Topic Summaries

Tips for photo description tasks

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GCSE > Spanish > Edexcel > GCSE Spanish Topic Summaries > Speaking skills > Tips for photo description tasks
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DIALOGUE EXAMPLES: The wider world

  • For these tasks you will also have approximately one minute of prep time in which you can use to plan 2–3 sentences for describing the photo. In that time, you can also predict possible questions.
  • Start with the basics:
    • Describe who is in the photo: personas (hombre, mujer, niños, amigos…)
    • Describe where they are: lugar (playa, cocina, parque, colegio…)
    • Mention what they’re doing: acción principal (hablando, comiendo, jugando…)
  • Use timed tenses:
    • Present to describe what you see – e.g. En la foto veo a una familia que celebra un cumpleaños. (In the photo I see a family celebrating a birthday)
    • Imperfect preterite to give context or ongoing actions – e.g. Antes, los niños jugaban en el jardín. (Before, children played in the garden.)
    • Future to speculate what will happen next – e.g. Después, van a comer tarta y cantar felicitaciones. (Afterwards, they will eat cake and sing congratulations.)
    • Conditional for formal situations – e.g. Probablemente necesitarían limpiar el desastre más tarde. (They would probably need to clean up the mess later.)
  • Add details:
    • Clothes and their colors – e.g. Llevan camisetas rojas y vaqueros azules. (They wear red t-shirts and blue jeans.)
    • Emotions and expressions – e.g. Se les ve felices y sonrientes. (They look happy and smiling.)
    • Objects – e.g. Hay globos y una tarta en la mesa. (There are balloons and a cake on the table.)
  • Integrate varied vocabulary:
    • Use vocabulary from the themes (e.g. fiesta, comida, tiempo libre, escuela)
    • Employ adjectives and adverbs (e.g. alegre, divertido, cuidadosamente, rápidamente)
    • Include words of perception (e.g. parecer, se ve)
  • Opina y justifica:
    • Form a simple opinion – e.g. Me parece una celebración divertida. (I think it’s a fun celebration.)
    • ustify that opinion with a reason – e.g. porque todos están sonriendo y compartiendo comida. (because everyone is smiling and sharing food.)
  • Make comparisons: use words like más… que, menos… que, tan… como – e.g. Este regalo es más grande que el anterior. (This gift is bigger than the last one.)
  • Time management: you can mentally organise your time into three blocks:
    1. Objective description (quién, dónde, qué)
    2. Opinion and justification
    3. Compare with your own experience 
  • You must speak for a total of 90 seconds, so don’t spend too much time in one block.
  • Use discursive markers to join ideas (e.g. además, por otro lado, sin embargo, finalmente). This can also help you avoid long pauses while you think!

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