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Spanish Program at HVCS and Scope and Sequence of Our Courses:

The Spanish program at HVCS uses a four skills language approach.  Students learn the four language skills:  listening, reading, writing and speaking.  Emphasis is placed on listening and speaking.  Students are exposed to the language in as many contexts as possible:  textbooks, use of computer software (Rosetta Stone), and real-life experiences (going to local restaurants or talking to guest speakers from Hispanic countries).  Every child in the school has a Spanish textbook, and every grade level has computer programs (CD’s, software, or interactive websites) that are applicable to the child’s age and grade level. 

ALL VERB TENSES AND VOCABULARY SECTIONS ARE LEARNED IN CONTEXT AND REINFORCED BY USING ALL FOUR LANGUAGE SKILLS:  READING, WRITING, SPEAKING, AND LISTENING.  THEY ARE ALSO PRACTICED CONSTANTLY BY USING TPR (TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE), AND TPR STORYTELLING. 

For more information on these techniques you can read:  Teaching Language in Context, by Alice Omaggio-Hadley.

I am also using the criteria outlined on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (these are described in the same book).  I am currently a member of ACTFL (American Council on Teaching a Foreign Language).  This curriculum has been designed after researching the latest techniques being used in language teaching and learning, reading all the latest information in the ACTFL publications, and using my years of research and teaching this subject.  I have also visited the classes of several elementary, middle, and high school teachers in our area.  This has helped me enrich our curriculum and include in it the techniques being used by different teachers. 

We also have the Rosetta Stone program.  This helps with visual input as well as listening skills.  Students use this program since 1st grade.  We also use other websites, such as:  www.spanishspanish.com, www.spaleon.com.

We use a multisensory approach where students get to see the words, see pictures, see real-life materials, hear real-life conversations, taste local food (we go to a Mexican restaurant or order food to be delivered to the school), and exposure to culture as much as possible.  Culture is something we learn almost daily through reading selections, pictures, real-life materials, and research on the Internet.  A good site for culture is:  www.nettreker.com.

We have also had students from Guatemala visiting all our classes.  Students had a chance to interact with two students from Guatemala who stayed with us for a couple of weeks.  I planned several lesson plans with them for all grade levels.

 -Students learn through constant interactions, TPR, four language skills, games, songs, CD's, and videos.  We use "Muzzy" for the younger students.  We do not watch the videos every day, but rather use them every now and then to reinforce what we have learned.  We use puppets, and toys, and sometimes we practice ordering food in Spanish at our "Spanish Cafe" in our room or buying food at our "Spanish Market" in the back of our room.  We love learning by playing and doing role-play!

***The goal of our program is not to achieve fluency, although some proficiency and some level of fluency will be acquired by the time our students leave our middle school.  Our main goal is to expose the students to the language and the culture, and encourage them to be interested in other languages and other cultures.  This will also help them be more comfortable when learning other foreign languages or as they continue to learn Spanish in high school and/or college.  It has also motivated some students to want to study abroad!  In a Christian school, it is really important to foster understanding and appreciation for others.  Learning a foreign language is crucial in this process.

We learn things like:  greetings, how to ask for and how to provide personal information in Spanish, and everyday vocabulary-food, family, animals, and others.  Students also learn some basic grammar concepts that help them in their own language.  Grammar skills and knowledge of the different parts of speech, verb conjugations, and the syntax in Spanish are concepts that the students can use when learning their own language.  Studying a foreign language makes students better learners of their own language. 

Students also learn about the culture in the Hispanic countries.  We work with a series from Kid’s Discovery that deals with different aspects of the Hispanic world.  Children also learn about Art, Music, and sports in the Spanish-speaking world.  A lot of visual aids, games, and hands-on activities are used in the teaching and learning of Spanish.  Children in our K4 program are able to count from 1 to 10 in Spanish, know their basic greetings in Spanish, and know colors, parts of the body and animals in Spanish. 

Every grade level meets at least twice a week.  Some grades meet as many as four times a week.  The constant repetition and reinforcement of the material are important factors in the learning of the language.  All of these elements prepare the students well for Spanish programs when they go to middle school and/or high school.  We have a lot of fun and we learn a lot in Spanish!