DELE stands for Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera. It is a world-renowned indicator of Spanish proficiency and includes 6 levels following the Common European Framework Reference which are A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. The FORMAT for each exam level is listed below along with a brief description of the expected abilities of a student who has reached that level. At Salamanca House we currently teach up to level B2. This is a considerably high standard and pupils who attain this level can comfortably defend themselves, from a linguistic view point, in Spanish speaking countries. Level A1 is a very reasonable level. If you liken learning a language to taking off in a plane, by far the most difficult phase is getting the plane into the air. It has to make a huge effort, taxing along the runway until it finally reaches that moment when it lifts off the ground! When you pass A1 you have taken off and are on your way! There will be no looking back!
Students at this level are considered to be basic users of the language; they are able to communicate in everyday situations with commonly-used expressions and elementary vocabulary. They can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to cooperate. . .
Reading comprehension (45 min.).
Listening comprehension (20 min.).
Written expression and interaction (25 min.).
Oral expression and interaction (30 min: 15+15). .
For an example of an A1 Oral Exam: .
Students of this level can communicate in simple, everyday tasks requiring no more than a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. They can describe in simple terms aspects of their past, environment and matters related to their immediate needs..
Reading comprehension (60 min.).
Listening comprehension (35 min.).
Written expression and interaction (50 min.).
Oral expression and interaction (30 min: 15+15).
For an example of an A2 Oral Exam: .
Students of this level are considered to be independent users of the language; those who have the necessary fluency to communicate without effort with native speakers.an describe experiences, events, wishes and aspirations, as well as briefly justifying opinions or explaining plans.
Reading comprehension (70 min).
Listening comprehension (40 min.).
Written expression and interaction (60 min.).
Oral expression and interaction (30 min: 15+15).
For an example of an B1 Oral Exam: .
Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. They can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in their field of specialization.
Reading comprehension (70 min.).
Listening comprehension (40 min.).
Written expression and interaction (80 min.).
Oral expression and interaction (40 min: 20+20).
For an example of an B2 Oral Exam: .
Vocab and Function:
…introduce yourself, give and solicit nationality, profession, telephone number and address; describe your family and its members, their physical appearance and character; describe where you live, your house, rooms and furniture; describe your neighbourhood and town; state the location of an object in your home; buy something in a shop; express likes and dislikes, talk about the weather, time and seasons; state the days of the weeks; talk about daily routine, habits, and activities in your free time and your job; express opinions, agreement and disagreement; describe what you did yesterday; describe the location of an object with respect to other objects
Grammar:
…conjugate regular verbs in the Present Simple Tense and be familiar with their intonation patterns; conjugate and use the verbs ser and estar in different contexts; differentiate between tú y usted; identify the gender of nouns and match with the correct form of the adjective; identify which Definite and Indefinite Articles go with the noun; ronounce with confidence and remember the numbers from 0 to 1000; use question words such as qué, cómo, dónde y cuándo; conjugate Present Tense irregular, reflexive, stem-changing verbs, and verbs like gustar; use quantifying adjectives such as muchos, pocos, bastantes, algunos, ningunos; use adverbs of frequency such as siempre, nunca, a veces, a menudo, casi siempre; conjugate regular verbs in the simple past [preterite]; se prepositions of space and time; use the demonstrative adjectives, this and these: este, esta, estos, estas.
Vocab and Function:
…express feelings, have conversations in a market, café or a restaurant; state important body parts, explain health problems to the doctor; talk about personal recent experiences; give excuses and apologise; say what you are doing right now and describe what people are wearing; talk about trips and biographies of famous people; express possession and ownership; have phone conversations and arrange meetings; ask for information about transport (buying train, bus and plane tickets); express what you did last weekend and give opinions about those past events; describe objects using hecho/a/os/as de + material and adjectives for shape, colour and size; describe people and places in the past; describe the location of a place in your town and give directions using the affirmative imperative [sigue por, coge la primera salida a…, cruce la calle…]
Grammar:
…express the rules for forming regular past participle and use the Present Perfect tense; recognise the difference between this tense and the Simple Past; use auxiliary verbs such as querer, necesitar, tener que and hay que + infinitivo to express obligation and wishes; use regular and irregular simple past verbs confidently; use the Present Continuous [estar + gerundio]; use the demonstrative adjectives, that and those, ese, esa, esos, esas; make comparisons using más… que , menos… que , o tan… como; identify and use the Direct Objects Pronouns [lo, la, los, las]; use the imperative [affirmative only in Tú]; use the Past Imperfect and soler [imperfect] + infinitive to talk about habitual actions in the past; use Possessive Pronouns with gender and plurality mío, mía, míos, mías, tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas etc; use Direct Object Pronouns, [me, te lo, la, nos, os, los, las] and Indirect Object Pronouns [me, te, le, nos, os, les].
