Must-know sheet

Spanish Language must-know sheet

The exam format, essay rubric, key phrases and grammar, and the culture facts for each unit of AP Spanish Language and Culture, as redesigned for 2026–27 (first exam May 13, 2027). The exam gives you no reference sheet or word list, so know these going in. Labels are in Spanish; explanations are in English.

The exam at a glance

Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Examen: jueves 13 de mayo de 2027: The first exam of the redesigned course (framework effective fall 2026). It's fully digital in the Bluebook app, takes about 2 hours 30 minutes, and you record your spoken answers in the app. Free response comes first, then multiple choice.
Sección I: respuesta libre (50 %, 65–70 minutos): Question 1, the Project Presentation (20%): 3 minutes to prepare and 3 to present. Question 2, the Project Q&A (15%): 4 recorded questions you haven't seen, each played twice, with 40 seconds to answer each. Question 3, the Argumentative Essay (15%): 55 minutes, written.
Sección II: opción múltiple (50 %, 55 preguntas, 80 minutos): 11 sets of 5 questions, each set on one or two sources, with four choices (A–D). Part A, listening: 25 questions in 40 minutes (25%), one set each of Audio and Chart, Audio Report, Instructional Guidance, Interview and Presentation. Part B, reading: 30 questions in 40 minutes (25%).
Parte B: seis textos, cinco preguntas por texto: Six reading sets drawn from four task types, each used once or twice: Article, Article and Chart, Literary Text, and Promotional Material. The mix and order change each year, but it's always 30 questions, so budget about 6–7 minutes per set.
El proyecto del curso 2026–27: la música: The project grows out of Unit 3 (Art and Creativity) and uses music to explore cultural products, practices and perspectives. The Course Project Packet (a prompt and 6–8 sources) comes out in January 2027, and you submit your Personalized Project Reference, an outline of your talk, by April 30, 2027; you get a printed copy on exam day. Questions 1 and 2 are about the project; the essay isn't.
Lo que se practica en este sitio: Aim for Five covers the reading questions, the argumentative essay, vocabulary and culture. Listening, the presentation and the Q&A need audio and speaking, so practice those with your teacher and College Board's materials.

Reading questions: the four text types and what they ask

Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

«Este texto trata de…»: Every source starts with a short introduction: the topic, where it was first published and in which country. Read it first. It sets the context and often points straight to the main-idea answer.
Artículo: A news, magazine or web article from the Spanish-speaking world, with numbered paragraphs so questions can point to one. Expect purpose, detail, vocabulary-in-context and structure questions.
Artículo y gráfico: An article plus a chart or table on the same topic, labeled Fuente 1 and Fuente 2. Check which source each question names; some ask what the two have in common or how the chart adds to the article.
Texto literario: An excerpt from a story, novel, poem or play. Questions target tone, a character's attitude, figurative language and what's implied rather than said. Use context clues for words you don't know.
Material promocional: An ad, flyer, web page or announcement, usually text plus an image. Ask who it's for, what it offers, and what it wants the reader to do, and watch for cultural references.
¿Cuál es el propósito del texto?: Purpose questions. Common answers: informar (inform), persuadir or convencer (persuade), promover (promote), criticar (criticize), advertir (warn), entretener (entertain). Choose the verb that fits the whole text, not one paragraph.
¿Qué significa (o qué indica) la frase «…»?: Meaning in context. Reread the whole sentence; the right answer fits there, even if another choice is the word's usual meaning. In the official sample, «el exigente paladar porteño» means people from Buenos Aires are picky about food.
Según el artículo (Fuente 1), …: A detail the source states directly. Find the spot in the text: the right choice usually paraphrases it, while wrong choices reuse its words with the meaning changed.
¿A quién está dirigido el texto?: The intended audience. Look at register (tú or usted), vocabulary, where it was published and what it asks the reader to do.
¿Cuál es el tono o la actitud del autor?: Tone words to know: objetivo, crítico, irónico, optimista, pesimista, preocupado, nostálgico, entusiasta, humorístico. Back your choice with specific word choices in the text.
¿Cómo se organiza el texto?: Structure questions. Common patterns: orden cronológico, problema y solución, causa y efecto, comparación y contraste, una anécdota personal que lleva a una idea general.
¿Qué se puede inferir…?: Inference: something the text implies but doesn't say. The right answer follows logically from the text; a choice that's merely true in real life, or too extreme, is a trap.
Si quisieras saber más… / Tienes que escribir un informe…: Application questions: pick the talk, book or title on the text's main topic. In the official sample, an article on a cinema that serves dinner plus a box-office table point to a book on today's cinema, not a cookbook.

