Lesson 4
Las fiestas familiares.
Family celebrations — birthdays, saints’ days, weddings and anniversaries. The language for saying how you celebrate, who with, and why these moments matter. Work through the eight steps below: learn the words, read, listen, translate, then practise the photo card, role-play and writing exactly as they appear in the AQA exam.
Refresh your KS3 celebration words.
You met all of these in earlier years. Tap any word to hear it, and check the model sentence to see it in action. These are the building blocks — make sure they're solid before the new GCSE words.
Twenty new GCSE words.
Each card shows the word, its meaning, a model sentence and a tag: F on the AQA list (Foundation & Higher), H Higher only, útil not on AQA's list but very useful for speaking & writing. Tap to listen.
Read, then answer.
Two texts on the same topic — a Foundation text and a tougher Higher text. Read each one, then answer the questions in English underneath. They mark themselves: tap your answer and you'll see straight away if you're right.
Las fiestas en mi familia — Diego
Bodas y cumpleaños — Elena
Listen, then answer.
Press play to hear the passage read aloud, as many times as you need, then answer the English questions. You can reveal the transcript afterwards to check what you heard.
🎧 Native-quality audio. Play it as many times as you need — just like the real exam, where each recording is played twice.
Mi cumpleaños — Marta
De los payasos a las bodas — Hugo
Translate both ways.
First Spanish → English (reading translation), then English → Spanish (the harder direction, tested in Paper 4). Have a go on paper, then tap to reveal the model answer and compare.
Translate into English
Translate into Spanish
Describe the photo card.
In the speaking exam you get a card with two photos from one theme. You must say at least one thing about each photo, then have a conversation on the topic. Here are two photos about festivals and celebrations and the kind of questions you'll be asked.
- 1.¿Qué hay en las fotos? Describe la escena. Compulsory
- 2.¿Cuál es tu fiesta familiar favorita?
- 3.¿Qué haces para celebrarla y con quién?
- 4.¿Son importantes las fiestas familiares? (opinión + razón)
Describing the photos — model answer
The first question is compulsory: say at least one thing about each photo. Below are two model descriptions you can adapt to whoever is in the picture — tap the speaker to hear them.
Foto A — a birthday party. En la primera foto hay una fiesta de cumpleaños. Hay una tarta con velas y unos jóvenes celebrando alrededor de la mesa. La persona del cumpleaños va a soplar las velas y todos están muy contentos.
In the first photo there is a birthday party. There is a cake with candles and some young people celebrating around the table. The birthday person is going to blow out the candles and everyone is very happy.
Foto B — a wedding. En la segunda foto se ve una boda. Los novios están juntos y hay muchos invitados muy elegantes. Parece un día muy especial y emocionante para toda la familia.
In the second photo you can see a wedding. The bride and groom are together and there are lots of very smartly-dressed guests. It looks like a very special and emotional day for the whole family.
Useful vocabulary & phrases
Para empezar: en la primera / segunda foto hay… (there is) · se ve a… (you can see) · unos jóvenes / un grupo de amigos
Las fiestas: la celebración · el desfile · los fuegos artificiales · disfrazarse · el ambiente · reunirse
¿Cómo / cuándo?: por la noche · en la calle · con la familia · celebran · se divierten · lo pasan bien
Opinar (tu turno): mi fiesta favorita es… · me gusta … porque hay muy buen ambiente · las tradiciones son importantes
Then the conversation
- Q2 — your favourite: Mi fiesta familiar favorita es mi cumpleaños porque invito a todos mis amigos.
- Q3 — how & who with: La celebro con mi familia y mis amigos; comemos tarta y soplo las velas.
- Q4 — opinion + reason (this is where Higher students score): Para mí, las fiestas familiares son esenciales porque fortalecen los lazos familiares.
- Higher tier: add a tense — De pequeño hacíamos fiestas con payasos… (imperfect) or el año que viene me gustaría hacer una fiesta enorme… (conditional) — and an opinion with creo que / pienso que.
The role-play.
The instructions are in English. You must answer the prompts and ask one question (the ! bullet). Try it out loud first, then reveal the model answers.
Your Spanish friend asks you about family celebrations. Your teacher plays your friend.
Model answers & tips
Write your answer.
Two tasks in the real exam style — a Foundation ~50-word task (five bullets) and a Higher ~90-word task (three bullets). Use the sentence starters (tap to drop them into the pad) and the useful vocab, then compare with a model answer.
Mi fiesta familiar
≈ 50 words · 5 bullets · 10 marksDescribe tu fiesta familiar favorita y cómo la celebras. Menciona los cinco puntos. Escribe aproximadamente 50 palabras en español.
Las fiestas familiares
≈ 90 words · 3 bullets · 15 marksDescribe las fiestas familiares que te gustan, qué hacías de pequeño/a y qué te gustaría celebrar en el futuro. Menciona los tres puntos. Escribe aproximadamente 90 palabras en español.
Foundation answers cover all the bullets with clear, accurate present-tense sentences joined by y, pero and porque, plus at least one opinion. Higher answers do all that and then reach further: more than one tense (e.g. imperfect vivía, near future voy a, conditional me gustaría), opinions with developed reasons, a wider range of connectives (aunque, sin embargo, además) and more ambitious vocabulary. The biggest single lift from Foundation to Higher is justifying opinions and using a second and third tense accurately.