The Spanish Writing Pack

Level : Upper Secondary School

Forms 4 & 5
This belongs to : Jonquille Blaides
No part of this document must be
used for resale or duplication.
Created by : Abeni Taylor
B.A Spanish (Hons.)
 Copyright Notice
Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago
Copyright © Abeni Taylor, 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this workbook may be reproduced in any form without
permission in writing from the compiler.
This belongs to : Jonquille Blaides
DISCLAIMER
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
mechanical or electronic, including photocopying or recording, or by any information
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the compiler.
 About This Document
This Writing Document shall assist a student in constructing sentences and to

write Friendly Letters in Spanish. It is a step by step guide. If any issue may arise
This belongs to : Jonquille Blaides
, please feel free to contact the creator at senoritataylor2020@gmail.com

We , at the School of Foreign Language Tobago wish you all the best as

you prepare for the CSEC Spanish Examinations.

 Friendly Letter Writing
in Spanish
A Guided Approach to Mastering Writing in Skills .
 Letter Writing
(Example)
Using the following outline as a guide, write a letter of 130-150 words AND
NO MORE in SPANISH.

Your country has recently celebrated a national festival/holiday.

Write a letter to your Bolivian pen pal in which you include:
This belongs to : Jonquille Blaides
(i) When the festival/holiday was observed and its significance
(30 marks)
(ii) The preparations made
(iii)What you and your family did on that day
(iv)How you feel about the national holiday

I have highlighted key elements that shall assist you when planning the friendly letter.
Ø celebrarse el 31 de agosto

Ø es un día patriótico para celebrar la Independencia del país El Día de

Ø mirar el desfile en Scarbrough/Puerto España la Independencia
Ø participar en el desfile

Ø ir a la playa con mi familia por la mañana

This content was exerted from
Ø mirar la ceremonia nacional de premios en la tele “En español sencillo”
written by Kirshon Cornwall.
Ø asistir a la ceremonia nacional de premios en casa de la presidenta

Ø mirar los fuegos artificiales en la plaza

Vocabulario
Ø ir a la fiesta nocturna al club Shade
Antes del Día de la Independencia
Ø ir al concierto de…. (e.g ir al concierto de Machel Montano) El Día de la Independencia
Ø quedarse en casa

Ø hacer/comprar los platos nacionales como el ocumo chino con pollo guisado y el cangrejo
al curry con pelotas de masa

Ø decorar los edificios con colores nacionales

Ø comprar la bandera nacional

Ø visitar a los parientes/los abuelos en el campo 6

Ø To be celebrated on the 31st of August

Ø It is a patriotic day to celebrate the country’s Independence El Día de

Ø To watch the parade in Scarborough/Port of Spain la Independencia
Ø To participate in the parade

Ø To go to the beach with my family in the morning

This content was exerted from
Ø To watch the National Awards Ceremony on the Tv “En español sencillo”
written by Kirshon Cornwall.
Ø To attend the National Awards Ceremony at the President’s House

Ø To watch fireworks in the plaza

Vocabulary
Ø To go to a night party at Club “Shade”
Before Independence Day
Ø To go to the concert of …. (e.g to go to Machel Montano’s Concert)
On Independence Day
Ø To stay at home

Ø To make.buy the national dishes like dasheen with stewed chicken and curried crab
with dumplings

Ø To decorate the buildings with national colours

Ø To buy the national flag

Ø To visit relatives/ grandparents in the countryside 7

 Example of a Letter Plan The verbs are in the
Infinitive form.
(A guide to create simple sentences and paragraphs) They have not been
conjugated into any tense.
They are underlined.
Your country has recently celebrated a national festival/holiday.
Write a letter to your Bolivian pen pal in which you include:
(i) When the festival/holiday was observed and its significance : celebrarse el 31 de agosto || es un
día patriótico para celebrar la Independencia del país

(ii) The preparations made : comprar la bandera nacional || comprar las decoraciones patrióticas || decorar la casa
con los colores nacionales || limpiar la casa

(iii) What you and your family did on that day: ir a la playa || mirar el desfile en Scarborough || asistir a la
cermonia nacional de premios en la casa de la presidenta || mirar los fuegos artificiales en la plaza || visitar a los
parientes/los abuelos en el campo

(iv) How you feel about the national holiday : Me encanta el Día de la Independencia || No me gusta el Día de
la Independencia.

NOTE : a. Remember to conjugate the verbs in the APPROPRIATE TENSE where necessary.
b. Have a subject for each activity ; eg- Mi madre , Mi familia y yo …
c. Use your idioms , connectives etc || d. Use your letter-writing format || e. ALWAYS plan your letter .
 The Friendly Letter
Writing Format
This format MUST be included or else your letter will
not be considered as a letter in the exam.
(Letter Plan Developed Here)
Step 1
Sentence Building
Sentence Building assists a student with the construction or formulation
of a paragraph. We can easily identify the subject of the sentence, the
verb/action etc. At this level , the sentences are joined together by
connectives, exclamations and idiomatic expressions etc. We will meet
these later in this document.