Charts, data and numbers in Spanish

Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

el porcentaje: el 45 % (cuarenta y cinco por ciento): Spanish usually puts el or un before a percentage (el 45 % de los jóvenes) and a space before the % sign.
aumentar, crecer, subir / disminuir, bajar, caer: Verbs of change: to increase, grow, rise / to decrease, drop, fall. Nouns: el aumento, el crecimiento, la subida / la disminución, el descenso, la caída.
la tendencia; se mantiene estable: The trend; it stays steady. Describe a chart's overall pattern first, then one or two specific numbers.
la tasa, el índice, la cifra: Rate (la tasa de natalidad, birth rate; la tasa de desempleo, unemployment rate), index, and figure (a number).
la mayoría, la minoría, la mitad, un tercio, una cuarta parte: The majority, minority, half, a third, a quarter. With la mayoría de + a plural noun, both a singular and a plural verb are accepted (la mayoría de los jóvenes usa or usan).
el promedio (la media): The average. En promedio = on average.
la encuesta; los encuestados: Survey; the people surveyed. A chart's source line (Fuente: encuesta de…) tells you who collected the data and when.
la gráfica de barras, el gráfico circular, la tabla, el eje: Bar graph, pie chart, table, axis. Both el gráfico and la gráfica are used for a chart.
12,5 % y 973.138.693: Spain and much of South America write a decimal comma and group thousands with a period or a space, so 12,5 % is twelve and a half percent. Mexico and most of Central America use the decimal point, as in the US.
mil millones / un billón: A US billion is mil millones. Un billón in Spanish is a million million, a US trillion.
13/5/2027; el siglo XXI; los años noventa: Dates go day/month/year, and months and weekdays are lowercase (13 de mayo). Centuries use Roman numerals; los años noventa (or los 90) means the 1990s.

The argumentative essay: task and rubric (10 points)

Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

La tarea: One question and three sources with different viewpoints, in print and audio; in the official sample they're an article, a chart and an audio report, and you hear the audio twice. You get 55 minutes in all. A 6-minute countdown runs before the audio plays, so read the prompt and written sources then. Write a formal essay in Spanish that takes a position and uses all three sources. The essay isn't about the project topic.
Postura (fila A, 1 punto): A position that directly answers the question. A qualified answer (it depends, or yes under certain conditions) still earns the point if it answers the question. No position, restating the prompt, misreading it, or writing in English earns 0.
Uso de las fuentes (fila B, 2 puntos): 2: all three sources support your position, you show you understood them (minor slips are OK), and it's always clear which source you mean. 1: at least two sources, or three with some misreading. 0: one or no sources, repeated misreading, or copied content with no sign you understood it.
Argumentación (fila C, 2 puntos): 2: claims backed by evidence you quote, paraphrase or summarize, plus an explanation of how that evidence supports your position. 1: claims with thin support, or explanation that's mostly source summary. 0: source information repeated with no claims or explanation. Answering an opposing view can strengthen the essay.
Organización (fila D, 2 puntos): 2: easy to follow, organized around your claims rather than source by source, with an introduction, a conclusion and a variety of connectors. 1: some structure, but it summarizes one source at a time, lacks an introduction or conclusion, or uses the same few connectors over and over.
Control del lenguaje (fila E, 3 puntos): 3: wide vocabulary, including expressions suited to the topic; varied grammar with some complex sentences; no errors that get in the way of meaning. 2: a range of vocabulary and basic structures; errors sometimes get in the way. 1: limited vocabulary, strings of simple sentences, frequent errors that block meaning. Copying wording from the sources doesn't show your own language.
Cómo citar: «Según la Fuente 2…»: No formal citation style is needed. Name the source every time you use it, by number, title, author or type (el artículo, el gráfico, el audio), and quote, paraphrase or summarize it.
Errores comunes: Summarizing the sources instead of using them as evidence; forgetting to name the source; organizing source by source; a conclusion that only repeats the introduction; leaving out one of the three sources, often the chart or the audio.
Un plan para 55 minutos: A plan many students use (not an official rule): read and mark up the article and chart during the countdown; take notes in two columns (a favor / en contra) during both listens; outline your position and two or three claims; write; save the last 5 minutes to check accents, agreement and verb endings.

