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Revision Notes Como Agua Para Chocolate
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A LEVEL SPANISHComo agua para chocolate – Laura Esquivel
GUIDANCE NOTES:
Keep referring to the question / essay title. Ask: Am I still answering the question?
Include details (even the smallest of details as long as they are pertinent to the points that you are
making) from text/film to illustrate to the Examiner that you know it thoroughly. At the forefront
of the Examiners mind will be the question “how well does this candidate know this book/film?)
Do not write rambling sentences
Do not “story-tell”; make valid points and then back them up with detail/ evidence from the text/
film
Do not write a learnt paragraph about the author / director etc
Check your facts: names of characters, historical period, geographic location etc.
Remember: are you writing about the “libro” or the “película”? It’s easy to write the wrong
word! Keep checking!
If you have written a good plan, you shouldn’t need to add ideas when you are checking.
Examiners don’t like * being told “continues on last page” etc
Finally, save at least 5 minutes to read through and check your Spanish – even the best
candidates make mistakes when writing quickly and under pressure. Look for the obvious
mistakes: spellings, articles, genders, agreements, accents etc
Prepare by reference to this extract from an Examiners Report:
,“General Comments The vast majority of essays were well structured and clearly planned. In the
main, students had plenty to say and sufficient command of the language to make their points
clearly. It was pleasing to see very few cases of students attempting to reproduce a pre-learnt
essay. Many of the essays were well written. The best were outstanding; they demonstrated a
very assured knowledge of grammar and a very wide vocabulary. Some were extremely
enjoyable to read. Many essays showed a very good understanding of the texts and films studied,
and there were some very insightful comments. Students should remember to write down the
number of the question they are answering in the appropriate place provided and to ensure they
have given the correct name of the author/director and not confused it with the name from their
other text or film. Students are also reminded of the need to read questions carefully to ensure
they have understood the thrust of the question. They are also reminded that how they structure
and organise their response is entirely up to them: if a question invites them to consider positive
and negative aspects and they believe the negative aspects by far outweigh the positive ones (or
vice versa), this is a perfectly acceptable response provided they offer justification for their
opinions. There is no expectation with a question of this sort that answers will necessarily be
balanced across the positive and negative aspects. Questions invariably invite the student to
make a judgement about the validity of an opinion, the importance of a theme or character, or
similar. There is no expectation that students should always agree with the judgement or that
they cannot mention themes or characters they deem to be more important than the one
highlighted in the question. While it is important that they do not ignore the question set in
favour of one they would have preferred, they can construct a response to the question that
addresses the correct focus but then brings in other relevant dimensions or perspectives”
Resumen
No siempre tenemos a mano los ingredientes de la felicidad. Tita lo había
aprendido desde pequeña, cuando crecía en la cocina con Nacha y se le
negaba toda posibilidad de vida propia desde su nacimiento. Pero lo que
también aprendió Tita es que los ingredientes no son lo más importante
para cocinar un buen plato, sino todo el amor con que seas capaz de
hacerlo. Pero Tita se dio cuenta de que sus platos no solo tenían el poder de
deslumbrar por sus sabores y texturas. Su tristeza, su alegría, su deseo o su
dolor a la hora de prepararlos se contagiaban irremediablemente a todo
aquel que los probaba. A través de esta alegoría que vincula con maestría
los sentimientos y los elementos culinarios, Laura Esquivel conquistó el
parnaso de la literatura, construyendo un relato que se asienta en la
tradición del realismo mágico, se recrea en la cultura mexicana y que
traspasa todo lo anterior para convertirse en una novela universal, una parte
del imaginario colectivo, un clásico.
, ESSAY POINTERS/ ADVICE
Avoid phrases like pienso que…/creo que…. If you want to make clear you are expressing a
personal opinion use: en mi opinión, desde mi punto de vista or a mi modo de ver; or a more
sophisticated expression like: estimo que… or considero que…or even tengo que admitir que…
or quisiera añadir que…
Avoid phrases like mucha gente piensa que. If you want to express a commonly held view,
say:como se sabe, teniendo en cuenta(consideración) que, como es bien conocido por todos,
considerando que
Do not overuse the word problema. Try el tema (en cuestión) (issue) or el tópico (topic) or la
polémica (debate) or el asunto (matter)
Use good sentence starters: se puede notar que, no se puede negar que…, es obvio que…, lo
primero que hace falta decir es que, no cabe duda de que….
Use linking phrases to start new paragraphs: siendo eso así …, dicho eso…, no se debe olvidar
que …, lo que demuestra que…
Try to include subjunctives
Use rhetorical devices: Rule of three – la televisión es informativa, omnipresente , pero
adictiva Contrast – por un lado…, por otro lado…/por una parte…por otra parte… Interjections –
¡Qué horror! ¡Qué desastre! Rhetorical questions – ¿Quién puede dudar eso? Proverbs or sayings
–poner algo patas arriba, la mejor defensa es un ataque, más vale prevenir que luego lamentar,
más vale tarde que nunca…
Imagery –
Don’t use decir – try afirmar/declarar/pretender/comprobar
Don’t use ser/estar – try representar/constituir/encontrarse
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