Spanish

The Spanish Department aims to give pupils confidence in their ability to use Spanish as a real-life communication tool and to make pupils aware of the diversity of the Spanish-speaking world, with its rich artistic, musical and literary heritage.   At the same time, we hope to allow teachers to develop their special interests and share them with pupils and colleagues

We ensure that all pupils from the Fourth Form upwards have the opportunity to converse in Spanish outside the classroom at least once per week and offer all pupils the opportunity to join a school trip to a Spanish-speaking country each year.  The department has built up strong relationships with numerous language schools in Spain. 

Other extra curricular activities include tapas nights and a Wednesday evening film night 'el club de cine' and three voluntary 'clinics' per week  aimed at listening practice, structure and lexis.   University Challenge-style quizzes on set examination texts add a lively dimension to revision work.

For the past two years, Canford has chosen the Pre-U course for its Sixth Form students.   The results have been excellent.  Please click on the block on the right to access this year's achievements, which resulted in Canford coming second in The Times newspaper's listing of top independent schools in their Pre-U only table last year.

Bulletin of Advanced Spanish – Oxbridge advice from Old Canfordians

Bulletin of Advanced Spanish - Mental Illness in Alejandra Pizarnik's 'La jaula' by Catherine Wray, Lower Sixth pupil

Studying Spanish at Cambridge Pre-U allows me to not only learn the language but also discover and explore the cultures and traditions of Hispanic countries. The workshop with Jane Duran further enhanced this side of the course as we looked at traditional Spanish ballads, including some of the works of Frederico Garcia Lorca, in depth and deciphered the many possibly meanings of the text and subtext.

Upper Sixth pupil