NZC – Spanish – Novice

Receptive skills 

Listening

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• recognise simple classroom language 
• recognise everyday familiar words and very basic phrases concerning personal information, family, and immediate surroundings. 
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• understand instructions in a classroom environment  
• begin to understand phrases and the highest-frequency vocabulary related to areas of most immediate personal relevance (e.g. personal information, simple descriptions and preferences, time, ownership) 
• begin to make sense of unfamiliar language by recognising similarities with words from languages they already know (cognates). 
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Reading

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• recognise everyday familiar words and very simple phrases in very short, simple texts concerning personal information, family, and immediate surroundings. 
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• begin to understand short, simple texts containing familiar phrases and the highest-frequency vocabulary related to areas of most immediate personal relevance (e.g. personal information, simple descriptions and preferences, time, ownership) 
• begin to recognise basic written spelling conventions and simple punctuation 
• begin to make sense of unfamiliar language by recognising similarities with words from languages they already know (cognates). 
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Productive skills 

Speaking

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• produce simple, mainly isolated phrases and sentences about themselves, their families, and their immediate surroundings. 
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• produce simple phrases and sentences containing highest-frequency vocabulary related to areas of most immediate personal relevance (e.g. personal information, simple descriptions and preferences, time, ownership). 
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Writing

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• produce simple, isolated phrases and sentences about themselves, their families, and their immediate surroundings. 
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• produce a series of linked simple phrases and sentences containing highest-frequency vocabulary related to areas of most immediate personal relevance (e.g. personal information, simple descriptions and preferences, time, ownership). 
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Interacting

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• exchange simple phrases to meet some immediate needs in the classroom 
• use formulaic language and simple phrases to exchange information about themselves, their families, and their immediate surroundings. 
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Knowledge

The facts, concepts, principles, and theories to teach.

Practices

The skills, strategies, and applications to teach.

Language

examples

Knowledge

The facts, concepts, principles, and theories to teach.

Practices

The skills, strategies, and applications to teach.

Language

examples

Linguistic knowledge 

• Words and phrases used for greetings, farewells, and introductions 
• Formulaic expressions using simple forms of the verbs ‘ser’, ‘estar’, ‘llamarse’, and ‘presentar’  
• The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters. 
• Spanish has some distinct features, such as: 
  • an extra letter, ‘ñ’ 
  • a silent letter ‘h’ 
  • some different punctuation, such as accent marks and inverted question and exclamation marks. 
• Spanish spelling is largely phonetic, meaning that the pronunciation of a word is predictable from its spelling. 

• Using basic greetings and farewells in different contexts 
• Introducing themselves and others and responding to introductions appropriately 
• Asking others how they are and responding appropriately when asked 

Greetings 

• Hola. (Less formal) 
• Buenos días. (More formal) 
• Buenas tardes. 
• Buenas noches. 

Farewells 

• Adiós. 
• Hasta luego. 
• Hasta mañana. 

Asking how someone is doing 

• ¿Cómo estás? 
• Estoy bien/mal. 
• ¿Y tú? 
• Estoy regular. 

Introductions 

• ¿Cómo te llamas? 
• Me llamo Julia. 
• Soy Luis. 
• Mucho gusto. 
• Te presento a Juan. 

• Formal greetings, farewells, and introductions 
• Identifying nationalities and ethnicities 
• There are different forms for ‘you’, depending on the familiarity between and the status of the speakers: 
  • ‘tú’ for someone you know well or who is younger or has a lower status than you 
  • ‘usted’ for an adult you meet for the first time or an adult older or of higher status than you. 
• Names of countries in Spanish are spelt with a capital, like in English. 
• Unlike in English, in Spanish the names of languages and nationalities are not capitalised. 
• Unlike in English, nationalities agree in gender and number with the person being described. 

• Using greetings, farewells, and introductions and exchanging basic personal information in a formal context 
• Communicating about nationality or ethnicity in formal and informal contexts 

Formal greetings and farewells 

• Buenos días. 
• Buenas tardes. 
• Buenas noches. 
• Mucho gusto. 
• Hasta luego. 

