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Edexcel A2 Spanish June 23rd 2011

Calling everyone preparing for the Edexcel A2 Spanish exam on June 23rd 2011!

What topics have you chosen for the oral exam? Let us know how your oral exam goes!

As for the final section of the paper, is anyone studying La Casa de Bernarda Alba?

Reply 1

GunnerR

Globalisation
The EU
Violence
The distribution of wealth between rich and poor.

Reply 2

EmilyMz

Hey

Isn't there only one topic we choose for the A2 oral? and the rest of the time is general conversation?...

Reply 3

Lady_Diamond

OP

1

Original post by EmilyMz

Hey

Isn't there only one topic we choose for the A2 oral? and the rest of the time is general conversation?...

Yes, that's correct.
My real oral is next week!!!! Mega stress!

Reply 4

GeekAndAHalf

I talked about university fees in the oral exam and had it last Tuesday. It went well (as far as I could tell) so hopefully that's going to help with the final grade :smile:

I also sat the AS paper yesterday and found it so much easier than I did last year. Just revising for 23rd of June now!

Good luck to everyone! xx

Reply 5

becky.page

Hey, i know this is about orals but with the written paper coming up soon i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what might come up for the discursive essay?
With the specification so broad im struggling to revise everything!

Reply 6

Lady_Diamond

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Original post by becky.page

Hey, i know this is about orals but with the written paper coming up soon i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what might come up for the discursive essay?
With the specification so broad im struggling to revise everything!

I'm under the impression that the essays could actually be on anything in the entire world. The topics on the spec are so so broad as you've said that there's really no way to tell!

Reply 7

becky.page

Original post by Lady_Diamond

I'm under the impression that the essays could actually be on anything in the entire world. The topics on the spec are so so broad as you've said that there's really no way to tell!

Yeah it covers basically everything! Hoping that i get a good RBE question and the translation isnt too tricky so i can afford to fall down a few on the discursive if need be

Reply 8

Lady_Diamond

OP

1

Yes I am really hoping the translation isn't too bad! *Sighs*

Reply 9

adamski93

Sitting this exam next thursday, got around a week to revise.

And i am also doing Bernarda Alba!

Reply 10

Lady_Diamond

OP

1

Original post by adamski93

Sitting this exam next thursday, got around a week to revise.

And i am also doing Bernarda Alba!

Yup, it's next Thurs 23rd! I'm quite nervous...

For Bernarda Alba, what main points do you have for social context?
I only have women.
Please tell me what topics you have for social context!
And also themes?
My teacher was away for half a year and we didn't get to discuss these.

Reply 11

Lady_Diamond

OP

1

Original post by GunnerR

Globalisation
The EU
Violence
The distribution of wealth between rich and poor.

Interesting. How did your oral go???

Reply 12

Lady_Diamond

OP

1

Original post by GeekAndAHalf

I talked about university fees in the oral exam and had it last Tuesday. It went well (as far as I could tell) so hopefully that's going to help with the final grade :smile:

I also sat the AS paper yesterday and found it so much easier than I did last year. Just revising for 23rd of June now!

Good luck to everyone! xx

Thanks! You too!
It's getting close....
What are you doing for the research based essay?

Reply 13

adamski93

Original post by Lady_Diamond

Yup, it's next Thurs 23rd! I'm quite nervous...

For Bernarda Alba, what main points do you have for social context?
I only have women.
Please tell me what topics you have for social context!
And also themes?
My teacher was away for half a year and we didn't get to discuss these.

Ours is split into 3 topics of what the exam could be on:

1) THEMES (Women, Authoritarianism in the play, Violence, Religion etc)
2) CHARACTERS (Comparing Bernarda and Adela etc)
3) SOCIAL CONTEXT (How the Second Republic relates back to the topic of themes)

My teacher also said the idea of techniques could come up, for example: the use of silence, the setting, black vs white during the play etc

I'm finding it hard to do, don't really know where to start. Whether to do it topic by topic, or just to learn a whole load of quotes for all of the three that could end up coming up, or to split up, it's the starting off usually for me which delays my revision.

May just get some quotes related to each theme, explain what they mean and then build it up from there. The discursive essay you can't really revise for can you? It's got to be simply just good grammar and vocab with very few flaws, as with the translation it's just got to be accurate so grammar is also important here!

Reply 14

Lady_Diamond

OP

1

Original post by adamski93

Ours is split into 3 topics of what the exam could be on:

1) THEMES (Women, Authoritarianism in the play, Violence, Religion etc)
2) CHARACTERS (Comparing Bernarda and Adela etc)
3) SOCIAL CONTEXT (How the Second Republic relates back to the topic of themes)

My teacher also said the idea of techniques could come up, for example: the use of silence, the setting, black vs white during the play etc

I'm finding it hard to do, don't really know where to start. Whether to do it topic by topic, or just to learn a whole load of quotes for all of the three that could end up coming up, or to split up, it's the starting off usually for me which delays my revision.

May just get some quotes related to each theme, explain what they mean and then build it up from there. The discursive essay you can't really revise for can you? It's got to be simply just good grammar and vocab with very few flaws, as with the translation it's just got to be accurate so grammar is also important here!

Hi, thanks for that.
The use of styles/techniques was the question on last year's paper (June 2010) which is our only paper for the new syllabus so it's unlikely we'll get a question on that.

THEMES - You said violence and religion... Is there really violence in the play? Is this like Bernarda hitting the girls? And for religion I can't find actual evidence about how religious Bernarda is. I know she is but I can't find quotations. So I'm in a real pickle. I think death could be a theme too and opression.

SOCIAL CONTEXT - So the 2nd republic was modern and wanted womens' rights I believe? We really haven't covered this! AHHH I am panicking! Do you have a website that explains the 2nd republic?

