My teacher randomly sprung the IRP on us (thought he would let us know when the appropriate time was to prepare it but nope) this video is so helpful and gave me some reassurance. Thank you sm :)
This video is so so helpful - thank you! I'm in year 13 and this has really helped me refocus on what I actually need to be doing for my IRP (I do French and German) :)
Omg I was looking for this! About to go into year 13 and was supposed to start learning my IRP, but I was having trouble even finishing it, this helped so much, thank you!
I agree that choosing what your IRP is going to be about IS important. But once you decide, I wouldn't spend more than a day preparing the actual content. Let's get some perspective here: the IRP is only two minutes of talking and about five minutes or less of answering questions. In your two minutes, you should do four things: explain what your IRP is about; why it's important/interesting; three "conclusions" or "findings"; three pieces of evidence ie. stats or figures along with their sources. That's it. All of this should take an hour or two to prepare MAX. Much more important than research is getting your use of verbs, irregular verbs and tenses up to scratch. What I mean by that is you should practice until they come out of your mouth like a machine gun. In addition, learn some phrases that you can just throw in there - rehearsed soundbites that you can just spew out and that will make you sound more fluent. Try and nail about 10 of these if you can. Finally, memorise some flashy words - about 10 or 12. The advantage of using this method is that you can apply all of your efforts with verbs, phrases and words not just to the presentation of your IRP but to your entire oral exam. That's much more efficient than spending hours, days and even weeks on researching in English a subject that you simply won't have much time to talk about in the exam. How do I know all of this? I did my AQA Spanish exam this summer. I got an A* overall and I got 118 out of 120 for my oral. Good luck to everyone. And remember: sweat the grammar and vocab, NOT the IRP content.
@@user-z777.z first off, there’s no magic bullet and no short cuts. So the answer is that I studied VERY hard. But I think I also studied intelligently. Here’s what I mean: I studied the hell out of verbs. So much that I could rattle them off machine-gun style. Any verb, any tense. I paid close attention to the irregular verbs, and just killed them. I also paid particular attention to subjunctive uses. Everyone gets freaked about subjunctive but it really isn’t difficult - you just have to practise using them and knowing when to use them. Once you know, you know - and what was a mystery becomes easy. The second thing I did was watch Latin American soap operas with subtitles in Spanish. At first, you have no idea what’s going on. But the great thing about these soaps is that they’re on every day, five days a week - and they go on for like four months. All to say that you can get into them even if you don’t understand every word they’re saying. The Spanish subtitles really help because you get used to hearing phrases and then seeing what they look like written down that helps enormously with your listening comprehension. If you watch a half-hour soap five days a week for six months, I guarantee that your comprehension will be amazing by the end of it. When I sat my paper 1, I didn’t have to rewind the comprehension part at all. It just seemed like they were speaking in slow motion compared with what I was used to. Everyone else around me was rewinding their MP3s like crazy. I felt like all that hard work had paid off. I got 182/200 on that paper. So verbs and then watching TV in Spanish EVERY day. Now, none of this helps with your pronunciation or fluency in speaking. To sort that out, I read to myself out loud for 10 minutes a day. Just read a book or magazine. Don’t worry about understanding it or not, just practise your pronunciation and fluency in speaking. Consider this like taking your tongue and mouth to the gym. It’s a workout but it’s one that if you do it every day, you get SO much better at pronouncing Spanish accurately. Vocab - I read a newspaper every day and wrote down words I didn’t know. I also tested myself constantly every day as I walked down the street or sat at my desk. Did I know the word for pavement, lamppost, bus stop? Did I know the word for shelf, ceiling etc? I labelled everything in my house I could think of with post-it notes so that I learned the word for every day things. Finally (not finally but I’ve gone on for too long here), I learned 100 adjectives. Just ways of describing nouns. Adjectives are amazing because you can use them all the time. You can always slide an adjective in there, and it can sound impressive. Ok, those are a few specific tips I can offer you for studying. They worked for me, they might not work for others…but I think they will. Remember two things. First, there are no short cuts, it’s just hard work. Second, the hardest work in Spanish is all at the beginning because the verbs are tough. BUT, once you have those verbs down, you’ve done most of the hard work. In other words, yes, it’s hard but it gets easier and easier. Good luck.
@@IN-pr3lw You really should ask your teacher this question because I'm not qualified to answer it. But why would you want to avoid history and social justice? They are both really interesting subjects. Again, ask your teacher. But I would choose something topical. What about something along environmental lines? What is Spain's record on the environment? Perhaps there is something there. It's one of the southernmost countries in Europe - what is it doing in terms of solar power? BTW, it also has some of the biggest wind power companies in the world. Perhaps there is something interesting to write about Spain and renewable energy. My general thesis is that it doesn't really matter that much what you talk about because you only get to speak for two minutes anyway. But choosing something that feels "relevant" to some of the big debates of our times will probably go down well with the examiners, don't you think?