Formal introductions 

• ¿Cómo está usted? 
• Estoy bien. 
• ¿Cómo se llama? 
• Me llamo Juan. 
• ¿De dónde es? 
• Soy de Argentina. 
• Le presento a Andrea. 
• ¿Qué idiomas habla? 
• Hablo inglés y francés. 

Nationalities/ethnicities (formal) 

• ¿Cuál es su nacionalidad? 
• Soy argentino/a. 

Nationalities/ethnicities (informal) 

• ¿Cuál es tu nacionalidad? 
• Soy mexicano/a. 

Cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge 

• Spanish is an official language in 21 countries. 
• The use of the language and cultural norms, such as handshake and kissing on the cheek, vary across those countries. 

• There are many languages with the equivalent tú/usted forms to indicate levels of respect or familiarity, such as French and German. Other languages convey formality through different linguistic features (e.g. registers in Pacific languages). 
• Using the informal ‘tú’ when the formal ‘usted’ is required could come across as rude. 
• English used to have the equivalent to tú/usted, but this gradually changed. 

Linguistic knowledge 

• Basic classroom instructions, questions, and comments 
• Common politeness expressions 
• Receptive knowledge of verbs for classroom actions 
• Classroom instructions change depending on whether a single person or a group is being addressed. 

• Responding to and using simple classroom language and politeness conventions 
• Recognising the words for common classroom objects and expressions of location 

​​​​​​​Classroom instructions 

• Levantaos. / (La clase) se levanta. 
• Sentaos. / (La clase) se sienta. 
• Cerrad sus ordenadores. / (La clase) cierra su/tu computadora. 
• Abrid sus cuadernos. / (La clase) abre su/tu cuaderno. 
• Sacad un lápiz. / (La clase) saca un lápiz. 
• Levantad la mano. / (La clase) levanta la mano. 
• Repetid. / (La clase) repite. 
• Escuchad. / (La clase) escucha. 
• Hablad. / (La clase) habla. 
• Escribid. / (La clase) escribe. 

Classroom questions 

• ¿Listo/a(s)? 
• ¿Cómo se dice …? 
• ¿Puedo ir al baño? 
• ¿Puedo beber agua? 

Classroom comments 

• Excelente. 
• Muy bien. 
• Bien. 
• Más o menos.  

Common phrases and politeness conventions 

• Sí. 
• No. 
• Por favor. 
• Gracias. 
• De nada. 
• Lo siento. 
• Perdón. 
• No importa.

• Classroom instructions and interactions 
• Classroom objects, including stationery 
• The verbs ‘escribir’, ‘trabajar’, ‘tener’, and ‘necesitar’  
• The verb ‘hay’ means both ‘there is’ and ‘there are’ — it does not change between singular and plural. 
• Articles in Spanish use grammatical gender and number (un/una, el/la, unos/unas, los/las) that agree with the noun. 

• Communicating in a classroom environment using an extended repertoire of instructions and short interactions 
• Identifying and communicating about classroom and school objects 

Classroom instructions 

• Escribe en el cuaderno. 
• Trabaja con tu pareja. 
• Mira la pizarra. 

Classroom interactions 

• ¿Qué necesitas? 
• Necesito un sacapuntas. 
• ¿Tienes un lápiz? 
• Necesito un lápiz, por favor. 
• Aquí tienes un lápiz. 
• ¿Dónde está tu libro? 
• Mi libro está en mi mochila. 
• ¿Tienes una hoja de papel? 
• ¿No, me dejas una hoja?

Cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge 

• Spanish uses different forms to give commands. Commands are given in the ‘you’ form, which has singular and plural variations as well as regional variations (Spain and Latin America).  

