Ordinary Level students: hone your written skills with the Leaving Cert Spanish Sample Ordinary Level Letter: 2009

I’m revisiting a few of my previous posts ahead of this year’s exams, freshening them up and making sure they still apply.

This one deals with an example of the big written task on the Ordinary Level paper. This written task – like the essay – remains on the paper for the 2021 Leaving Cert. As you can see in this sample, the letter (here from the  2009 Ordinary Exam) is worth a whopping 40 marks (10%) of your final grade. The written section at Ordinary Level remains unchanged, as do the marks going for it, so it will be key to produce a decent letter.

There’s often some overlap between the letter phrases that you will remember from Junior Cert and what you are required to do now, so do have a trawl through these posts (future phrases & general advice and past phrases) to jog your memory. Remember to lay your letter out correctly, and prepare your opening and closing phrases in advance. These are so nice to have in your arsenal, and they put the examiner in a good frame of mind when they turn to your written section. You can learn them off by heart and know that you are ready to go with them for the letter. I often think it’s a good idea to jot them down right at the start of the exam on your rough paper.

Letter/E-mail

You have just returned from an exchange in Salamanca with a Spanish student called Luisa.

Write a letter/e-mail to her in Spanish.(40 marks)

Use all of the points mentioned below:

La catedral de Salamanca, por la noche, junio 2013

-Thank her for the wonderful time you had in Spain.

-Mention two things you enjoyed doing with her.

-Tell her you learned a lot of Spanish speaking with her family.

-Say you are happy because you will get good marks in your exams in June.

-Say you would love to return to Salamanca next summer.

—————-

NB Phrases below in italics are words and phrases you could use in many letters. Phrases in bold include verbs: you want to get them right!

Think through each point before you write: what tense is it in? What little idiomatic phrases can you put in? How can you expand it? Sometimes it’s easier to expand by breaking each point down into two or three little sentences, but remember, you are expected to expand it to show the examiner that you are able to construct full sentences with verbs in Spanish in a variety of tenses. As always, if you have any comments, questions or doubts, let me know below or on Twitter. 

**A quick thank you to Mar & Nerea who helped me with my own doubts about using the preterite or the imperfect in some of the sentences below. I have changed them after reading their advice.

————-

Dublín, 13 de abril

¡Hola Luisa!

¿Qué tal? Espero que estés bien. Gracias por las vacaciones estupendas en tu casa en Salamanca. ¡Me lo pasé bomba contigo! Siento no haberte escrito antes, pero he estado muy ocupado con mis estudios.

Las vacaciones fueron maravillosas. Me encantó conocer a todos tus amigos. Fueron muy simpáticos. Salir de fiesta por la ciudad fue genial. También, me divertí mucho explorando la ciudad y viendo todos los momumentos históricos. Salamanca es una ciudad muy divertida y muy interesante.

Tengo que decirte que aprendí muchísimo español hablando con tu familia. Tu familia fue muy simpática y muy paciente conmigo, especialmente tu madre. Me encantaba hablar con ella todos los días. Mi acento ha mejorado mucho.

Yo estoy muy contento ahora porque creo que voy a sacar buenas notas en mi examen de español en junio. ¡Mi profesora también está contenta! Ojalá saque los puntos necesarios para estudiar en la Universidad de Dublín. Quiero estudiar español y comercio. Necesito sacar una “A” en español.

Me encantaría volver a Salamanca el verano que viene. Me encanta la ciudad. Espero pasar un mes en Salamanca y estudiar en una academia. ¡Sería genial! ¿Podría quedarme contigo otra vez?

Bueno, eso es todo por ahora.

Saludos a tus padres.

Mándame un correo electrónico pronto.

Un abrazo,

Sara