Essay phrases and connectors

Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

En mi opinión… / Considero que… / Estoy a favor de… / Estoy en contra de…: Ways to state your position in the first paragraph. Considero que and opino que take the indicative.
Depende de… / Sí, siempre y cuando…: For a qualified position: It depends on… / Yes, as long as… Siempre y cuando takes the subjunctive (siempre y cuando haya reglas claras).
Según… / De acuerdo con… / Como señala… / Tal como muestra el gráfico…: To bring in a source: According to… / As … points out / As the chart shows… Follow with a paraphrase or a short quote.
además, asimismo, también, no solo… sino también: Adding a point: also, likewise, not only… but also.
sin embargo, no obstante, en cambio, por otro lado, aunque, a pesar de: Contrast: however, nevertheless, on the other hand, although, despite. A pesar de takes a noun or infinitive; a pesar de que takes a clause.
porque, ya que, puesto que, dado que, debido a: Cause: because, since, given that, due to. Debido a takes a noun (debido a la crisis); the others take a clause.
por lo tanto, por eso, por consiguiente, así que, de modo que: Result: therefore, that's why, consequently, so.
por ejemplo, es decir, en otras palabras: Giving an example or restating: for example, that is, in other words.
en primer lugar, en segundo lugar, por un lado… por otro lado, por último: Ordering ideas: first, second, on one hand… on the other, finally.
Es cierto que…; sin embargo… / Aunque algunos opinan que…: To present and answer an opposing view: It's true that…; however… / Although some think that…
en conclusión, en resumen, en definitiva, por todo lo anterior: To conclude: in conclusion, in short, ultimately, for all these reasons. Add a final thought instead of just repeating the introduction.
que, quien, el cual, lo que, cuyo: Relative pronouns are connectors too. Lo que refers to a whole idea (lo que demuestra que…). Cuyo agrees with the thing owned: una ciudad cuya población crece.

Grammar that lifts your language score

Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Creo que + indicativo / No creo que + subjuntivo: A belief you state takes the indicative (Creo que es útil). A belief you deny or doubt takes the subjunctive (No creo que sea útil; Dudo que funcione).
Es importante que + subjuntivo / Es cierto que + indicativo: Impersonal expressions of need, opinion or emotion take the subjunctive (Es necesario que los gobiernos inviertan). Expressions of certainty take the indicative (Es evidente que el turismo crece).
Recomiendo que…, Quiero que…, Ojalá + subjuntivo: Wishes, advice and requests aimed at someone else take the subjunctive (Recomiendo que las escuelas limiten el uso del celular). Ojalá is always followed by the subjunctive.
para que, sin que, antes de que, a menos que, con tal de que + subjuntivo: These conjunctions always take the subjunctive: so that, without, before, unless, provided that.
Cuando + subjuntivo (futuro) / cuando + indicativo (costumbre o pasado): Future: Cuando los jóvenes terminen la escuela, buscarán trabajo. Habit or past: Cuando era niño, vivía en el campo.
Aunque + indicativo o subjuntivo: Indicative for something you accept as fact (Aunque es caro, vale la pena: although it is expensive). Subjunctive for a possibility or a point you don't confirm (Aunque sea caro: even if it's expensive).
Si + presente → futuro / Si + imperfecto de subjuntivo → condicional: Si el gobierno invierte, habrá más empleo (real possibility). Si el gobierno invirtiera, habría más empleo (hypothetical). Never use the present subjunctive after si.
El pretérito y el imperfecto: Preterite for completed events with a clear start or end (La guerra terminó en 1939). Imperfect for background, descriptions and past habits (Muchas familias vivían en el campo).
Ser y estar: Ser: identity, origin, time and inherent traits, and also where an event takes place (La fiesta es en la plaza). Estar: location of people and things, conditions and results (El museo está en el centro; está cerrado).
Por y para: Para: purpose, destination, deadline, recipient (para aprender, para el lunes). Por: cause, exchange, duration, means, through (por la crisis, por diez euros, por internet).
la gente es; el agua fría; el problema, el idioma, la mano: Agreement traps: la gente takes a singular verb. El agua uses el but is feminine (el agua está fría). El problema, el tema, el sistema, el idioma and el mapa are masculine despite -a; la mano and la foto are feminine.
Se dice que…, se puede…, hay que…: Impersonal se and hay que give a formal, general tone without tú or yo: Se puede reducir el consumo; Hay que proteger los bosques.