Linguistic knowledge 

• Numbers 1–15 to count and express age 
• Basic questions and answers to identify where you are from, where you live, and what languages you speak 
• Singular forms of the verbs ‘tener’, ‘vivir’, and ‘hablar’ 
• Subject pronouns are used only sparingly with verbs, mainly for emphasis and clarity, because the verb ending already indicates the subject. Their overuse is common for English speakers learning Spanish. 
• In Spanish, verbs in the present tense change their endings to agree with the subject in terms of person and number (e.g. yo hablo, tú hablas).  
• Numbers are similar across Romance languages. 
• The same concept can be expressed differently across languages: 
  • Spanish: ‘Tengo 11 años’ (I have 11 years) 
  • English: ‘I am 11 years old’. 
• Cognates are words in different languages that share the same origin and have a similar meaning, pronunciation, and spelling. They can significantly accelerate language learning by allowing learners to activate existing knowledge, making it easier to build vocabulary and comprehend texts. 

• Exchanging basic personal information 

Numbers (1–15) 

• 1–10: uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez 
• 11–15: once, doce, trece, catorce, quince 

Age 

• ¿Cuántos años tienes? 
• Tengo 11 años. 

Where they are from 

• ¿De dónde eres?  
• Soy de Nueva Zelanda.  

Where they live 

• ¿Dónde vives?  
• Vivo en Auckland, en Nueva Zelanda. 

Languages they speak 

• ¿Qué idiomas hablas? 
• Hablo inglés y un poco de māori. 
• Soy de México y hablo español. 

• Vocabulary for expressing preferences depending on the chosen context  
• Questions and answers to express preference and basic reasons for preferences using adjectives 
• The verb ‘gustar’ (to please) is used to talk about what they like or dislike. ‘Gustar’ is conjugated to agree with the thing being discussed (e.g. ‘I like mathematics’ is ‘Me gustan las matemáticas’, literally meaning ‘Mathematics please me’, with ‘gustan’ conjugated to agree with ‘las matemáticas’). 
• The pronoun before ‘gusta(n)’ (me, te, le, nos, les) reflects the person doing the liking or disliking (literally who is being pleased or not pleased). 
• To express that they like a thing, they use ‘gusta(n)’ + the indefinite article + noun (e.g. Me gusta el español). 
• To express that they like an action, they use ‘gusta’ + the infinitive form of the verb (–ar, –er, –ir). 
• To express that they don’t like something, they place ‘no’ before ‘me gusta(n)’. 
• Adjectives need to agree in gender and number with the noun they qualify. 
• ‘Porque’ is the linking word that introduces reasons. 

• Expressing preferences and likes and dislikes in familiar contexts, giving reasons in a simple way where appropriate 

Suggested topics: colours, food, school subjects, after-school activities, sports, music 

Preferences 

• ¿Cuál es tu color favorito? 
• Mi color favorito es el verde. 
• ¿Cuál es tu asignatura favorita? 
• Mi asignatura favorita es el español. 
• ¿Cuál es tu actividad favorita? 
• Mi actividad favorita es escuchar música. 

Likes and dislikes 

• ¿Qué asignaturas te gustan? 
• Me gusta el inglés porque es interesante. 
• ¿Qué asignatura no te gusta? 
• No me gustan las ciencias porque son difíciles.  
• ¿Qué te gusta hacer después de la escuela? 
• Después de la escuela me gusta mirar la televisión.  

Reasons 

• divertido/a(s) 
• aburrido/a(s) 
• práctico/a(s) 
• interesante(s) 
• difícil(es) 
• fácil(es) 

Cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge 

• Many Spanish-speaking countries have indigenous languages as well as other regional languages (e.g. Catalan and Basque in Spain). 

• Preferences in areas such as food, school subjects, after-school activities, sports, and music may vary between New Zealand and Spanish-speaking countries due to cultural influences and regional traditions. 

Linguistic knowledge 

• Numbers 16–31. 
• Days of the week, months of the year 
• Expressing dates and birthdays 
• The numbers 16–19 in Spanish follow the same pattern (e.g. 10+6, 10+7). 
• In Spanish, every noun has a grammatical gender, either masculine or feminine. Generally, nouns ending in ‘o’ are masculine and nouns ending in ‘a’ are feminine. However, there are exceptions to this rule, so students need to learn the gender of each noun so that they know which article to use. 
• To talk about a group of people of mixed genders, the masculine plural form is always used. 
• The days of the week and the months are all masculine nouns. 
• Unlike in English, in Spanish, the days of the week and the months are not capitalised.

