About

Who am I?

GMS Shoot 2 My name is Glenn Smith and I am Head of Spanish at a large independent school in Essex. I have been teaching since 2007 and have a particular interest in using e-learning to supporting students learning foreign languages (both in and outside of the classroom), and have produced online training resources for a number of organisations including CILT. I have been invited by a number of schools to deliver CPD to their MFL departments on how to embed digital tools in the curriculum and to ensure that their staff feel confident in doing so.

I have previously worked for AQA for several years as a visiting examiner for the A Level Spanish speaking exams which I have found to be a great experience. I feel privileged to have been able to examine so many candidates and I whole heartedly recommend the experience.

Before going into teaching I worked both as an in-house and freelance translator in London and Madrid.

Why have I created this page?

I remember when I started teaching how difficult it was to find resources that were appropriate for my classes both in terms of topic and the exam skills. The few pages which I did find made life so much easier. Since I started teaching I have spent lots of time creating resources and I wanted a place where I could share them with other teachers of the AQA syllabus.

I also wanted to be able to share my ideas about teaching and learning with other language teachers as I have learnt a lot from other blogs and of course the wonderful MFL Twitterati.

Thanks

I would like to thank Mosayco for creating this website and for their patience and expertise. I couldn’t have done it without you. Gracias!

49 thoughts on “About”

Splattie
4 years ago

Hi Glen,

On one of the translations you have done for Ciberespacio on the new spec, you have referenced it to AQA specimen translations list. Where can I find this? I have looked on eAQA but can’t find it.

Thanks
- Glenn Smith (You)
  4 years ago
  
  Hi Rebecca. You need to have a login to the secure area of the AQA site (which your exams officer will be able to give you). There are quite a few useful documents in there so it is worth having a look. If you cannot find it then you can download a copy using this link: https://goo.gl/kAdG08
HS
4 years ago

Hi Glenn,
Have been using your excellent resources for some time now and just wanted to say thanks. They really are so creative and fitting for all needs.
A request! The AS lesson on Cirugia Estética (2c) I can’t seem to download the pdf of the presentation? Anyway you can share in a different way?
- Glenn Smith (You)
  4 years ago
  
  Morning HS
  I’m sorry for the delay in getting back to you. There was a problem with that file but it is now sorted so you can get the files via the website now. Sorry about that and thanks for letting me know.
Raquel
4 years ago

En el libreto para estudiar la Casa de Bernarda Alba, en la pagina 7 hay una actividad :”Habla Sofía, estudiante de Literatura de Federico Lorca. Escúchala y resume lo que dice sobre los siguientes temas.” Donde puedo encontrar la grabacion para escuchar a Sofia?

Muchas gracias y enhorabuena por tu excelente trabajo.
- Glenn Smith (You)
  4 years ago
  
  Hola. La actividad viene de p95 del antiguo libre de A2 para AQA (para la especificación de 2009 que caduca este año). ¿Lo tienes?
Blanca García-Puente
4 years ago

Glen Espero que 2017 te resulte un anio fabuloso y gracias por actualizar tu excelente página, que uso regularmente. ?Serías tan amable de mandarme las respuestas a tu guía de “La Casa de Bernarda Alba”? No las encuentro en tu página. Gracias, Blanca
- Glenn Smith (You)
  4 years ago
  
  ¡Feliz año a ti también Blanca! Lo siento mucho pero no tengo un booklet con las respuestas de La Casa de BA. Me toca actualizarlo este año para el nuevo spec y te prometo que esta vez vendrá con las respuestas. Un saludo.
Dante
5 years ago

Hola Glen. Gracias por tu generosidad y deprendimiento al compartir el producto de tantas horas de trabajo tuyas. Eso es realmente encomiable. Por otro lado, admiro tu gran capacidad de trabajo y energía.

Un abrazo desde Perú.

Dante
David Walker
5 years ago

Just wondering if anyone else finds the new AQA A level example SOW very confusingly laid out??!!
- Glenn Smith (You)
  5 years ago
  
  I never find the sample SoW that useful if I am honest. I am going to wait until we get Kerboodle to see what the SoL is like for the OUP textbook.
celine
5 years ago

Dear Glen,
Just wanted to say that your resources are extremely helpful and I have been giving a lot of your tutorials to my kids as extra homework.
And I am a “resource snob” so it is a big compliment.
Thanks for sharing
🙂
Celine
Blanca Garcia-Puente
6 years ago

Hi Glen

The link in worksheet “La televisión” exercise 6 “Para más opiniones sobre la tele pincha aquí” is broken. It appears the page you must have targeted is gon
Blanca
Ana Meizoso
6 years ago

Hola Glen,

Me he topado con esta página hoy mismo, es buenísima! Mi enhorabuena por tan extraordinario trabajo y muchísimas gracias por compartir. Admirable!

