy with this paper, she added.

“While it did have its challenges and a few idiomatic terms, it was fundamentally accessible – both in its topics and vocabulary.”