GCSE Spanish Speaking: Role-play and Photo Card, the World Around Us

In the speaking exam of the reformed GCSE in Spanish (first exams in 2026) you carry out a role-play and talk about photos before an unprepared conversation. In AQA's version, for example, the role-play card lists five tasks in English, one of which is to ask a question, and the photo card has two photos from one theme. This material rehearses both on the third theme, Communication and the world around us: travel and tourism, media and technology, and the environment and where people live.

The oral exam opens with a role-play card in English: you arrive at a hotel in Spain, and the examiner plays the receptionist, in Spanish only. You say what you have booked and for how long, what room you would like and how you travelled, give your opinion of the town and ask a question about the hotel. After short feedback in English, the photo card follows: the photos, a busy city street and teenagers on a park bench each looking at a phone, are described to you in English, since this is a text chat, and you describe them in Spanish. The unprepared conversation is then held in Spanish, one question at a time: your town, what you do for the environment, your last holiday, where you would like to travel, your time online and the dangers of social media, and, if your answers are developed, what you would do to improve your area. A second role-play at a tourist office is available.

The quiz covers the language this theme needs: he reservado and a room with a view, vine en tren, asking whether there is a pool, understanding ¿Qué le parece…?, describing traffic, pollution and people on their phones with correct agreement and the present continuous, answering in the first person and in the time frame the question asks for, telling an advantage of social media from a disadvantage, and the conditional with pondría at Higher tier.

The flashcards give ready phrases for hotels and tourist offices, describing town photos, the environment, the pros and cons of technology, holidays and your ideal area. The written sheet asks you to write both role-plays, describe the photos, answer four conversation questions and explain how to handle an unseen photo, with model answers throughout.

• Complete a hotel or tourist-office role-play, including asking a question
• Say what you have booked and how you travelled, using the perfect tense and the preterite
• Describe town and technology photos with correct agreement and the present continuous
• Discuss the environment, holidays and social media with opinions and reasons
• Use the conditional, including pondría and habría, to say what you would change (Higher)

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the DfE GCSE modern foreign languages subject content (2022) and on the role-play and photo card tasks as described, for example, in AQA's GCSE Spanish specification (8692, version 1.0), Theme 3 Communication and the world around us. The role-plays, photo descriptions and questions are original.