What I've done is just found important quotations that I'll probabaly need whatever the question.

And yup the discursive you can't really... as for grammar AHHH! This is my weakness.

Reply 15

GeekAndAHalf

Original post by Lady_Diamond

Thanks! You too!
It's getting close....
What are you doing for the research based essay?

I'm doing the geographical study of a region. I hope I'll be OK if some obscure question doesn't come up. We've studied a film too just in case but I'd really rather do the geographical study question. How about you? x

Reply 16

adamski93

Original post by Lady_Diamond

Hi, thanks for that.
The use of styles/techniques was the question on last year's paper (June 2010) which is our only paper for the new syllabus so it's unlikely we'll get a question on that.

THEMES - You said violence and religion... Is there really violence in the play? Is this like Bernarda hitting the girls? And for religion I can't find actual evidence about how religious Bernarda is. I know she is but I can't find quotations. So I'm in a real pickle. I think death could be a theme too and opression.

SOCIAL CONTEXT - So the 2nd republic was modern and wanted womens' rights I believe? We really haven't covered this! AHHH I am panicking! Do you have a website that explains the 2nd republic?

What I've done is just found important quotations that I'll probabaly need whatever the question.

And yup the discursive you can't really... as for grammar AHHH! This is my weakness.

There is quite a lot of quotes about religion, you've just got to find them. I'll give you a few:

Carbón ardiendo en el sitio de su pecado -> this kind of shows how religion effects the lives of the women as shown by the threat by Bernarda towards Adela. The idea of the maintenance of sexual abstinence goes hand in hand with the religious feeling at the time, and you could say that Bernarda whilst mainting a sense of religion in the play, also uses this theme to her own advantage in making sure that the women in the house are kept under strict boundaires thus feeding her desired authoritarian rule in the house.

Los pobres como son animales -> This again questions religion because a fundamental aspect of Christianity was that they helped fellow christians in poverty however Bernarda claims to be christian yet rejects the view of the poor, showing that she favours her own reputation and i suppose an idea of a class system based on honour inplace, rather than a fully religious house in which the girls live in. Many of the rules they abide go in hand in hand with religion but it is certainly manipulated as and when Bernarda feels like to maintain the authority that she has in the house.

La misa de réquiem por el marido de bernarda es el tema de conversación al principo de la obra -> This however reinforces the sense of religion regardless of how it is manipulated (remember this could always be argued against as you could say Bernarda isnt religious but she wants everybody else to be but i wouldn't i keep to what i'm saying it's much easier haha) This quote basically says that the church is an integral part of everyday life

Hope some of these help to do with religion.

As with the Second Republic it's a weird one which i'm not too certain of myself. They provided more rights for women whilst in the same time the republicans damaged religion. You can use quotes from Manuel Anzana to show the anger against religion in the 2nd Republic but you have to make it clear that despite the changes in religion, many parts of Spain (such as where LCDBA is set) had not experienced any changes to religion and therefore it still had a fundamental role to play in the lives of women in particular, as men worked. If you want more detail on what the government did in the 2nd Republic to harm religion, i think the year is 1931 and the gov introduced a variety of things to harm the church, and therefore the church had to fight back to preserve their previous privileges.

We've not really been told death can be a theme, even so they wouldn't ask specifically on 'death' they would ask about a 'theme' and you can choose. We was taught that we could simply use the theme of 'injustice' during the play and that crosses into violence/women/religion etc. By choosing one theme like religion i think that 1) you probably would end up struggling after 200 words to think of things to say unless you had lots of quotes revised and 2) by choosing more themes you don't need to know as much as you can choose which ones you think is more important or the one you know about more and talk about that.

Sorry for the jumbled order of this post but i thought i'd deal with religion as it was fresh on my mind after reading over it earlier. Violence maybe was a bit too narrow topic from me to suggest, i think the term discipline however would be a better one. This could i suppose be linked into the idea of honour as well, and you could always use the carbon ardiendo... quote (above) as a way of showing this and also 'la escopeta, donde esta la escopeta'. Violence is used to strengthen her own authoritarianism in the house but she also does this through manipulation of religion, through fear and threats to other members.

Also, try not to get too bobbed down in learning quotes. I haven't learn any yet admitedlly eeek and i read them from a past essay but also try and find some sources off the internet that add to your argument, maybe giving details about the second republic and how it links to the play, for example on the topic of women and laws that come in, or even the repression of the church etc. It's entirely upto you, anything that you think would add to your argument. Try not to add quotes that don't support your argument, as my teacher said the examiner will just think you've memorised a shedload of quotes which have no real meaning to the question or that any source say from a book/internet is not contributing to the answer of your question.

Also, i feel like a bloody teacher typing all this (it's only coz this is my final exam so i'm putting all my spanish eggs in one big fiesta basket and going all out for a good mark in this going to revision sessions and what not) but the quotes don't get counted in the word count. Also any source you try and use has to be added to a bibliography at the end of the essay.

Cheers, hope it goes alright think i need a nap after that but i'm gonna check this once a night incase you need any help or anything, we've done loads on Bernarda Alba so even though i'm no genius on the spanish side of things, i'd like to think i've got an okayish insight into the play and can help on the structural side of things.

Tah!

Reply 17

Lady_Diamond

OP

1

Thank you for that ^ !!!
Helpful especially with religion.
If I have any more qs I shall ask.

Reply 18

Lady_Diamond

OP

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Original post by GeekAndAHalf

I'm doing the geographical study of a region. I hope I'll be OK if some obscure question doesn't come up. We've studied a film too just in case but I'd really rather do the geographical study question. How about you? x

I'm doing a play (La Casa de Bernarda Alba)

Reply 19

copito1993

is anyone doing the description of a character of a book?

Edexcel A2 Spanish June 23rd 2011

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