Saludos a todos!

Ana
Francisco
7 years ago

Glen, great site. I too have worked for the exam board and would echo your thoughts about being an examiner. I might also be able to help you with developing the site a bit more. Let me know and I can exchange contact details.
Regards
Francisco
Angie Worby
7 years ago

Hello Glen,
This is my first year of teaching AS Spanish and I just wanted to say how helpful I have found your web site. I really appreciate you taking the time to help other teachers and students alike and really feel inspired. Also if teachers would like to network for moderating speaking and writing exams or sharing ideas my email is aworby@ormistonriversacademy.co.uk
Mil gracias
David Walker
7 years ago

I have a language question my pupils have asked. We have been doing your A2 translation corrections and in number 14/15 “la mayoría de los que trabajan en cafeterías”. I believe it to be ‘trabajan’ because ‘los’ is the subject, correct? However, in a translation we are doing there is sentence “a group of immigrants who arrived” for which I’d translate “un grupo de inmigrantes que llegó” given that ‘un grupo’ is the subject. My pupils are confused about why the difference between these two in terms of the verb being singular and plural. Can anyone explain?
- Glenn Smith (You)
  7 years ago
  
  Hi David
  
  You have sparked a rather lively debate this morning in my house! My partner who is a native Spanish speaker says that in the examples you give are both correct and that if we changed the verbal conjugations then they would sound odd.
  
  The problem occurs because the subject is a collective noun (un grupo, la mayoría, un montón … etc.) with a plural qualifier (un grupo DE INMIGRANTES). If we follow normal grammatical rules then the agreement should be made with the collective noun (so in the singular), but there is something called “concordancia «ad sensum»” which basically means that you just have to use common sense (very helpful) as there are situations where the agreement could be both singular and plural – it depends on where you want to put the emphasis. For example “La mayoría de las trabajadoras VE o VEN” are both equally as acceptable.
  
  These two articles explain it quite well:
  http://elcastellano.elnortedecastilla.es/castellano/aula/concordancia-%C2%ABad-sensum%C2%BB
  http://spanish.about.com/cs/grammar/f/collectivef.htm
  
  I hope that is of some help.
Ian Hurst
7 years ago

Dear Glenn,

This website looks brilliant and I would like to use and share your resources with colleagues at my school.
Thanks

Ian
Victoria
7 years ago

Hello, This website has been an amazing find. Thank you so much for your hard work. Is there a more detailed markscheme available to you as an A level examiner for the speaking? If so, is it something that can be passed on to others? I would like more guidance and clarification on “complex structures” and “minor” / “major” errors. Many thanks again. Victoria
- Glenn Smith (You)
  7 years ago
  
  Hi Victoria
  
  The markscheme used by the examiners is the same one that is in the specification – I’m afraid that there is nothing extra that we are given. There are a number of sample candidates on the eAQA site with comments from the chief examiner which are worth listening to.
  
  Complex structures are essentially subjunctives, passives and compound sentences. The key thing is that students don’t try to shoehorn these phrases throughout their oral which can often make it sounds very contrived – they should be able to use a range of tenses naturally, and part of that comes down to the examiner asking them questions which elicit different tenses. For example, if you are discussing family you could ask what they thought about their family when they were younger, what they think families will be like in the future, what would they like to be different about their family etc …
Rachel Delaney
7 years ago

Hi Glen – I would really like to know what PABLOVA means, and wasn’t sure where to start looking. Many thanks once again for doing so much of the hard work for us. ☺
- Glenn Smith (You)
  7 years ago
  
  Hi Rachel
  
  PABLOVA is a way of helping students to check their written work. They need to check for:
  
  P – personal ‘a’
  A – adjective agreements
  B – be (ser/estar/haber)
  L – leave no gaps (for the listening and reading)
  O – object pronouns (not confusing direct and indirect)
  V – verb endings
  A – any subjunctive
  
  I hope that helps 🙂
  
  Saludos.
- Rachel Delaney
  7 years ago
  
  Muchas gracias.¡ Utilísimo!
Simon
7 years ago

Hi!

Excellent website and resources. I particularly love the grade calculator for Unit 1 and 3. Is there any way you could post one for Unit 2 and 4?

Best wishes,

Simon
- Glenn Smith (You)
  7 years ago
  
  Hi Simon. I have now added a calculator for the oral exams and also a spreadsheet which lets you calculate final grades based on mock papers (taking into account the weighting of the two papers). I hope they are useful.
Sara B
7 years ago

Hi there, I love this site! Useful tips and great resources!
Siobhan McAlinden
7 years ago

Hi, I want to thank you for these fabulous resources which I use a lot. But I am currently having trouble opening anything. Please can you advise?

