LEAVING CERT SPANISH: HIGHER AND ORDINARY:SOCIAL NETWORKING is fast becoming the most mentioned topic across the Leaving Cert with Facebook appearing yet again on the higher and ordinary-level Spanish papers.
“Most seemed happy coming out of the exam,” said Máire Ní Chiarba, Asti representative and teacher in Coláiste an Phiarsaigh in Glanmire. “It was a well thought out paper.”
Students weren’t so delighted with the aural exam, however, with issues raised about the clarity of some of the questions, as well as some of the topics about which the students were asked.
Some also had a problem with the tone of one of the voices on the CD. A woman speaking about e-books had, what some described as a distracting voice, according to Ms Ní Chiarba. It sounded as though she needed to cough and some students found it a bit hard to listen to, she said.
As well as a comprehension about Facebook and internet safety, higher-level students also answered questions on extracts about the Inca trail in Peru and safety and security in Madrid schools.
A longer text about the new poor – the recently unemployed – took a lot of reading. “That’s to be expected with that section,” Ms Ní Chiarba said. “The questions were fair enough.”
“The opinion pieces, ‘How Ireland has changed in the last 10 years’ and ‘We don’t need money to be happy’, were nice open pieces and were welcomed by students,” a teacher from the Institute of Education on Dublin’s Leeson Street said.