How to understand the CEFR for Spanish

What is the Common European Framework of Reference?

Nowadays, the majority of updated teaching proposals are based on the CEFR. In addition, the DELE exam is based on the CEFR, but...
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• What is the CEFR for languages?
  
• What is the DELE exam?
• What do you need to know about these things when learning to speak Spanish?​

The DELE Exam

When dealing with the DELE exam, which is the Official Diploma that certifies your level in Spanish, many students don't realise which linguistic contents they need to master in terms of speech to pass the oral test of that exam. However, the oral test is crucial to pass the DELE since it is necessary to obtain your level in Spanish within the Diploma.

If you are interested in doing the DELE exam to get official qualifications the only way forward is by doing courses in whichever form (online, in a class...) or by self-study, hoping that whatever you are learning and practicing is what you are going to be asked for in the real oral exam.

What if you knew in advance which linguistic contents you are supposed to master when speaking Spanish in any level?

To guarantee the full coverage of all these contents you should be aware of what guidelines are followed by the learning proposals you are offered. The easiest way for you to have this guarantee is to know if the course, school or teacher that you enrol really follows the guidelines suggested by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. In this Blog you will find tips as all services offered here follow these guidelines provided by the CEFR for languages.

How Speak Spanish Cloud follows the CEFR guidelines

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is a helpful tool for teachers. It provides a guideline to learn, teach and test all European languages. In Spanish the Instituto Cervantes has translated it and you can find it easily on the Internet. However, it can be a long read and therefore, the purpose of this blog is not only to understand the linguistic content established by the CEFR for Spanish language but also to practise these contents in order for you to achieve the goal of learning Spanish.

Teachers and schools should review and study all this new information in order to upgrade and implement this quality improvement in teaching. However, sometimes the implementation of all these new insights is done roughly and without taking into consideration that for the majority of students the main purpose when learning a new language is to be able to communicate without being discouraged when they try for first time as it is at the beginning when many students often feel like giving up.

To do so, we believe that certain linguistic aspects need to be thought in a practical and useful way. For instance, if you are an English speaker saying "Las Vegas" you would probably pronounce the "v" in Vegas as the English sound /v/ but If the same word is given to a Spanish speaker the "v" is pronounced like the sound /b/ since the "v" and the "b" sound exactly the same in Spanish. Some of these linguistic differences can create huge misunderstandings when speaking so it should be thought to students as it's important to emphasise the specs that are useful for the learner to be understood, which is what makes communication possible.

Therefore, having knowledge don't necessarily contribute to the actual language acquisition whereas real motivation does and once you are able to speak and to be understood by locals, even at a basic level, you can feel determined to keep moving forwards.