Bienvenidos

Course Overview

Stage 5

The Stage 5 Years 9 and 10 Course is a new course written and produced by Open High School and Southern Cross School, Ballina. Open High School teacher Mr. Tulio Valdes and Mrs. Monica Lois-Savins, teacher at Southern Cross School, Ballina, were responsible for the writing of this course. The course materials are delivered in the form of electronic documents on CDs (which students need to print out) and audio CDs.

In order to complete this course, students have to send in 24 packages of work in Year 9, and 24 packages of work in Year 10. The course is complemented by internet assignments posted on Nicenet.

Fortnightly phone lessons with their teacher allows the students to do their speaking skills practice and discuss any issues they might have in regard to the course work.

Stage 6

Spanish Beginners

The Stage 6 Beginners Course is a new course written and produced by Open High School and Southern Cross School, Ballina. Mr. Tulio Valdes, teacher from Open High School and Mrs. Monica Lois-Savins, teacher at Southern Cross School, were responsible for the writing of this course. The course materials are delivered in the form of electronic documents on CDs (which students need to print out) and audio CDs.

In order to complete this course, students have to send in 24 packages of work in Year 11, and 24 packages of work in Year 12. The course is complemented by internet assignments posted on Nicenet. Students are also required to read the magazine Que tal to practice their reading skills and to enhance their vocabulary.

Weekly phone lessons allow students to practice the speaking skills component of the course interactively, and also allow for more immediate support of students in their learning.

Spanish Continuers

The Spanish Continuers Course was originally produced by the Learning Materials Production Centre and it consists of 5 Modules, each module containing 4 units of work, in Year 11 and 4 Module containing 4 units of work each in Y12 complemented with additional materials to help students according to their needs and to prepare them for their HSC with examination techniques.

The course is very comprehensive and aims to develop all four-skill areas. Phone lessons are organised on a weekly basis with the aim of developing the students’ conversational skills.

Spanish Extension

The Spanish Extension Course is a course which was produced jointly by the Languages Unit, Professional Support and Curriculum Directorate and Learning Material Production, Open Training and Education Network. However, this course has been adapted by Open High School teachers for our students’ needs. The course is introduced by a Background Information Package and every week students need to complete a series of activities related to the 7 extracts of the prescribed text. The original activities are complemented with additional materials related to the prescribed text’s themes and issues.

Course Materials

Textbooks

The following is a list of learning materials which need to be purchased for the specified course. All prices are approximate.  If a course is not listed, the materials are provided by Open High School.

HSC Courses

Spanish Extension

• DVD - The Motorcycle Diaries

Easily available from various outlets

Dictionaries

All students should have a comprehensive language dictionary. Please consult the Spanish faculty for advice re dictionaries.

Stage 6 Syllabuses (From Board of Studies)

Click here to go to our Syllabus Downloads page - choose your language and then download the relevant syllabus.

National Anthem

National Emblem

Country Map

Country Overview

Spain occupies the greater part of the Iberian Peninsula, and is bounded on the north by the Bay of Biscay, France, and Andorra; on the east by the Mediterranean Sea; on the south by the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; and on the west by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. The British dependency of Gibraltar is situated at the southern extremity of Spain. The Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa are governed as provinces of Spain. Also, Spain administers two small exclaves in Morocco?Ceuta and Melilla?as well as three island groups near Africa?Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and the Alhucemas and Chafarinas islands. The area of Spain, including the African and insular territories, is 505,990 sq km (195,364 sq mi). Madrid is the capital and largest city.

Official Language Of

Spain, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay Venezuela. Widely spoken in: Andorra, Belize, Morocco, Philipines, Trinidad and Tobago and the USA.

Total Number of Speakers

More than 358 million

Language Family

Indo-European

Writing System

Latin alphabet

Language Overview

Spanish is an Iberian Romance language spoken originally in Spain. Spanish originated as a Latin dialect along the remote cross road strips among the Cantabria, Burgos and La Rioja provinces of Northern Spain. From there, its use gradually spread inside the Kingdom of Castile, where it eventually became the principal language of the government and trade. It was later brought to the Americas and other parts of the world in the last five centuries by Spanish explorers and colonists. Current statistics shows up to 400 million people speak it, making Spanish the most popular Romance language and the third most spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese and English. Spanish is also one of six official working languages of the United Nations and one of the most used global languages. It is also the second most widely spoken language in the United States.