Spanish

Home > Spanish > Continuers Course > The Individual > Leisure and interests > Tasks and sample questions

Leisure and Interests:

Sample reading and responding task answers

Text 1: Suggested Answers

Why does Jimena want to parachute?
She is not sure why she wants to parachute, but it’s something that she has been obsessed with for a long time.
Explain her feelings before she jumped.
Before jumping Jimena felt curious and perhaps a bit apprehensive about what she was about to do. She also started questioning what the experience would be like “¿ cómo sería…?” “¿Qué se sentiría?” She also felt a bit frightened when she thought about what she was about to do but at the same time, was really looking forward to the experience as she very much wanted to jump. Finally, when her turn to jump came, she felt extremely frightened, almost terrified.
According to the text, how would you describe Jimena’s personality?
Jimena is an adventurous person, she likes adventure and enjoys taking risks – jumping from an airplane is not an activity which would appeal to most people. She is also a very brave person, she has courage; despite being very frightened she went ahead and jumped. She seems a person who appreciates life as she wants to have all sorts of experiences despite her misgivings. It could be argued that Jimena is a sensitive person as she is in tune with her feelings, and expresses the sensations she felt as she was jumping “me sentía libre’ ‘una sensación de paz inimaginable”.
Describe how effective Jimena’s language is in conveying the impact of her experience.
Language is used very effectively to convey Jimena’s experience and how she felt. To start with, the choice of text type, a diary entry, allows the writer to express her feelings freely, conveying emotions and her own reflections “Querido diario”.

The choice of language is also important in this text. The writer uses emotional language to portray her feelings such as “no era miedo lo que sentía…..era pánico” “sensación indescriptible” “paz inimaginable”, and descriptive linguistic items such as “me sentía libre…sin peso” to create visual images which allows the responder to empathise and visualise Jimena’s experiences.

The use of punctuation such as pauses and exclamation marks, together with self-directed questions, ¿Cómo sería superar el instinto de supervivencia y tirarse de un avión a 3.000 metros? ¡Era pánico “Nada fue como lo había pensado… Me senía libre…sin peso”, reinforces her state of mind in relation to her feelings and engages the reader by sharing her feelings and sensations with him/her.

Finally, by using the technique of listing the different steps before her jump, the writer offers the reader the opportunity to visualise the experience of the jump, as well as to share with the reader Jimena’s doubts and reflections, “me dijeron que era mi turno”, “quería que la avioneta despegara de una vez, “a quí es donde abrimos el paracaídas” “Abrió la puerta”. These allow the reader to get a visual image, to understand how Jimena felt, and to reflect on whether they will be able to have a similar experience.

Back

Text 2: Suggested Answers

Name four items needed to practise this sport.
Four items needed to practise this sport are wetsuit, oxygen tank, goggles and flippers.
What does the diving course involve?
The diving course involves a theory component in which some knowledge of the underwater environment is given and a practical component in a restricted area to learn basic diving skills such as breathing and immersion.
When did diving begin as a sport and what helped to make it possible?
It began around the 1940s; the invention of the “Aqua lung” by Costeau and Gagnan helped to make immersion possible.
Explain how diving could be beneficial for people.
Diving provides a relaxing environment which is beneficial for people’s mental health, it keeps muscles active, reduces muscular tension and helps with cardiac rhythm.
How successful is this advertisement?
This text is very successful as it uses several techniques to attract a large audience. This is achieved through the use of rhetorical questions, an informal tone, imperative and descriptive language, punctuation and structure, all of which contribute to make the text effective and appealing to a large audience.

The use of the rhetorical question “¿qué hacer …maravilloso?” captures the reader’s imagination and forces them to think about what to do in order to be able to reach this other world which is unknown to them.

Exclamation marks have a big impact and have been used throughout the text to draw the reader’s attention, to make it exciting, to create a feeling of urgency and to entice the reader to take up this sport. “Hay otro mundo a tu alcance” “Anímate” “ ¡El submarinismo te abrirá horizontes!” “¡ No te arrepentirás!

The informal tone of the passage is achieved through the use of the informal register which makes it very personal, allowing the reader to relate to the text and to feel comfortable while reading it, thus they can relate more effectively to the information and the prospect of the experience being offered.

By using the imperative “sumérgete”, “anímate” the text transmits a sense of urgency and prompts the reader to do something about investigating this new opportunity; they feel almost obliged to find out about this other world.

The choice of descriptive language such as “oculto y maravilloso” and “un nuevo mundo” creates images which allow the reader to imagine what this other world looks like, and by making it appealing, it encourages the reader to want to experience it.
How does the title relate to the content of the text?
The title states that another world is possible, meaning that diving is the key to discovering another world, a world of silence and tranquillity, a marvellous world full of wonderful life which lies hidden under the water and is not known to us. Indirectly it juxtaposes the world we know on earth, with the other unknown world under the sea.

Back