• Communicating about the days of the week, months, dates, and birthdays 

Numbers (16–31) 

• dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve 
• veinte, veintiuno, veintidós, veintitrés, veinticuatro, veinticinco, veintiséis, veintisiete, veintiocho, veintinueve 
• treinta, treinta y uno 

Days of the week 

• lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo 
• ¿Qué día es hoy? 
• Hoy es jueves. 

Months of the year 

• enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, diciembre  

Date 

• ¿Qué fecha es hoy? 
• Hoy es jueves 11 de marzo. 

Birthday 

• ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? 
• Mi cumpleaños es el 23 de abril. 
• ¡Feliz cumpleaños! 

• Adjectives to describe appearance and qualities  
• In Spanish, adjectives must agree with the noun they qualify in both gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). 
• This also applies to possessive adjectives: mi(s), tu(s), su(s), nuestro/a(s), vuestro/a(s). 
• Unlike in English, the negative ‘no’ goes before the verb meaning ‘to be’ (e.g. ‘I am not tall’ but ‘No soy alta’). 
• Unlike English but similar to te reo Māori, Spanish generally places adjectives after the nouns they modify. 
• A variety of question words are needed to find out about people (e.g. ¿Cómo? ¿Qué? ¿Dónde? ¿Cuál?). 

• Describing appearance and qualities of people, animals, and objects 

Qualities 

• ¿Cómo eres? 
• Soy muy divertido y un poco inteligente. 
• No soy antipático. 
• ¿Cómo es tu padre? 
• Mi padre es serio y muy amable. 
• Él no es aburrido. 
• ¿Cómo es tu profe de …? 
• Él es muy divertido y bastante estricto. 

Physical characteristics 

• ¿Cómo eres? 
• Soy joven y alto, y tengo los ojos azules. 
• ¿Cómo es tu amigo?  
• Es alto y guapo. 
• ¿Cómo es tu hermano? 
• Mi hermano es muy alto y delgado. 
• Mi hermana es alta y tiene el pelo largo y negro. 
• Mi amiga es baja y guapa. Ella tiene los ojos verdes y el pelo castaño. 
• ¿Cómo es tu gato? 
• Mi gato es blanco y negro. 
• Tiene ojos grandes y verdes. 

Adverbs of degree 

• muy 
• bastante 
• un poco 

Colours 

• Group 1: blanco, negro, rojo, amarillo 
• Group 2: azul, gris 
• Group 3: verde, naranja, rosa, violeta 

Cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge 

• The names of most days in Spanish come from the names of planets. 
• Spanish-speaking countries observe Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter, alongside nationally significant secular holidays such as Mexico’s Independence Day. Numerous festivals and traditions are associated with different seasons and cultural practices, like Las Fallas in Spain. 
• Birthday celebrations in Spanish-speaking countries share some traditions but vary by country and region. 

• Prominent figures of the Spanish-speaking world in different fields 

Linguistic knowledge 

• The names of the seasons 
• Formulaic expressions to describe the weather  
• The verbs ‘hacer’ and ‘llover’ 
• Impersonal verbs conjugated in the third person singular are used to talk about the weather. 

• Communicating about the weather and the seasons 

Weather 

• ¿Qué tiempo hace? 
• Hace buen/mal tiempo. 
• Hace calor/frío. 
• Hace mucho calor. 
• Hace un poco de frío. 
• Está soleado. 
• Está nublado. 
• Llueve. 
• Nieva. 
• Hay tormenta. 

Seasons:  

• ¿Qué tiempo hace en verano? 
• En verano no nieva y hace calor. 
• verano 
• otoño 
• invierno 
• primavera

• Vocabulary and formulaic expressions for telling the time 
• The verb ‘ser’ is used to tell the time, and it changes from ‘es’ to ‘son’ to agree with the time in number (e.g. es la una, son las dos). 
• The verb ‘hay’ means both ‘there is’ and ‘there are’ — it does not change between singular and plural.