Accents, spelling and register

Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

tú / tu, él / el, sí / si, más / mas, sé / se, mí / mi, té / te, dé / de: The accent changes the meaning: you / your, he / the, yes / if, more / but (literary), I know / the pronoun se, me / my, tea / you (object pronoun), give (from dar) / of.
qué, cómo, dónde, cuándo, quién, cuál, cuánto: Question and exclamation words carry an accent, also in indirect questions (No sé dónde vive). Without the accent, que, como, donde and cuando link clauses.
agudas, llanas, esdrújulas: ¿dónde va la tilde?: With no accent mark, a word ending in a vowel, n or s is stressed on the next-to-last syllable (joven, hablan), and any other word on the last (ciudad, papel). The accent mark shows an exception (canción, café, árbol, fácil), every word stressed further back (público, rápido) and a stressed i or u beside another vowel (día, país). Plurals can gain or lose one: joven → jóvenes, canción → canciones.
porque / por qué / el porqué: Because / why / the reason (No entiendo el porqué de la decisión).
¿…? ¡…!: Spanish opens questions and exclamations with ¿ and ¡. Leaving them out is a conventions error.
lunes, mayo, español, mexicano: Days, months, languages and nationalities are lowercase in Spanish.
solo, este, esa: sin tilde: The Real Academia Española recommends writing solo (only) and the demonstratives (este, esa, aquellos) without an accent mark. Since 2023 it also allows the accent when a sentence would otherwise be ambiguous. Writing them without the accent is always correct.
tú, usted, vos, vosotros, ustedes: Tú is informal; usted shows respect or distance, and in parts of Colombia and Costa Rica it's used even with family. Vos takes the place of tú in Argentina, Paraguay and much of Central America, and is common alongside tú in Uruguay (vos tenés, vos sos). For 'you all', Latin America uses ustedes; Spain uses vosotros informally and ustedes formally.
El registro formal en el ensayo: The essay is formal: no slang or texting shortcuts (q, xq), usted or ustedes if you address the reader, and impersonal phrases (se puede, es necesario) in place of a casual tú.

False friends and tricky words

Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

actualmente: Means currently, nowadays, not actually (that's en realidad).
realizar: Means to carry out or do (realizar un estudio), not to realize (that's darse cuenta de).
asistir a: Means to attend (asistir a clase), not to assist; to help is ayudar.
la librería: A bookstore, not a library (that's la biblioteca).
el éxito: Success, not an exit (that's la salida).
embarazada: Means pregnant, not embarrassed (that's avergonzado or avergonzada, or tener vergüenza).
soportar: Means to put up with or bear, not to support (that's apoyar).
pretender: Means to try or aim to, not to pretend (that's fingir).
el colegio; la carrera: El colegio is a school (often primary or secondary); college is la universidad. La carrera is a university degree program (estudiar una carrera), a career or a race.
sensible; la decepción; el compromiso: Sensible = sensitive (sensible in English is sensato). La decepción = disappointment (deception is el engaño). El compromiso = commitment or engagement (a compromise is un acuerdo).
molestar; recordar; la discusión: Molestar = to bother. Recordar = to remember or to remind. La discusión is often an argument, not only a discussion.

