AQA GCSE Spanish Speaking — Foundation Tier

For the current AQA GCSE Spanish specification (8692), the Foundation speaking assessment is a recorded test with a teacher-examiner. You have 15 minutes of supervised preparation to prepare one Role-play, one Reading aloud task and one Photo card. The role-play instructions are available during the 15-minute supervised preparation period. The current AQA specification does not include the former unpredictable role-play task. You can make notes and use them in the test, but you cannot use a dictionary.

• Role-play — 10 marks, approximately 1–1.5 minutes. You follow clear instructions in a realistic Spanish-speaking situation, including asking and answering questions.
• Reading aloud and a short conversation — 15 marks, approximately 2–2.5 minutes together. At Foundation, the reading text is at least 35 words. After reading the passage aloud, the student takes part in a short unprepared conversation based on the same topic. The teacher asks four compulsory questions provided by AQA.
• Photo-card discussion — 25 marks, approximately 4–5 minutes. You respond to the photo card, then continue with an unprepared conversation connected to it.

The Foundation speaking test lasts 7–9 minutes, has 50 raw marks and is worth 25% of the GCSE. Students take all four language papers at the same tier.

The different speaking tasks assess different skills and assessment objectives. Pronunciation, communication, comprehension and use of language do not carry identical marks in every task.

Foundation tier Spanish uses accessible vocabulary and grammar, with clear communication across the speaking tasks. The different tasks assess different skills, so practise responding directly and making your Spanish understandable.

Role-play scenarios use everyday vocabulary and straightforward tasks. Reading passages use accessible vocabulary, and the follow-up conversation is short and directly related to the text. Photo-card images depict familiar situations and the conversation develops naturally from your initial description.

The overall task format is the same at Foundation and Higher. AQA uses different stimulus materials for the role-play and reading-aloud tasks, but the same photographs are used for the photo-card task at both tiers.

Foundation tier can award up to grade 5. The school or teacher should decide the most appropriate tier for each student.

For Foundation Spanish, a useful practice habit is answering every question in a complete sentence. Even a short but complete sentence — Me gusta el fútbol porque es divertido — gives you useful speaking practice.

Practise the Role-play cue card format specifically. At Foundation, the tasks follow consistent patterns — say where you went, ask what time something opens, say what you think about something — and practising these patterns means you can concentrate on the Spanish rather than working out the format under pressure.

For the photo card discussion, prepare the compulsory opening question and say at least something about each of the two photos. Then respond to the unprepared conversation. As Foundation practice advice, add a reason with porque… or a contrast with pero… when it fits the question; these are not requirements for every statement.