Lower School Spanish

All Lower School students study Spanish with two Spanish instructors.

In the upper elementary grades, we use the Content-Enriched Foreign Language approach to help students communicate in Spanish. Students receive their instruction in Spanish and use their language skills on local field trips. Throughout their language study, students utilize the 6 Cs in various projects.

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PRE-K THROUGH GRADE 2

GRADES 3-5

Students learn the cultural importance of using names, greetings, and courtesy expressions and phrases for daily-life situations in Spanish, and they learn how to use and apply them appropriately, along with the correct pronunciation and inflection. They are gradually introduced to new vocabulary, including numbers, colors, animals, and objects.

Topics:

Greetings
Introductions
Phrases
Commands

Skills:

Ability to carry on a conversation, using basic greetings and phrases
Ability to follow directions in Spanish
Awareness and usage of correct pronunciation
Assimilation and use of target vocabulary

We use the Content-Enriched Foreign Language approach to help students to communicate in their new language, understanding the content with the vocabulary. Some strategies we apply in our classes are:

Total Physical Response and Storytelling (TPRS) focuses on comprehensible input and makes it easy for students to internalize the vocabulary. Comprehensible input is language that is presented to the students in such a way that the student can understand without the need of translation
Study units by themes using the Backward Design Model. Themes include: Introductions and greetings, directions and commands, numbers and the alphabet, colors, days of the week, animals, parts of the body, food, places, and classroom objects; Spanish concepts of tener sed and tener hambre; ¿Cómo está? and the verbs tener, abrir, and cerrar
Phonemic Awareness to improve pronunciation, reading, and comprehension skills
Learning Centers in Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. We treat learning as an active process to keep the students engaged with hands-on activities, where the student feels comfortable to take a risk, make mistakes, develop skills in problem-solving, and apply past knowledge to new situations and questioning in Spanish.
Increased vocabulary through singing songs
Exposure to the Latino Community and Culture through classroom visits, holiday celebration videos, art projects, and field trips
Organic World Language (OWL) creates an environment where learners