Cultural understanding: products, practices, perspectives

Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

los productos culturales: Things a culture creates, physical or not, such as food, crafts, buildings, paintings, songs and stories. Example: the ofrenda (altar) built for Día de Muertos.
las prácticas culturales: What people in a culture usually do and how they treat each other: greeting customs, mealtime habits, ways of celebrating. Example: the sobremesa, staying at the table to talk after a meal.
las perspectivas culturales: The values, beliefs and attitudes that explain why a culture makes and does those things. Example: the sobremesa reflects how much people value unhurried time with family and friends.
La comparación cultural: Explain how two communities are alike or different and why, linking the difference to a perspective. Useful phrases: a diferencia de, al igual que, mientras que, en cambio.
Ejemplos concretos, no estereotipos: Name a specific country, city, community or source (en Bogotá, según el artículo) instead of generalizing about 'Latinos' or 'Spanish people'. Specific, researched examples show real cultural understanding.

Unit 1: Families and Communities

Unit 1

los dos apellidos: In most Spanish-speaking countries people carry two surnames: traditionally the father's first surname, then the mother's (Gabriel García Márquez: García from his father, Márquez from his mother). Spain now lets parents choose the order, and married women there keep their own surnames.
la familia extendida; los abuelos: In many Spanish-speaking families, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins live nearby and stay closely involved, and grandparents often help raise children.
los padrinos; el compadrazgo: Godparents, often chosen at a baptism, and the lifelong bond between parents and godparents (compadres and comadres).
la emancipación: Leaving your parents' home to live on your own. In Spain young people leave home at about 30 on average, among the latest in the European Union, largely because of housing costs and youth unemployment.
el saludo; la sobremesa; la convivencia: Greetings are often a kiss on the cheek: two in Spain, usually one in Latin America. La sobremesa is the conversation after a meal. La convivencia means living together in harmony.
el tequio; la olla común: Community work traditions: the tequio is unpaid collective work for the town in Oaxaca, Mexico, and ollas comunes are shared kitchens in Peru and Chile, which spread during economic crises and the COVID-19 pandemic.
el voluntariado; la asociación de vecinos; la solidaridad: Volunteering; a neighborhood association; solidarity (people supporting each other).
la urbanización; el éxodo rural: Latin America is one of the most urbanized regions in the world, with about 80% of people in cities. El éxodo rural is the move from the countryside to cities.
la España vaciada; la despoblación: 'Emptied Spain': rural areas of inland Spain, such as Soria and Teruel, that have lost much of their population. Towns try to attract residents with remote work, cheap housing and services.