Mine was on the Spanish monarchy and if it’s still popular? Definitely agree about choosing a topic . Where you able to prepare the questions? This is what we did last year( this could be because I did Edxcel) . Also I think what you said about the topic and the speaking card is correct. Great tips and I agree with them ! For the one for bibliography I had to do the same but I was told only 2.
I am doing Fashion. I want to talk about french fashion and then a fashion brand. But Idk how to structure it :( What should I focus on more, the history of fashion or brand?
i am doing something similar- focussed on the history of fashion and how it has been/is popular might be a good thing to focus on but it is up to you and the type of question you are doing :)
teachers have given us 2 weeks to prepare for our speaking exam, so THANK YOU for making this oh my gosh
Omg good luck!!! I’m so glad this video was helpful to you! :))
Omg same!!
i literally just got told that my speaking exam would be next monday :D havent looked at my irp for nearly a year
My teacher randomly sprung the IRP on us (thought he would let us know when the appropriate time was to prepare it but nope) this video is so helpful and gave me some reassurance. Thank you sm :)
This video is so so helpful - thank you! I'm in year 13 and this has really helped me refocus on what I actually need to be doing for my IRP (I do French and German) :)
Aw I’m so glad!! Good luck 💛
We got our exam in like literally 3 days , good luck🫡
@@walidnajim5616 omg same. i have my german speaking exam on Thursday and UGHHHDJSKK 😖😀
@@user-yr1eg9ct6e bro im literally stressing out so badly cuz my research is not finished
@@user-yr1eg9ct6e naahh im not doing that , just spanish g
Omg I was looking for this! About to go into year 13 and was supposed to start learning my IRP, but I was having trouble even finishing it, this helped so much, thank you!
Aw I’m so glad it was helpful!! Best of luck with it
i don’t know how to properly explain it but you have a really calming presence :)
Awh thank you that’s so sweet 🥺
Thank you! I am a mature student and you have been a great help. 😊
🫶🫶
I agree that choosing what your IRP is going to be about IS important. But once you decide, I wouldn't spend more than a day preparing the actual content.
Let's get some perspective here: the IRP is only two minutes of talking and about five minutes or less of answering questions. In your two minutes, you should do four things: explain what your IRP is about; why it's important/interesting; three "conclusions" or "findings"; three pieces of evidence ie. stats or figures along with their sources. That's it. All of this should take an hour or two to prepare MAX.
Much more important than research is getting your use of verbs, irregular verbs and tenses up to scratch. What I mean by that is you should practice until they come out of your mouth like a machine gun. In addition, learn some phrases that you can just throw in there - rehearsed soundbites that you can just spew out and that will make you sound more fluent. Try and nail about 10 of these if you can. Finally, memorise some flashy words - about 10 or 12.
The advantage of using this method is that you can apply all of your efforts with verbs, phrases and words not just to the presentation of your IRP but to your entire oral exam. That's much more efficient than spending hours, days and even weeks on researching in English a subject that you simply won't have much time to talk about in the exam.
How do I know all of this? I did my AQA Spanish exam this summer. I got an A* overall and I got 118 out of 120 for my oral. Good luck to everyone. And remember: sweat the grammar and vocab, NOT the IRP content.
Legend
Wow amazing tips!! I need some help with my gramar tbf. What resources were the best for you in perfecting your grammar??
@@user-z777.z first off, there’s no magic bullet and no short cuts. So the answer is that I studied VERY hard. But I think I also studied intelligently. Here’s what I mean:
I studied the hell out of verbs. So much that I could rattle them off machine-gun style. Any verb, any tense. I paid close attention to the irregular verbs, and just killed them. I also paid particular attention to subjunctive uses. Everyone gets freaked about subjunctive but it really isn’t difficult - you just have to practise using them and knowing when to use them. Once you know, you know - and what was a mystery becomes easy.
The second thing I did was watch Latin American soap operas with subtitles in Spanish. At first, you have no idea what’s going on. But the great thing about these soaps is that they’re on every day, five days a week - and they go on for like four months. All to say that you can get into them even if you don’t understand every word they’re saying. The Spanish subtitles really help because you get used to hearing phrases and then seeing what they look like written down that helps enormously with your listening comprehension. If you watch a half-hour soap five days a week for six months, I guarantee that your comprehension will be amazing by the end of it.
When I sat my paper 1, I didn’t have to rewind the comprehension part at all. It just seemed like they were speaking in slow motion compared with what I was used to. Everyone else around me was rewinding their MP3s like crazy. I felt like all that hard work had paid off. I got 182/200 on that paper.
