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Year 11 - Spanish

Experiencias del colegio: present and past tenses, picture task (Edexcel)

Studying and my future: Repaso - el colegio y el trabajo

Unit Summary

This revision unit covers the present tense in-depth. Pupils revisit 'ser' and 'estar', the present continuous, idiomatic phrases, and use of 'usted'. Pupils also strengthen the preterite and imperfect.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use the simple present, perfect and imperfect tenses and confidently describe photos in Spanish.

Key Notes

  • We can boost our word knowledge by making connections between words such as word families, synonyms, opposites, etc.
  • The simple present tense is used to express habitual events in the present e.g. 'I do'.
  • The perfect tense is used to express completed actions in the past e.g. 'I have played', 'I have done'.
  • The imperfect tense is used to express how things were or used to be in the past, or to say what was happening.
  • The PALM acronym is a useful tool to describe photos using a range of information.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • simple present: verb tense used to express habitual events in the present e.g. 'I do'
  • perfect: verb tense used to express what has happened e.g. 'I have listened', 'I have bought'
  • imperfect: verb tense used to describe how things were or used to be in the past, or to say what was happening

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • 'I have' is always translated as 'tengo'.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.

We can boost our word knowledge by making connections between words such as word families, synonyms, opposites, etc. The simple present tense is used to express habitual events in the present e.g. 'I do'.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'simple present'

verb tense used to express habitual events in the present e.g. 'I do'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: 'I have' is always translated as 'tengo'. Correction: When 'have' means 'to possess something' e.g. 'I have a car', use 'tengo' - 'tengo un coche'. When 'have' is part of the perfect tense, to say you have done something, use the verb 'haber' e.g. 'I have played' - 'he jugado'.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 11 Spanish guide library.