Unit 2: Language and Culture

Unit 2

el Día de Muertos (1 y 2 de noviembre): Mexico's celebration honoring the dead, mixing Indigenous traditions with the Catholic All Saints' and All Souls' Days. Families build ofrendas with marigolds (cempasúchil), photos, pan de muerto and sugar skulls. UNESCO lists it as intangible heritage.
los Reyes Magos (6 de enero): The Three Kings bring children gifts in Spain and much of Latin America. People eat a roscón (Spain) or rosca de reyes (Mexico); Spanish towns hold parades (cabalgatas) on the evening of January 5.
la quinceañera; la fiesta de quince años: A girl's 15th-birthday celebration marking her coming of age, often with a Mass, a waltz and a large party.
las Fallas; la Semana Santa; las posadas: Las Fallas in Valencia (March 15–19) burn giant satirical figures on the last night. Semana Santa (Holy Week) brings processions, from Seville to Antigua, Guatemala. Las posadas (December 16–24, Mexico) reenact Mary and Joseph's search for lodging.
el Carnaval de Oruro; el Inti Raymi: Bolivia's Oruro Carnival, famous for the diablada dance, is UNESCO heritage. The Inti Raymi, the Inca festival of the sun, is reenacted in Cusco, Peru, every June 24.
del latín al castellano: Spanish grew from the spoken Latin of the Iberian Peninsula and is also called castellano, after the kingdom of Castile. Antonio de Nebrija published the first grammar of Castilian in 1492.
los arabismos: Muslim rule in al-Andalus (711–1492) left thousands of Arabic words, many beginning with al- or a-: almohada, aceite, azúcar, ajedrez, ojalá.
los préstamos indígenas: From Náhuatl: chocolate, tomate, aguacate, chicle. From Taíno: huracán, canoa, hamaca. From Quechua: papa, llama, cóndor, cancha.
la Real Academia Española (RAE): Founded in Madrid in 1713. With the other academies of the Spanish language (together, the ASALE), it publishes the shared dictionary, grammar and spelling rules.
el seseo; la distinción; el yeísmo: Seseo: z and c before e or i sound like s, as in all of Latin America, the Canary Islands and much of Andalusia. Distinción: most of Spain says them like English th. Yeísmo: ll and y sound alike, as in most of the Spanish-speaking world.
el voseo: Using vos instead of tú, with its own verb forms (vos hablás, vos tenés, vos sos). It's standard in Argentina and Paraguay, common in Uruguay (often alongside tú) and in much of Central America.
el español en el mundo: About 635 million people speak Spanish. It's official in 20 countries, including Equatorial Guinea in Africa, plus Puerto Rico. Mexico has the most native speakers, and more than 40 million people in the US speak Spanish at home.
el espanglish; el cambio de código: Spanglish mixes Spanish and English; code-switching is moving between the two languages, sometimes mid-sentence, which is common among bilingual speakers in the US.
porteño, madrileño, boricua, tico, chilango: Demonyms to recognize: from Buenos Aires (in Chile, from Valparaíso); from Madrid; Puerto Rican; Costa Rican; from Mexico City (informal).

Unit 3: Art and Creativity

Unit 3

Machu Picchu; la Alhambra: Machu Picchu is an Inca citadel in Peru's Andes, built in the mid-1400s with precisely fitted stone. The Alhambra in Granada, Spain, is a palace-fortress built mainly by the Nasrid dynasty in the 1200s–1300s, a high point of Islamic art in al-Andalus.
la plaza mayor; la ciudad colonial: Spanish colonial towns were laid out on a grid around a main square, with the church and government buildings facing it, a plan the Spanish crown wrote into law in 1573.
la Sagrada Familia; el modernismo catalán: Antoni Gaudí's basilica in Barcelona, begun in 1882 and still under construction, is the best-known work of Catalan modernisme, with curving forms drawn from nature.
Las Meninas (Velázquez, 1656): Diego Velázquez's painting of the Spanish royal court, in the Prado Museum in Madrid. The painter shows himself at work beside the young princess.
el muralismo mexicano: After the Mexican Revolution, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros painted huge public murals, starting in the 1920s, to tell Mexico's history to everyone.
Guernica (Picasso, 1937): Pablo Picasso's painting of the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, a symbol against war. It hangs in the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid.
Frida Kahlo; Salvador Dalí; el surrealismo: Frida Kahlo (Mexico) painted self-portraits full of Mexican identity and pain. Salvador Dalí (Spain) was a leading surrealist, painting dreamlike images such as melting clocks (La persistencia de la memoria, 1931).
el flamenco; el tango; el mariachi; la cumbia: Flamenco (Andalusia, with deep Romani roots), tango (Buenos Aires and Montevideo) and mariachi (Mexico) are all UNESCO intangible heritage. Cumbia comes from Colombia's Caribbean coast, mixing African, Indigenous and Spanish roots.
el patrimonio cultural inmaterial; la artesanía: Intangible heritage lives in skills and practices, like music, weaving and festivals. Crafts include Maya textiles and Mexico's alebrijes, brightly painted fantastic creatures.
Don Quijote; el Siglo de Oro: Miguel de Cervantes's novel (part 1 in 1605, part 2 in 1615) follows a man who reads so many chivalry books that he sets out as a knight. It belongs to Spain's Golden Age of literature and art.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: A 17th-century nun, poet and scholar in colonial Mexico (New Spain) who defended women's right to learn, notably in her 1691 Respuesta a Sor Filotea.
el boom latinoamericano; el realismo mágico: In the 1960s and 70s Latin American novels won a world audience: Gabriel García Márquez (Cien años de soledad, 1967; Nobel Prize 1982), Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa. Magical realism presents the impossible as ordinary. Gabriela Mistral (Chile, 1945) was the first Latin American Nobel laureate in literature.
la moda rápida; la alta costura; la apropiación cultural: Zara, founded in Spain (first store 1975), is the model of fast fashion. Cristóbal Balenciaga, a Basque designer, led Paris haute couture. Mexico's government has objected when fashion brands copied Indigenous designs without credit or benefit to the communities.
el canon de belleza: A culture's standard of beauty, which changes across places and over time and is shaped today by media and social media.

