Spanish is taught once a week for 45 minutes to grades K-5 and twice a week for grades 6-8. Classroom goals are to build the Spanish vocabulary at each grade level so that as much Spanish can be spoken as possible during the classes. A mixture of Total Physical Response and TPR storytelling is used in all grade levels in order to provide repetition, language input and interactive participation. Music plays an important role as we sing almost every class period. There are cultural components where students learn about holidays and cultures in Hispanic countries, with occasional visits from native speakers from various countries where they speak Spanish.

Students are introduced to Spanish by learning basic greetings, numbers 1-10, colors, shapes, weather, basic adjectives, days of the week and the alphabet. New vocabulary is primarily introduced through songs, finger plays, games and interactive stories. A storytelling series called ¡Hola Niños! is used from K-2 to provide a springboard for language development.

Students will expand upon concepts learned in Kindergarten by adding numbers to 20. Students can choose Spanish names and integrate these in the Spanish greetings learned. Basic Spanish phonics will be introduced progressively. More songs are added and continuing interactive stories with students acting them out.

More complex phrases are added as they become comfortable with the sounds and the intonation of the Spanish language. They will be able to read and write basic phrases in Spanish.

.Students will be more confident in speaking longer phrases and sometimes have the opportunity to lead the class in games and activities in Spanish. They will be able to write and act out their own mini-stories in Spanish. More adjectives, adverbs and nouns are acquired to enrich their stories, along with gradual introduction to verb forms. Grades 3-5 will use the series, ¡Cuéntame! as an interactive method for TPR storytelling.

More verbs are learned as well as increased Spanish vocabulary through songs, mini-stories and games. Students will become more accustomed to verb conjugations through repeated usage and practice. They will be writing more sentences and paragraphs to accompany the stories

Students will build on previous curriculum and will be doing a mini-project on a Spanish-speaking country, as well as keeping up with current events in these countries. More verbs are encountered along with expanded vocabulary.

This is a combined class which meets twice a week. The emphasis is on correct pronunciation through applying basic phonetic rules in the Spanish language. Songs, storytelling and games are used to build fluency, competency and accuracy. Grammar and verb conjugation will be taught as they encounter present-tense regular and irregular verbs. Students will learn which countries speak Spanish and will keep up with current events in some of these. They will have individual projects on a country of their choice. A combination of texts will be used, including “Cuéntame más!”