Writing: producing short texts in Spanish for different purposes
Writing is assessed internally. You produce several short texts in Spanish on familiar topics, in different text types - email, letter, blog post, article, review, invitation, postcard - and your work is judged on communication, range, accuracy and how well it fits the text type.
Match the text type
- Email or postcard: «¡Hola Ana!» … «Un abrazo» / «Saludos» / «Hasta pronto».
- Blog or article: a title, an opening sentence that states the topic, paragraphs, a closing comment.
- Review: describe, evaluate, recommend («Lo recomiendo porque…»).
- Notice or invitation: essential details only - what, where, when, cost. Register matters: tú with friends, usted in formal letters («Estimado señor»).
Range beats risk
A short, correct sentence scores better than a long, broken one. Build in three tenses (present, near future with «ir a + infinitive», preterite), connectives («además», «sin embargo», «porque», «primero… luego»), and opinions with reasons. Check adjective agreement, ser versus estar, and gustar-style verbs, where the subject is the thing liked.
Worked example
Draft: «Me gusta los deportes, sobre todo el baloncesto. Yo soy cansado después del partido.» Reasoning: «los deportes» is plural, so the verb must be «gustan» - the thing liked is the subject, not the person. «Soy cansado» uses ser, but tiredness is a temporary state, so it must be «estoy cansado». Age uses tener, not ser: «Tengo dieciséis años». Rewritten: «Me gustan los deportes, sobre todo el baloncesto, porque es rápido y emocionante. Normalmente estoy cansado después de un partido, pero me divierto mucho.»
Traps
- Translating word for word from English, producing unidiomatic Spanish.
- Dropping accents and ñ, which changes meaning: año/ano, hablo/habló, si/sí, el/él.
- Missing adjective agreement («una casa bonita», «unos libros nuevos»).
- Using only the present tense throughout.
- Reproducing a memorised model text that does not answer the task.