This belongs to : Jonquille Blaides

 (Based on the letter information ,
Building Sentences in Spanish the writer chose “Independence Day”)
¿Quién? ¿Qué? ¿con quien? ¿Cuándo?
Who? What? With whom? When?
(Subject) (Action)
El Día de la celebrarse ------------------------- el 31 de agosto.
Independencia ----
Mi familia mirar el desfile en --------------------- por la mañana.
Scarborough
This belongs to : Jonquille Blaides
Yo decorar la casa con con mi hermano antes del día de la
los colores Independencia
nacionales
12
Mis amigos ir a la fiesta -------------- por la noche.
nocturna al club
Shade
E.g. Yo decoré la casa con los colores nacionales con mi hermano antes del día
de la Independencia.
The Sentence Building Chart

The chart clearly outlines the KEY parts of a sentence ; the subject ,
the action performed by the subject , with whom the action was performed
(optional) , and when the action was performed (optional).
Please NOTE : The Tense of the action verb may vary depending on the cue of the Letter
proposed. This belongs to : Jonquille Blaides
The next slide will show you HOW to construct sentences in
SPANISH.
 This belongs to : Jonquille Blaides

Constructing Sentences
(optional) (optional)
Subject Action With whom When

The verb is the action What you and your

word in this expression. Please be mindful family did on that day
of the TENSE that you must use according to the cue presented.
The example
presented answers
Constructed Sentence based on the above cue :- Cue number THREE.
Mi familia miró el desfile en Scarborough por la mañana.
(My family watched the parade in Scarborough in the morning)

(We have used “miró” because it agreew with the singular noun ”family”, and the cue indicates that it is
the “past tense” that must be used. We have used the PRETERITE TENSE. )
Some Idiomatic Expressions , Connectives &
Useful Expressions.
These make your letters MORE attractive
and allow you to stand out in the exam.
“Just like seasoning is for raw meat , is what these
expressions are for your
letters- they make them better!"
 This content was exerted from
q Mientras que “En español sencillo”
written by Kirshon Cornwall.
 This content was exerted from
“En español sencillo”
written by Kirshon Cornwall.
q while
 This belongs to : Jonquille Blaides

Paragraph Writing
Paragraph Writing becomes SIMPLE once we can build our
sentences. It is a well-known fact that 4-5 sentences comprise a paragraph.
In this section I shall show you how the compilation of sentences can
create the paragraph using the content given earlier in the document.
We are focusing on CUE #3 :
(iii) What you and your family did on that day:
El Día de la Independencia , mi familia y yo fuimos a la playa muy de mañana. Después , miramos el desile

en Scarborough con mucha alegría. También , mi tío Raúl asistió a la ceremonia nacional de premios en la casa de la

presidenta. ¡Que magnífico! Por la noche , mis hermanos y yo miramos los fuegos articiciales en la plaza mientras

que mis padres visitaron a mis abuelos en el campo.

1.You can see highlighted in RED , the conjugated verbs in the Past Tense (Preterite Tense)
2.The subjects are clearly identified at the beginning of the sentence .
3.Idiomatic Expressions and other useful expressions were used to LINK sentences together to create a beautiful paragraph.
 Sample
Friendly Letter in Spanish
A Letter than displays an outstanding performance
for the CSEC Spanish Exam .
Paper 2 || Section B.
 Example of a Letter Plan The verbs are in the
Infinitive form.
(Reminder) They have not been
conjugated into any tense.
They are underlined.
Your country has recently celebrated a national festival/holiday.
Write a letter to your Bolivian pen pal in which you include:
(i) When the festival/holiday was observed and its significance : celebrarse el 31 de agosto || es un
día patriótico para celebrar la Independencia del país

(ii) The preparations made : comprar la bandera nacional || comprar las decoraciones patrióticas || decorar la casa
con los colores nacionales || limpiar la casa This belongs to : Jonquille Blaides
(iii) What you and your family did on that day: ir a la playa || mirar el desfile en Scarborough || asistir a la
cermonia nacional de premios en la casa de la presidenta || mirar los fuegos artificiales en la plaza || visitar a los
parientes/los abuelos en el campo

(iv) How you feel about the national holiday : Me encanta el Día de la Independencia || No me gusta el Día de
la Independencia.

NOTE : a. Remember to conjugate the verbs in the APPROPRIATE TENSE where necessary.
b. Have a subject for each activity ; eg- Mi madre , Mi familia y yo …
c. Use your idioms , connectives etc || d. Use your letter-writing format || e. ALWAYS plan your letter .
 Sample Letter Based on Letter Plan
5 de septiembre de 2008

Querido Alejandro:
¿Cómo estás? A mí me va fenomenal. Espero que todo vaya bien contigo.
Te escribo para contarte el Día de la Independencia en Trinidad y Tobago.
El mes pasado, se celebró el Día de la Independencia. Es un día patriótico
para celebrar la Independencia del país.
Antes del día de la Independencia , mi padre compró la bandera nacional y las
decoraciones patrióticos en el centro comercial. ¡Que divertido! Además , mis padres y yo
decoramos la casa con los colores nacionales mientras que mi hermana mayor limpió la casa.
El Día de la Independencia , mi familia y yo fuimos a la playa muy de
mañana. Después , miramos el desile en Scarborough con mucha alegría. También , mi tío Raúl
asistió a la ceremonia nacional de premios en la casa de la presidenta. ¡Que magnífico! Por la noche
, mis hermanos y yo miramos los fuegos articiciales en la plaza mientras que mis padres visitaron
a mis abuelos en el campo.
Me encanta el Día de la Independencia en Trinidad y Tobago. Mi familia y yo
hacemos mucho.

Tengo muchas ganas de verte. ¡Escríbeme pronto! ¡Saludos de mi parte a tu familia.

Con cariño ,
Isabel.
This belongs to : Jonquille Blaides
 This is the scale used to
assess each student as they
write friendly letters in
Spanish at this level. The
total mark is out of 10. Then
the final mark is calculated
on a scale out of 30. It is the
same rubric used for the
CSEC Examination.

The End of the Document