Unit 4: Science and Technology

Unit 4

la inteligencia artificial (IA); la robótica; la innovación: Artificial intelligence (note the Spanish abbreviation IA), robotics, innovation. Essays on tech often weigh promise against risk.
las redes sociales; la privacidad; el algoritmo: Social networks, privacy, algorithm. La adicción a las pantallas = screen addiction; el tiempo de pantalla = screen time.
la brecha digital: The digital divide: the gap between people with internet access and skills and people without them, for example between cities and rural areas.
la automatización; el teletrabajo; el desempleo: Automation; remote work; unemployment. Common essay angle: do machines create or destroy jobs?
el método científico: la hipótesis, el experimento, los resultados: Hypothesis, experiment, results; comprobar = to test or confirm. La vacuna and el sistema inmunológico: vaccine and immune system.
la ética; el impacto ambiental; la huella de carbono: Ethics; environmental impact; carbon footprint.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal; Bernardo Houssay; Mario Molina: Nobel scientists from the Spanish-speaking world: Ramón y Cajal (Spain, 1906) showed the nervous system is made of separate neurons; Houssay (Argentina, 1947) was Latin America's first science Nobel; Molina (Mexico, Chemistry 1995) helped show that CFC gases destroy the ozone layer.
el emprendimiento; el emprendedor: Entrepreneurship; an entrepreneur. Start-ups and tech hubs in cities like Mexico City, Bogotá and Madrid are common reading topics.

Unit 5: Contemporary Life

Unit 5

el bachillerato; la carrera; la beca: In Spain, el bachillerato is the last two years of secondary school (ages 16–18) before the university entrance exam; in several Latin American countries the word names the secondary-school diploma. La carrera is a university degree program; la beca, a scholarship.
el currículum; la entrevista de trabajo; las prácticas: Résumé; job interview; internship (in some countries, la pasantía).
las noticias falsas; los bulos; la desinformación; una fuente fiable: Fake news (bulo is the common Spanish term for a hoax), disinformation, a reliable source. Check who published something, when, and with what evidence.
la telenovela: Latin American TV drama that runs for a set number of episodes and has a clear ending, unlike US soap operas. Colombia's Yo soy Betty, la fea was remade around the world.
la dieta mediterránea; la comida tradicional mexicana: Both are on UNESCO's intangible heritage list (2010): the Mediterranean diet, built on olive oil, vegetables, legumes and fish, and Mexican cuisine, built on corn, beans and chili.
el almuerzo, la comida, la cena: los horarios: In Spain the main meal is eaten around 2–3 p.m. and dinner often around 9–10 p.m., later than in the US. Home cooking (la comida casera) and long family meals are highly valued.
Mafalda (Quino): An Argentine comic strip (1964–1973) by Quino about a girl who asks sharp questions about the world, peace and adults. It's still read across the Spanish-speaking world.
el reguetón; la música latina global: Reggaeton grew in the 1990s from Panama's reggae en español and Puerto Rico's underground scene. Despacito (Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, 2017) and Bad Bunny brought Spanish-language music to global charts.
la ciclovía de Bogotá: Since 1974, Bogotá has closed more than 100 km of main roads to cars on Sundays and holidays so people can bike, walk and skate, a model copied by cities worldwide.
el fútbol; el béisbol; la afición: Soccer dominates most countries (Argentina won the 2022 men's World Cup, Spain the 2010 men's and 2023 women's). Baseball leads in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. La afición = the fans.
el turismo sostenible; el ecoturismo; la masificación turística: Sustainable tourism protects places and benefits locals; Costa Rica is a famous ecotourism model. Overtourism, too many visitors, drove protests in Barcelona and the Canary Islands in 2024 over housing costs and crowding.