Vocab and Function:
…express the duration of actions that started in the past and continue in the present [desde…, desde hace…, desde que…, etc]; describe the background to something that happened; tell stories in the past; talk about the future, make predictions and express probability; express wishes and plans; describe a person´s character; express likes and dislikes about connected to the past; express different feelings such as fear, shame, happiness, affection and sadness; talk about personal relationships; describe health problems and give suggestions and advice about to get better; talk about advantages and disadvantages of different topics such as working at home or in an office; take messages and pass the information to their recipients; use vocabulary about technology and the Internet; switch confidently between all the past, present and future tenses in a conversation
Grammar:
…understand the difference between the two past tenses, the Past Imperfect and the Past Simple; when to use one and when to use the other; link events and happenings in the past with cuando , mientras and the correct past tenses; conjugate and use the Past Continuous; conjugate and use verbs in the Simple Future; use the Relative Pronouns, que and quien, to describe people; use reciprocal pronouns such as nos conocemos en.., se casaron en…; use the Past Perfect to describe a past action that occurred previous to another past action; use the demonstrative adjectives, that and those when referring to more distant objects: aquel, aquella, aquellos, aquellas; use gustar and verbs like gustar in reference to the past; use the Subjunctive to express desires, doubts, espero que…, dudo que…, feelings and surprise me molesta que…, me sorprenda que…; use verbs with prepositions such as me allegro de que…, tengo miedo de que; use the Subjunctive for giving advice and opinions; use the imperative (affirmative and negative in tú and vosotros); conjugate and use verbs in the Conditional tense to give advice [Si fuera tú, comería menos; use the RID order and apply the la-la rule to make sentences with one verb and two object pronouns, se lo compró [he bought it for her]; confidently use prepositions por and para
Vocab and Function:
…talk about literature and films, in particular, genres, plots, actors and reviews; discuss the quality of life and change of habits in our society; try to convince or persuade someone to agree with you; express wishes that are not very likely to happen; debate about contemporary problems such as pollution, the economy, unemployment, immigration, or education and how it has changed over the years; talk in depth about the environment, its problems and suggest how to solve them; give instructions about how to carry out a task, cook a meal, using the imperative mood; express technical ideas related to the internet; express desires and doubts referring to the past, dudaron que aprobara su examen; formulate hypothesis about the past; describe important moments in yours or another person’s life; express feelings and the reason why you feel that way; understand advertisements and slogans in magazines and TV; understand news articles and debate about the importance of the media nowadays; use some Spanish proverbs and colloquial expressions with the names of animals; transmit what someone has said; express your first impression about someone; you can express requirements and preferences when preparing for a holiday or trip; use more colloquial expressions in conversation; write a letter of complaint; talk about important decisions in your life and express regret. Become confident in using the subjunctive to express desire, hope, possibility
Grammar:
…confidently use the Present Tense of Subjunctive to express desire, doubt and probability with tal vez and quizás; use the Subjunctive with aunque; recognise when to use the subjunctive and indicative moods and differentiate between the two; conjugate and use the Present Perfect Subjunctive, espero que ella haya Ganado; conjugate and use the imperfect subjunctive Él esperaba que no hubiera un accidente; use the Passive Voice; make sentences with two verbs and two object pronouns, “no queremos comprársela” [we didn´t want to buy it for her]; use the Imperative with Direct and Indirect Pronouns, Ábremela! [Open the door for me!]; use more complex expressions with ser and estar; conjugate the Pretérito Imperfecto de Subjuntivo and use it to form Conditional sentences, si tuviera más dinero, comparía un nuevo coche; conjugate the Past Perfect Subjunctive and use it with the Condicional compuesto, si yo hubiera sabido era su cumple le habria enviado a él un regalo; use the pronoun se to express that an incident was involuntary, Se me cayó el teléfono por el váter!; use some Perífrasis Verbales ir/acabar + gerundio, dejar de + infinitivo