Foreign Language Update
In Spanish II, students are continuing to build on and add to grammar concepts introduced the year before. The curriculum begins to focus more on details of written grammar and some oral aspects of the language. As we sharpen these skills, the complexity of grammar lessons has increased. Additionally, students have spent significant time understanding how to identify parts of speech and comparing their different expressions in English and Spanish. As we round out the year, we’ll continue to pull in old information and combine it with the new to communicate more authentically.
Spanish III students are finishing their studies on a particularly challenging concept. As a culmination to and another practice opportunity with their studies, students have created their own bilingual children’s books. They’ve plotted, authored, and illustrated every part of their stories, down to the last detail. Spanish III students will then travel to the elementary school and read their creations to our younger students.
Students in Spanish III are beginning to become accustomed to a class that can operate in the target language. Except for rather complex concepts that need to be clarified, students have experienced a significant part of the curriculum in Spanish and are further expected to conduct themselves in the language. Listening skills are continuing to be developed as we also focus on our writing and reading during the second half of Spanish III.
Spanish IV has been very busy, as well. Earlier this year, the students read the short story, Cajas de Cartón, by Francisco Jiménez. Along with that story, students took oral vocabulary quizzes that practiced their ability to communicate with precision in Spanish. Students also presented on, discussed, and debated the theses of their persuasive essays that were thematically related to our unit of study.
These debates and discussions were conducted in Spanish, along with other longer pieces of critical literary analysis. In their final year of Spanish, students are expected to conduct themselves in the language regularly. The target language becomes less of a performance and adopts a more central role as a daily expectation.