I know there’s all kinds of different approaches to errors, error corrections and much discussion as to whether error correction can ever really be effective. Still, I have to try! This little compilation is taken from errors made repeatedly by my Leaving Cert Spanish students over the last year, and I added some errors made by my Form 5 Spanish students as well in their end of year Spanish Oral Exam.
If you’re studying for your Leaving Cert Spanish, then it’s a good exercise to go through them. The first section – corrections – contains the corrected version of common errors; the second contains words I suggest you review to make sure you know the differences between them; the third are a few pronunciation tips; the fourth contains nice phrases to take on board yourself and finally there are a few to try and correct yourself.
If you’re a teacher – you probably have your own more extensive list which you can copy out and print. Maybe you have a chance to bring your Leaving Cert Spanish classes to the computer room and let them work together to figure them out. I’ve also been rereading this blog Dave Stuart Jr’s blog this morning, which I might try to implement next year.
Let me know if you need a hand with any of the differences, errors or suggestions, and definitely let me know if you’ve tried something similar to Dave in your classes and how it has worked for you!
Common errors
CORRECTIONS
- Vengo al colegio en…
- EL Sistema
- La Selectividad
- NEVER es bien: either Es bueno or Está bien, and frankly, neither please – use something a little less bland!
- HACE calor
- Nací el 12 de diciembre del año 2000.
- La informática
- Gustar + INFINITIVE
- Ayudar A mi padre A cortar el cespéd
- Iremos DE vacaciones
- Paso horas estudiANDO/ hablANDO
- Una veZ but dos veCes
DON’T GET THESE WORDS & PHRASES MIXED UP
- Ya que vs porque vs a causa de
- Me gusta vs me gustaría
- Quedar vs quedarse
- Quedaré contigo en vs me quedaré en
- Quiero vs me gusta
- Me gusta vs me gusto
- Final vs último
- Colegio vs universidad
- Irlanda vs irlandés
- España vs español
- Viejo vs antiguo vs mayor
- Tocar vs jugar
- Hay vs es vs está vs tiene
- Simpático vs bonito
- Campo vs parque
- Hijo vs chico vs niño
PRONUNCIATION (a very small sample)
- c pronounced like /th/: sociable; necesito; cien.
- Softly pronounced g: biología; geografía.
- No /h/ sound: hermano, el hogar
- v pronounced like /b/: vale, móvil
USE THESE!
- Cuando SEA mayor,…
- Cuando VAYA a España…
- En cuanto TERMINEN los exámenes
- Cuando era más joven, me gustaba…
FIX THESE
- Por los fines de semana
- Primero curso
- Me interesa en la política
- Iré al Japón.
- Estaré en la Nueva York.
- Preferido el inglés.
- Los fines de semanas
- Espero que ir
- Está importante
And finally, if you’ve done all that, reward yourself!
Where can we find the corrections for the last section fix these please?
Hi Eleanott – why don’t you leave your ideas here and I’ll correct them 🙂
Los fines de semana (No Por)
Primer curso (Drop the o before masculine nouns)
Me interesa la política (No en)
Iré a Japón (No article necessary)
Estaré en Nueva York (No article necessary)
Prefiero el inglés (Preferido is past participle)
Los fines de semana (Only make the first part of the compound noun plural)
Espero ir (No que necessary as the subject is the same)
Es importante (Ser is used to describe permanent traits)
Perfecto Edward, y todas las explicaciones son correctas también.