• Telling the time 

Suggested topics: School timetables, making arrangements 

Time 

• ¿Qué hora es? 
• Es la una en punto. 
• Son las diez y media.

Cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge 

• There are Spanish-speaking countries in both the northern and southern hemispheres, meaning seasonal changes happen in different months.

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• In most Spanish-speaking countries, the 12-hour clock is used for expressing time, though some, like Argentina, use the 24-hour clock. 
• Spanish perceptions of punctuality are varied; while business and formal appointments are often treated with timeliness, social gatherings are more flexible. 
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Linguistic knowledge 

• Close family members 
• Family composition and size 
• Numbers from 31 onwards 
• The possessive adjectives ‘mi’, ‘tu’, and ‘su’ do not change for gender but do agree in number with the noun (e.g. mi abuelo, mis abuelos, tu gato, tus gatos). 
• Most plurals are formed by adding ‘–s’ to nouns ending in a vowel and ‘–es’ to nouns ending in a consonant. 
• The negative ‘no’ goes before the verb (e.g. ‘No tengo hermanos’). 
• While ‘padre’ in the singular means ‘father’, the plural form ‘padres’ means both ‘parents’ and ‘fathers’ and therefore refers to both mother and father. The masculine form’s being the default form is something Spanish shares with other Romance languages. 

• Communicating about their families, including names and ages 

Family 

• ¿Cómo es tu familia? 
• Tengo una familia grande/pequeña. 
• En mi familia hay cinco personas: mis padres, mis abuelos y yo. 
• ¿Cómo se llama tu padre/madre? 
• Mi padre se llama Juan.  
• Mi madre se llama Sofía. 
• ¿Tienes hermanos? 
• No tengo hermanos. Soy hijo/a único/a. 
• ¿Tienes mascotas? 
• Sí, tengo un perro y dos gatos. 
• Mi perro se llama … y mis gatos se llaman … 

Age 

• ¿Cuántos años tiene tu hermano? 
• Mi hermano tiene 10 años. 
• ¿Cuántos años tiene tu perro? 
• Mi perro tiene tres años.

• Vocabulary for expressing ownership depending on the chosen context  
• You can form a question in Spanish simply by adding an inverted question mark (¿) at the beginning of a declarative sentence and a standard question mark (?) at the end of the same sentence, without changing the order of the words. 
• Most plurals in Spanish are formed by adding ‘–s’ to words ending in a vowel and ‘–es’ to words ending in a consonant. 

• Communicating about ownership 

Suggested topics: pets, classroom objects, clothes 

Ownership 

• ¿Tienes un instrumento? 
• Sí, tengo un piano. 
• Sí, tengo dos guitarras. 
• Sí, tengo un piano y una guitarra. 
• No, no tengo instrumentos. 

Cultural and sociocultural knowledge 

• Extended family may live in the same household. 
• In Spanish-speaking cultures, people typically use two family names, keeping their paternal and maternal surnames. 

Linguistic knowledge 

• Adjectives follow nouns in Spanish, like in te reo Māori, and agree in gender and number with the noun that they follow.  
• ‘de’ + ‘el’ in Spanish become ‘del’. 
• Spanish has two words for ‘to be’, ‘ser’ for permanent or lasting qualities (e.g. identity, characteristics, origin) and ‘estar’ for temporary states or conditions (e.g. location, feelings, temporary conditions, actions in progress). ‘Ser’ is used to talk about time, days, dates, and seasons. 
• Some common Spanish prepositions are ‘en’, ‘al lado de’, and ‘entre’. 

• Asking and answering simple questions about location 

Asking for location 

• ¿Dónde está el lápiz azul?  
• El lápiz azul está en el estuche. 
• ¿Dónde está el sacapuntas? 
• El sacapuntas está al lado de la goma. 
• ¿Dónde está la pluma? 
• La pluma está al lado del sacapuntas. 
• ¿Dónde están las tijeras? 
• Las tijeras están entre la goma y el lápiz. 
• ¿Dónde están los lápices? 
• Los lápices están en el estuche.