I also want to share that I asked for one candidate to be re-marked at AS this year and she was awarded 17 more Raw Marks and went from a B to a sound A. I wish I had asked for more to be done but after haing had one andidate lose 4 UMS on a re-mark last year I was being cautious.
- Glenn Smith (You)
  7 years ago
  
  Hi Siobhan. Great news about the remark. I think that next year I will definitely be asking for more remarks.
  
  There were some issues with the resources over the weekend but they should be OK now – it may be an issue with your PDF reader.
David Walker
7 years ago

Hi Glen, I’m Head of Spanish at a private school in Bath. We use AQA for GCSE and A Level. I was wondering if any other teachers thought the paper was particularly difficult this year? My pupils really struggled with it and I have relatively poor results compared to previous years. Also, do you have any advice on how to get their writing up to scratch in the space of 9 months from GCSE to AS Level??!! It doesn’t seem to matter how many courses we go on or what methods we use the same problems always happen – lack of orginal ideas, lack of examples, lack of focus on question! Does anyone else feel the same???
- Blanca García-Puente
  7 years ago
  
  David Could you get in tough with me please? I am also teaching the AQA Spanish in Bristol at St Brendan’s Sixth Form College and want to network with teachers in the area. My address is bgp@stbrn.ac.uk. In addition, I manage the MFL Department this year. Espero tu respuesta.
Susi
8 years ago

HI me again…thanks for. solving the problem the resources are now available
thanks for sharing and for a wonderful site
Susi
Susi Gonzalez
8 years ago

HI I love this website and I have used in a number of occasions but this week it is not allowing me to see the resources , have you moved? can you help
thanks for sharing wonderful resources and the great work.
Isabel Morillo
8 years ago

I love this website! I don’t know where you get the time from to teach and create such wonderful materials. My A2 students have been usiong the resources for independent learning /practice which has been really useful as there are only a few past papers.
I love looking up all your e-learning ideas.
Muchas gracias!
- Glenn Smith (You)
  8 years ago
  
  Glad you find it useful Isabel. Thanks for your comment. Saludos.
Susi
8 years ago

graicas por una pagina extraordinaria y compartir tus recursos
Luke Jackson
8 years ago

Sobresaliente de todas maneras!

Muchas gracias 🙂
montse
8 years ago

GRACIAS DE CORAZON LO DICE TODO.
Andoni Baleato Mansilla
9 years ago

Muchisimas gracias por tu trabajo y esfuerzo y sobre todo por tu espiritu altruista, ojala pudiera encontrar algo similar para GCSE.
Un saludote majo.
Anne McVay
9 years ago

Thank you so much for sharing these amazing resources! I can’t tell you how grateful I am. Many many thanks!
Sarah Gregory
9 years ago

Thank you so much for this wonderful site – I have taught MFL for 25 years and am now learning Spanish as I taught French, German and Latin – it os very generous of you to publish this freely – what an achievement!
Rebecca
9 years ago

Your site is amazing!
I am a student needing extra resources for at home.
This has helped so much! Thank you!
H García
9 years ago

¡Excelente material!
Muchísimas gracias Glenn y saludos afectuosos
Rachel Delaney
9 years ago

Many thanks for brilliant resources for my year 12s and 13s doing AQA Spanish. So kind of you to share.
Sian
9 years ago

I am a student and I was looking for more resources to complete at home, this website is fantastic. Thank you so much.
silvia
9 years ago

De lo mejorcito que he visto, gracias Glenn
Tom Maskell
9 years ago

Just wanted to say what a brilliant and well organised site this is. I’m an NQT and stumbled accross the site…I will be coming back here a lot. Thanks very much, Tom.
Rebecca Bentley
10 years ago

I have used so many of the resources from the site and was delighted by my students’ responses. The materials are clear, imaginative, engaging and thoroughly useful! They enabled me to significantly cut down my own preparation time as well as providing students with extra support, vocabulary and exam-style activities. Brilliant!
Samantha Lunn
10 years ago

Dear Glen

I just wanted to say, what a great site! It looks brilliant and I can’t wait to see more materials on there. I saw it over on the TES (and left you a comment – I am lingo_lass) and I have told all my MFL twitter friends about it too. Are you on twitter at all? There’s a great community of MFL teachers so please do feel free to follow me. My username is @spanishsam.

Kind regards
Sam

Resources for A Level, IB and IGCSE Spanish