ROLE PLAY 1; THE BEACH (LA PLAYA)

In the Leaving Cert oral exam every student is given one of five role plays to complete. The student has to play the part of a young person in Spain, in a variety of situations, at a first aid post on a beach, on a boat, in a hotel etc. The examiner plays the part of the Spanish person talking to the student.

The best way to prepare for the role plays is to break each section down to individual expressions, and to learn the expressions. For example, in the first role play, you are on a beach in Santander, and step on a piece of broken glass. You go to the first aid hut and say to the attendant there...

"Say you are sorry to bother him/her but you have cut your foot.
Say it is bleeding a lot but you do not think it’s serious but it hurts badly."

Instead of having to learn the whole first part together, it is easier to take it expression by expression..

Sorry to bother you - siento molestarte

I have cut my foot - me he cortado el pie

It is bleeding a lot - está sangrando mucho

It hurts badly - me duele mucho

The whole of role play 1 is done like this, and can be found here. Check out the video above....

LEAVING CERT ORAL, ROLE PLAY 3

ROLE PLAY 3, EL HOTEL

In this role play, you are staying in a hotel in Alicante. You have booked a room with a view, but have been given one looking on to a courtyard. You complain to reception.

Some useful expressions here are....

acabo de llegar - I have just arrived

una terraza - a balcony

da a - it looks on to..

insatisfactorio - unsatisfactory

una mala evaluación - a bad review

decepcionado/a - disappointed

lujoso - luxurious

el último piso - the top floor

As always, it is easier to learn the individual expressions, and then put them together when learning the whole role play.

For a full guide to Role Play 3, check out all the necessary expressions here.

ROLE PLAY 2: EL CURSO

In the second role play, you are given the part of someone who has booked a place on a Spanish course. Unfortunately, you have broken your ankle, and cannot take your place on the course. You phone the language school to try and get your deposit back.

Full list of expressions for this role play here

A couple of words and expressions of note here...

to attend - asistir 
Note that "asistir" is a False Friend, asistir does not mean "to assist" here

I have broken my ankle - Me he roto el tobillo 
In English, when we talk about parts of our body, we use the possessive - "my hand," "his finger" etc. In Spanish we do not do this, we only talk about "la mano", "el dedo" etc. Instead, we make the verb reflexive... - me he roto...

The subjunctive...

There are two uses of the subjunctive in this role play. 
1. "Is there any way that you can return the deposit?" - ¿Es posible que ustedes puedan devolver...?
After "Es posible que..." we need the subjunctive - "puedan"

2. "I cannot afford..." - There is no direct translation of "afford" in Spanish, so we have to rephrase the sentence...
- No tengo tanto dinero que pueda perder ciento cincuenta euros - Literally, "I don't have so much money that I can lose one hundred and fifty euros,"
After the negative, "no tengo tanto dinero que.." we need the subjunctive.

Full list of expressions here