In 12
minutes.
Life
mistakes and all.
watch me work the time budget that I wish I had
used
during the writing section.
Just for your information,
my writing score went from 13 to 14
out of 18
on my retake.
welcome to this week's Praxis Spanish help.
Quick question before we start.
Which Spanish
transition word
do you find hardest to use naturally?
Sin embargo,
ademas,
porlo tanto,
or
en cambio
Drop in the comments.
The one
most mentioned
gets its own deep dive
video,
so please,
drop
your
comment
below.
Thank you.
Okay,
as usual,
quick setup,
two parts.
The budget first,
then the structure.
The practice writing section gives you 50 minutes
for three tasks.
An email,
at least 60 words.
An opinion essay,
at least 120 words.
An article response essay,
also at least 120 words.
And most teachers,
me included,
on attempt one,
see the email first,
sit down
and start
writing.
They polish it,
they reread it,
they use
17,
18,
sometimes 20 minutes on what should be the
shortest task.
By the time they get to task three,
they have
10 minutes left
and
120 words to write.
That's not a Spanish problem.
That's a budget problem.
Even strong Spanish writers
fail,
this section
if they spend their minutes
wrong.
And the fix.
12,
18,
12.
12 minutes for the email,
18 for the opinion essay,
18 for the article response,
plus
a
a two minute buffer at the end.
Email gets the least time
Based on this
praxis World languages scoring guidelines for
writing.
And this one is specifically for response to
email,
memo or letter.
there are seven criteria.
Topic development,
organization,
vocabulary,
grammar,
spelling,
register,
task completion.
So today I'm going to write
and then
I evaluate my own writing base against this
guideline
and using this below,
approaching at advanced
low level
Inside the 12 minutes,
here is the split.
Two minutes
to plan on scratch,
greeting three points,
closing
eight minutes to write and two minutes to review
and catch the obvious errors.
And the structure I follow for the email
is greeting
three short paragraphs covering the three points
the prompt asks for
and closing
five
blocks.
That's it.
Today I'm going to do this live,
real prompt,
real 12 minutes.
Mistakes
stay in.
Let's go.
Okay,
so I'm going to read the prompt once
slowly
and then identify three things the prompt is
asking me to do to answer
and then I will start my 12 minute timer.
Interpersonal writing responds to an email,
memo or letter.
Imagine que arice bido el siginte correo
elektronico della directora del Departamento de
Languas Modernas
de la Universidad don de usted a clases de Espanol
Escriba sur es puesta.
dando la informacion que sepide
assunto
nuevo professor de Espanol
de
Gabriela Marinero
Fecha
quince de septiembre
para
professores de Espanol
Estimado Estimada Colega.
Electronico
Un saludo
Gabriela Marinero,
Directora
Departmentamento de Lenguas Modernas.
So this is the email.
On my step two
plan.
Two minutes on scratch.
What goes on scratch?
Paper.
Basically five labels.
Greeting,
point one,
point two,
point three and closing.
So this is my scratch paper Google document.
In greeting,
we're just gonna start with estimada,
right?
in your email,
you're gonna start with estimada
or
querida.
Right?
So since she
wrote estimada,
then we're just gonna also reply with estimada.
Right?
Estimada.
Senora Marinero.
Right,
Marinero.
And then 0.1.
I'm just gonna say that maybe,
Insignia.
Bien.
Right?
And then 0.2,
maybe trabaja bien con los otras,
professores.
Trabaja bien,
con los otros professores.
and
punto numero tres es.
I'm,
gonna say that tiena una actitude positiva.
So I'm gonna just say.
And closing.
Just.
We're gonna,
say that
hopefully,
Hopefully you can find
this,
candidate with these,
qualities.
Right?
So,
espero.
Okay,
so that's kind of my scratch,
really.
So just you're gonna have your greeting.
And then 0.1.
0.2.
0 point.
And then closing.
and then
you're gonna set your timer.
I'm gonna set my timer here.
I'm just gonna use my phone
and seven.
Seven minutes.
Okay,
so I'm gonna start my writing.
So I'm gonna say,
again,
so,
Estimada.
Senora.
marinero.
So I'm gonna say
just,
espero que.
First you can just say spero que.
bien.
In coen.
we need subjectivo.
Right?
So espero que.
And coentre
bien.
and I'm gonna say that,
thank you for the
email.
Gracias por
su.
And then I'm gonna say that,
And I'm gonna start answering her questions,
right?
So I'm gonna say,
there can be many qualities,
for the professor of Spanish.
So I'm gonna say that,
Me gustaria.
Tener un.
Right.
Un professor.
Or
I guess una
professor
de espanol.
insignia via analosis.
