St. Anne's Episcopal School Foreign Languages

World Languages Department

Lower School Spanish Curriculum

Vision

St. Anne's recognizes and embraces the diversity of our modern global community. Instruction in a modern language, such as Spanish, offers our students the opportunity to learn and communicate in a new language that is spoken by many members of that global community. It also allows our children to develop an appreciation for many countries that speak primarily Spanish and for their rich and diverse cultures.

We believe that if children develop an enthusiasm for Spanish at a young age they will develop a greater proficiency with the language and be more likely to continue further study of language in their high school and college careers. Exposure to and learning a new language also promotes greater tolerance and sensitivity to the differences between people and their cultures. This exposure will result in better citizens and better members of the global community.

Goals

The goals of the Lower School Spanish program at St. Anne's are:

• To expose children to the Spanish language through a variety of engaging, interactive and developmentally appropriate learning methods.
• To develop student achievement in the four modern language skill areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
• To expose the students to the many different countries where Spanish is primarily spoken and to their rich and diverse cultures.
• To motivate students to pursue continued study of the Spanish language and to give them the confidence to do so.

Core Curriculum

Research suggests that language acquisition skills are greatest at a young age. Therefore, Spanish is taught beginning in pre-kindergarten and continues in the Lower School up through the fourth grade. The Spanish program then continues in the Middle School from the fifth through the eighth grades. A primary objective of Lower School instruction is to provide students with a strong foundation and enthusiasm in Spanish and to encourage higher levels of learning in the Middle School.

The core curriculum for the Lower School Spanish program is designed to support student development in aural comprehension and verbal pronunciation in pre-kindergarten through the fourth grades, as well as to develop early reading and writing skills beginning in kindergarten. In addition, emphasis is placed on the study of other Spanish speaking cultures.

At all levels, students are taught Spanish through thematic units that include exposure to core vocabulary and dialogs. Units include topics such as the calendar, the family unit, the human body, colors, numbers, shapes and animals. These thematic units are enhanced with exposure to diverse and interesting children's bilingual literature, music, puppets, games, art and cuisine. Units are revisited in various grades to reinforce the content learned but are presented in different contexts based on the learning methodology used and the children's comprehension levels. As the children demonstrate specific understanding and comfort with the units, additional topics are introduced to expand upon the acquisition of vocabulary development.

Spanish is also integrated into the various content areas of study to further enhance the educational experience. For example, while studying butterflies in Science class, students can explore the Spanish vocabulary for this area, as well as learn about the migration of the monarch butterflies from Mexico to the United States.

Research suggests that children acquire language in many different ways. For that reason, teachers use a variety of teaching methods in class.

The Total Physical Response (TPR) method is one way used to promote language acquisition through action. Many children learn language cognitively long before they are able to produce it verbally. By listening to Spanish spoken in class on a regular basis and by learning to respond to verbal questions with action, students learn new vocabulary and grammar. For example, a teacher may ask in Spanish for a student to point to all the blue sombreros on a board. In this simple exercise, action as a response by the student demonstrates comprehension of the question as well as the response. This method also encourages students to "think in Spanish" as they learn. With repetition and reinforcement activities students are soon able to provide verbal responses in Spanish.

Other methods used in class include introduction of calendar activities, songs and chants, use of physical manipulatives, games, art, and story sharing. Weekly dialogs presented by friendly puppet "amigos" help foster an interest and confidence in student participation. In addition students participate in authentic cultural experiences such as holiday celebrations and religious customs.

With each of these methods, Spanish is spoken as much as possible in the classroom. Spanish spoken in class by the teacher helps develop good listening comprehension and speaking skills. This exposure also helps students learn correct grammatical structures for Spanish. Students are also provided with opportunities to share information, develop projects, and perform plays in Spanish to the school community.

In language lab at St. Anne's, students are offered a variety of software programs that provide review and extension activities in fun interactive mediums. At listening centers, students are also encouraged to follow along with storybooks written in Spanish. This activity fosters listening, vocabulary acquisition and early reading skills.

Cultural studies are also an important component of the Spanish curriculum. Students study many different countries and cultures of the world that speak primarily Spanish. They learn about the topography, agriculture, climate and customs of those countries. Authentic games, songs, crafts, and cuisine are incorporated into these units of study.

In conjunction with its cultural studies, St. Anne's incorporates Spanish into daily devotions and weekly school chapel services. Students participate in Spanish prayers, songs, and celebrations.

Overall, we develop the 4 communicative skills--speaking, listening, reading and writing---so as to give the student, a basic proficiency in Spanish (see the ACTFL guidelines below). Additionally, the class is designed to increase the students’ knowledge of Hispanic culture. In each grade we cover topics that go from describing people, telling time, dates and events to talk about vacations, modes of transportation, celebrations, sports, health, and environment. Upon the completion of each level, the students will have a vocabulary that encompasses the above themes as well as be able to talk about present, past and future activities.

The 1986 proficiency guidelines were developed by the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). They represent a hierarchy of global characterizations of integrated performance in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Each description is a representative, not an exhaustive, sample of a particular range of ability, and each level subsumes all previous levels, moving from simple to complex in an "all-before-and-more" fashion.