Unit 6: Global Contexts

Unit 6

la lengua franca; el plurilingüismo: A lingua franca is a shared language between people with different first languages (English today). Plurilingüismo is speaking several languages.
las lenguas indígenas: Millions speak Quechua in the Andes and Guaraní in Paraguay, where it's official alongside Spanish and spoken by most people. Náhuatl is Mexico's most-spoken Indigenous language, and Mexico recognizes 68 Indigenous languages. Speakers use social media and the internet to keep them alive.
la Amazonía; las islas Galápagos; el desierto de Atacama: The Amazon rainforest spans Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela as well as Brazil. Ecuador's Galápagos, studied by Charles Darwin in 1835, were among the first UNESCO World Heritage sites (1978). Chile's Atacama is the driest non-polar desert on Earth.
la deforestación; la reforestación en Costa Rica: Costa Rica paid landowners to protect forest and grew its forest cover from about a fifth of the country in the 1980s to more than half today.
el cambio climático; el desarrollo sostenible; la biodiversidad: Climate change (shrinking Andean glaciers, drought); development that meets today's needs without harming future generations; biodiversity.
1492: Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, falls; Columbus reaches the Americas; Nebrija's grammar appears. Spanish conquest follows: the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan falls in 1521, and Pizarro begins the conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532.
las independencias (1810–1825): Mexico's independence movement starts with Miguel Hidalgo's Grito de Dolores (September 16, 1810) and wins in 1821. Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín lead South America; the battle of Ayacucho (1824) effectively ends Spanish rule on the American mainland. Cuba and Puerto Rico stay Spanish until 1898.
la Revolución mexicana (1910–1920): Began November 20, 1910, against Porfirio Díaz. Emiliano Zapata (Tierra y libertad) and Pancho Villa are its best-known leaders; it produced the Constitution of 1917.
la Guerra Civil española (1936–1939); la dictadura de Franco: Francisco Franco's victory led to a dictatorship until his death in 1975, then a transition to democracy and the Constitution of 1978. Spain's memory laws (2007 and 2022) address the victims of the war and dictatorship.
las dictaduras del Cono Sur; la memoria histórica: Chile under Augusto Pinochet (1973–1990) and Argentina's military rule (1976–1983), when thousands were disappeared; the Madres de Plaza de Mayo have marched for them for decades. Memoria histórica is how a society remembers and reckons with its past.
el 12 de octubre: Spain's national day (Día de la Hispanidad). Several countries have renamed it to honor Indigenous peoples, such as Argentina's Día del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural. In the US, Hispanic Heritage Month runs September 15 to October 15.
el urbanismo social de Medellín: Starting in the 2000s, Medellín, Colombia, linked its poorer hillside neighborhoods to the city with the Metrocable (2004), outdoor escalators in Comuna 13 and library parks, a famous example of public policy and urban planning.
Mi Teleférico (La Paz y El Alto): Opened in Bolivia in 2014, it's the world's largest urban cable-car network, used as everyday public transport.
el transporte público; el metro; el tren de alta velocidad: Buenos Aires opened Latin America's first subway in 1913; Bogotá's TransMilenio bus rapid transit opened in 2000; Spain's high-speed AVE began with Madrid–Seville in 1992. El embotellamiento (or el atasco, el trancón) = traffic jam.