Studiantes.
and I'm gonna also say that,
Okay,
so I'm gonna also add maybe,
A transition word.
Primero.
Negustaria.
Professor.
Una espanol.
K.
Okay.
And senya
bien.
Alosis.
Studian.
pueda.
Insignia.
Insignia.
Insignia.
Insignia.
So we need,
It's a little bit hypothetical,
right?
Megustariat.
NER un professor.
Insignia.
Bien.
again,
supruntiva.
Pueda.
Pueda colaborar con los padres
de
los estudiantes.
maybe then we can say despues.
Despoes.
Syria.
bueno.
Sri a bueno.
Professoris.
finalmente.
Finalmente.
Tooth.
positive.
con
lostimas.
So that is it,
really.
And then I'm gonna
have,
closing.
So I'm gonna say,
maybe.
Usually you can use,
atentamente
or una brazo.
Right?
But we.
She.
Since she's,
her boss,
And then I'm gonna say
zaya,
professora de espanol.
So
actually,
time is up,
so that's kind of a good,
time here and now.
See,
now,
I'm going to
quickly read and then add
maybe,
some
transition words or
check my spelling and.
Or
making sure that,
the grammar is correct.
Estimada,
Senoro Marinero,
espero chiese in cuen trebien.
Gracias por
sucore electronico primero.
Me gustaria tener un.
Vivo con los demas.
And attentementesaya.
And
I do we have a greeting.
and then
answered her question,
right?
So she asked what qualities
a professor who they're hiring should have.
And then closure.
So
I'm gonna see how many words
I have.
So we are.
We need 60 words,
right?
So let's see this one.
Word count.
M59 of 84.
So it's,
like,
very close.
So then actually a tentiment
is 60,
right?
So we are good.
We have 60 words.
So now that we have
our
email response,
we are.
So here we have our
guideline that I'm going to use to grade my own
writing.
the essay.
email response.
Sorry,
email response.
And it's highlighted in yellow.
So first criteria is topic development.
Does it directly relate to the topic?
I'm going to say yes.
And I'm going to give myself
at.
At the level of proficiency,
organization,
response is well organized and generally coherent.
I'm gonna say
at
proficient level
varied vocabulary appropriate for the content
decision.
Here I'm gonna say approaching.
I think there were some
maybe word choices that were not
precise.
Grammar,
demonstrates a mid high or high degree of
control of variety of structures.
I definitely used some subjunctive.
I'm going to say.
But I did not necessarily
was not much of a
variety.
Go.
So I'm gonna say.
Would like to do.
First
was a skeleton,
not sentences.
Five labels on
scratch.
Three short Spanish fragments per point.
Two minutes max.
Don't write your essay twice.
Second,
I forced in two three transition words on purpose.
Primero,
ademas.
words like that.
Praxis readers look for these because they signal
organized
thinking.
Easy points.
Third,
I stopped writing
when the 8 minute write window ended.
even if I had
more to say,
the two minute review block isn't optional.
That is where you catch the errors that cost
rubric points.
One quick note.
On test day you won't be narrating your decisions
out loud.
The narration here is for you as a viewer
in your own practice.
You'll do this silently.
The decisions are the same.
Back to the question from the start.
Drop in the comments.
Which transition words do you struggle with
most?
Cinembargo,
ademas,
porlo,
tanto or encambia.
I read every
comment.
Most mentioned one becomes its own video
next Tuesday.
Writing again the opinion essay.
120 words,
18 minutes on the clock.
Same modeling
plan.
Write review
life.
There are two great resources for you to pass the
Praxis Spanish test with confidence.
And they are free.
Links are in the description box.
One my 50
academic Spanish verbs PDF,
the recognition list that shaves four to seven
minutes of reading
on test day.
And two
and this part is a bonus.
When you grab the verbs.
You will also get my post
section debrief checklist.
It covers all five sections of the Praxis and
turns every practice test you take into one
specific
fix.
This insight,
both
free,
both yours when you sign up.
And if you want the full 5
shift breakdown that took me from 1:59 to 1:74.
The free guide is in the description.
Drop your email.
Get the PDF in your inbox in about a minute.
And if you want a,
more structured week by week prep plan with a
small group of teachers,
I'm running a founding cohort starting in August.
15
seats,
$247 founding price.
Waitlist link is in the description and waitlist
members get the first chance at one of those
seats.
Quick action this week write one practice style
email
real prompt real 12 minute timer.
Even if it's rough,
the first time is always the hardest.
Get past it
and drop your hardest transition word in the
comments.
See you next Tuesday for the opinion essay.
Deep Dive
Bye.
