Overview & Synopsis

Candidates must demonstrate the ability to navigate practical travel scenarios, including booking accommodation and utilizing public transport, while employing a range of past, present, and future timeframes. The topic encompasses the description of holiday destinations, the evaluation of different modes of travel, and the discussion of personal experiences and future aspirations. Successful communication requires the integration of transactional language with the ability to express nuanced opinions on the impact of tourism on local cultures and environments.

Examiner Tips for Topic 4: Travel and tourism

• Learn the specific vocabulary for major festivals like Día de los Muertos and Día de Reyes.
• Practice using the preterite and imperfect tenses to describe how you celebrated a festival in the past.
• Use the 'Strategies for understanding' (e.g., using visual/verbal context) to decode unfamiliar cultural terms in reading/listening tasks.
• Prepare justifications for your opinions on festivals to gain higher marks in speaking and writing.
• Be ready to compare customs in Spanish-speaking countries with those in your own culture.

Common Mistakes in Topic 4: Travel and tourism

• Confusing specific festival dates or traditions.
• Over-reliance on English-based word coinage when describing cultural events.
• Failure to use appropriate tenses when narrating past festival experiences.
• Lack of justification when expressing opinions about customs.
• Ignoring the cultural context clues provided in texts.

Key Marking Points

• Ability to name and describe specific festivals (e.g., Día de los Muertos, Día de Reyes, La Tomatina).
• Understanding of cultural vocabulary related to customs and traditions.
• Ability to express opinions about festivals and justify them.
• Use of appropriate tenses to describe past, present, and future festival experiences.
• Recognition of cultural context to deduce meaning of unknown words.