So verbs and then watching TV in Spanish EVERY day. Now, none of this helps with your pronunciation or fluency in speaking. To sort that out, I read to myself out loud for 10 minutes a day. Just read a book or magazine. Don’t worry about understanding it or not, just practise your pronunciation and fluency in speaking. Consider this like taking your tongue and mouth to the gym. It’s a workout but it’s one that if you do it every day, you get SO much better at pronouncing Spanish accurately.
Vocab - I read a newspaper every day and wrote down words I didn’t know. I also tested myself constantly every day as I walked down the street or sat at my desk. Did I know the word for pavement, lamppost, bus stop? Did I know the word for shelf, ceiling etc? I labelled everything in my house I could think of with post-it notes so that I learned the word for every day things.
Finally (not finally but I’ve gone on for too long here), I learned 100 adjectives. Just ways of describing nouns. Adjectives are amazing because you can use them all the time. You can always slide an adjective in there, and it can sound impressive.
Ok, those are a few specific tips I can offer you for studying. They worked for me, they might not work for others…but I think they will.
Remember two things. First, there are no short cuts, it’s just hard work. Second, the hardest work in Spanish is all at the beginning because the verbs are tough. BUT, once you have those verbs down, you’ve done most of the hard work. In other words, yes, it’s hard but it gets easier and easier. Good luck.
@@scrumpymanjack how do you find a good topic that's not got much to do with History nor social justice
@@IN-pr3lw You really should ask your teacher this question because I'm not qualified to answer it. But why would you want to avoid history and social justice? They are both really interesting subjects.
Again, ask your teacher. But I would choose something topical. What about something along environmental lines? What is Spain's record on the environment? Perhaps there is something there. It's one of the southernmost countries in Europe - what is it doing in terms of solar power? BTW, it also has some of the biggest wind power companies in the world. Perhaps there is something interesting to write about Spain and renewable energy.
My general thesis is that it doesn't really matter that much what you talk about because you only get to speak for two minutes anyway. But choosing something that feels "relevant" to some of the big debates of our times will probably go down well with the examiners, don't you think?
Mine was on the Spanish monarchy and if it’s still popular? Definitely agree about choosing a topic . Where you able to prepare the questions? This is what we did last year( this could be because I did Edxcel) . Also I think what you said about the topic and the speaking card is correct. Great tips and I agree with them ! For the one for bibliography I had to do the same but I was told only 2.
That sounds rly interesting!! Thank you :))
@@ImmieSophie yeah it was quite interesting.
Your videos or so inspiring!💕 Just subscribed to your channel🥰 Keep it up girl!
Thank you 💛💛💛
Have mine tomorrow! Wish me luck guyssss
Good luckk!!
great video thank you i have a mandarin speaking exam coming up soon although im doing edexcel this is still very similar and helps me lots. Thanks ：D
Aw amazing, I’m so glad it helped!! Good luck :))
my teacher didn't tell me about this, I have now 2 days to do this
thank you!! you look like lily collins! xx
Haha really?! Thank you!! 💓
Your videos are always so helpful !!
Thank you sm! 🥰
I'm Anny. I'm back; Happy New year
Did you get to do a practice with the teacher before the real thing
Very helpful. Thanks.
Cheers for this it’s really helpful!
Aw you’re welcome I’m glad it was helpful!!
I am doing Fashion. I want to talk about french fashion and then a fashion brand. But Idk how to structure it :(
What should I focus on more, the history of fashion or brand?
i am doing something similar- focussed on the history of fashion and how it has been/is popular might be a good thing to focus on but it is up to you and the type of question you are doing :)
@@charlotte.ward4151 I've just decided to do history of french fashion because its a lot more straight forward i guess :)
have mine tomorrow, writing it right now🤡 we have to write a 5 minute irp (no 10 minutes of random questions thank god)
Aw good luck!!!
@@ImmieSophie thank you xx what ratio of opinion do you think is best to include?? probably the only thing i’m not sure about😭
Muchas gracias!!!
ty!! im doing french but this is still useful! also you look like lily collins x (compliment!)
Aw I’m so glad ☺️ and that’s rly funny actually because lots of people have told me I look like her but I don’t see it ahah 🤣 thank you though! :)
@@ImmieSophie hey update i just finished my IRP!!! will be presenting it in summer!!
omg when i’ve done my exam this video will be 5 years old 💀
i'm wrong. it'll be 4 years old. how tf did i get a 5 at gcse maths?
7:07 I agree with you
Hello Sophie
I’ve got mine tomorrow and I’m scared
Good luck!!
@@ImmieSophie thank you, this really helped as well!
@@samwallis1010 aw yay! :)
I have my IRP exam tomorrow 💀
Good luck!
me too😭hope it goes well!!
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