Spanish spelling is beautifully regular — once you know the alphabet and the sound rules you can read almost any word aloud. This lesson builds your ear and voice: the sound–symbol rules for reading aloud, and how each part of the WJEC course works — the Oracy and Reading & Writing Non-Exam Assessment (45%) plus the Listening and Reading & Writing exams.
Work through each screen and answer the questions as you go — some ask you to recognise the right sound, some ask you to type the word. Collect ⭐ stars and press Start.
Spanish has just five vowel sounds and they are always short and pure — you never glide or "drift" them the way English does. Say each one crisply:
Why this matters: in reading aloud the vowels never change. English speakers tend to say "KAH-suh" — the final a is a full clear "ah", not a mumbled "uh".
The Spanish alphabet: it's the English 26 letters plus ñ. The screens that follow are your sound–spelling table — learn which letter makes which sound and you can read almost any Spanish word aloud, even ones you've never seen.
The letter c has two jobs, decided entirely by the vowel that follows it:
Read-aloud tip: never say "kwe" for que — the u after q is silent, so it is just "keh".
Like c, the letter g changes with the next vowel — and there's a trick to keep it hard:
| spelling | sound & example |
|---|---|
| g + a/o/u | hard g — gato, gordo, gustar |
| g + e/i | throaty [x] — gente, gimnasio |
| gu + e/i | hard g, silent u — guitarra, guerra |
| j (any vowel) | throaty [x] — jamón, joven |
The "loch" sound: g before e/i and j everywhere make the same rasping sound at the back of the throat — like the "ch" in Scottish loch. So gente and joven both start with that throaty noise, not a soft English "j".
A handful of letters and pairs make sounds English doesn't spell the same way:
Minimal pair: pero ("but", single tap) vs perro ("dog", rolled). The trill is the difference between them — worth practising for reading aloud.
Choose the correct sound for each letter or word.
Sort each word by the sound of its c. Hard [k] before a/o/u; soft "th/s" before e/i.
Tap a letter/pair on the left, then tap its sound on the right.
WJEC GCSE Spanish is untiered (grades A*–G) and 45% of it is Non-Exam Assessment (NEA) done in class. Here are the two skills where your sound rules pay off:
Read-aloud checklist: before you speak, scan for silent h, any rr to roll, and soft c/g. Getting these right sounds far more Spanish than perfect grammar with an English accent.
Choose how each item sounds — as you would say it in the reading-aloud task.
The other two units cover reading and writing — one in class, one in the exam hall:
You'll meet some unfamiliar words. Not every word will be on your vocab list — that's expected. Use the context, any cognates (words that look like English), and the sentence around it to deduce the meaning. In the translation, don't leave a gap: a sensible best guess usually earns more than a blank.
Vowels: five short, pure sounds — a, e, i, o, u — never drifting.
c / g: hard before a/o/u; soft (c) or throaty (g) before e/i. qu/gu keep the hard [k]/[g] before e/i, silent u.
Silent & special: h silent; j throaty; ll≈"y"; ñ="ny"; ch="ch"; v=b; z="th/s".
The r: single = tap (pero); rr / start / after n,l,s = rolled trill (perro).
The 4 units (untiered, 45% NEA): Unit 1 Oracy (NEA, 30%); Unit 2 set-work Reading & Writing (NEA, 15%); Unit 3 Listening (exam, 20%); Unit 4 Reading & Writing with Spanish→English translation (exam, 35%).
Unfamiliar words: deduce meaning from context and cognates — never leave a translation gap.
Nail these and every paper gets easier. Press Finish to see your score.
You've mastered Spanish sounds & exam technique for WJEC GCSE Spanish. 🎉
Your stars: 0 / 0
That completes the grammar spine — 10 of 10. Now lock it all in with the Evaluate confidence quizzes and plenty of read-aloud practice.