World Language
Spanish is experienced by Lower School students with a focus on understanding by doing in a language exposure program. Through songs, games, stories and cooking traditional foods from Spanish speaking countries, all students can participate. They respond to their teacher’s questions and begin to build a Spanish vocabulary by interacting and enjoying the projects and games. From the very beginning, classes are taught primarily in Spanish. Elementary students enjoy pen-pal relationships with students in a small Peruvian village.
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The focus of Spanish in the Fours is to create awareness of the sounds in the Spanish language and to foster an understanding that these sounds and words convey meaning. As the Fours sing songs they practice making the sounds of Spanish and accompanying them with corresponding movements. The children are introduced to basic vocabulary through simple storytelling, picture books and circle games.
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The focus of Spanish in the kindergarten is to create awareness of the sounds in the Spanish language and to foster an understanding that these sounds and words convey meaning. They begin the year with numbers, counting fingers, toes, and children in the classroom. As the children sing songs, they practice making the sounds of Spanish and accompanying them with corresponding movements. The children are introduced to basic vocabulary (greetings, colors, body parts and action words, as well as me gusta, no me gusta, sí quiero, no quiero, grande, mediano, chiquitito, etc.) through simple storytelling, picture books and games.
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With songs, games, picture books, chants and rhymes, first graders review and practice vocabulary from kindergarten (colors, greetings, parts of the body, numbers, animals). They then begin to read and write these words for the first time. First grade projects include making counting and alphabet books, which they illustrate and read aloud, and retelling stories (Buenas noches, gorila) with role play.They talk in Spanish about who might be in a family (mamá, madrastra, hermana, bebé, etc.) and how families can be the same as and different from other families. Next they talk about animals they love and know about. These projects provide a context for using high-frequency words in Spanish in meaningful interactions.
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Second graders meet for Spanish twice a week in half groups. They continue exploring the language through songs, rhymes, games, and role-play. In a study of “favorites,” they ask about and identify their favorite books, games, colors, animals, sports, and fruits. (¿Cuál es tu color favorito? Mi color favorito es verde. ¿Cuál es tu animal favorito? Mi animal favorito es el mono.) Trying new foods, such as carambola (star fruit), provides an opportunity to express Me gusta mucho, me gusta muchísimo, or no me gusta. In connection with their social studies curriculum, they began learning the words to describe forms of transportation in the city (el metro, la bicicleta, etc.), and tell how they come to school (Yo voy a la escuela caminando y en bus).
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Third graders meet twice a week for Spanish. They study the number system, learning to quickly recall and spell the numbers to one hundred and identifying patterns in the way numbers are named in Spanish. They practice skip-counting (dos, cuatro, seis, ocho) as well as addition and subtraction facts in Spanish (diez y tres son trece, veinte menos cinco son quince). They play a variety of counting games. Throughout all the activities, the children hear and follow directions, make observations, and answer questions all in Spanish. Exchanging written letters with children in other classroom in the school and creating comic strips with the vocabulary and grammar they are acquiring provide opportunities for authentic communication in the target language.
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The fourth grade Spanish curriculum revolves around the Spanish-speaking world and includes using maps to learn about where Spanish speakers live and who is an “American.” Students use their growing vocabulary to describe family and classroom relationships and to compose simple stories in Spanish. They visit a local restaurant, bookstore, or museum with a Latin American focus of some kind and interact in Spanish. Fourth graders compose a short essay about themselves near the end of the school year, and in preparation, focus on such high frequency words as tener, ser, vivir, and gustar. They answer the questions ¿Donde vives? ¿Que te gusta hacer? and ¿Quienes son las personas en tu familia?
