Beginning Spanish & Conversation 1b - Talking about School, Hobbies & Pastimes (FLEX)

Students should have a familiarity with Spanish to include how to introduce oneself, greet others, talk about family, and know the months of the year. 

This is a literature-based course that will focus on building vocabulary, reading and responding to simple texts, and conversation.  Traditional/native stories and poetry, as well as translated stories, are integrated throughout the course. 

Students will learn Spanish relevant to their lives using literature, songs, and in-class speaking practice and games.  Some aspects of grammar will be taught as needed to include verbs such as "estudiar" and "ir." 

10-lesson thematic content includes the following:

Session 1 – Review of Elementary Spanish 1a material. Intro to school terms; days of the week 
Session 2 - What do you do at school? School activities
Session 3 - What do you do at school? School subjects 
Session 4 -  What do you take to school? School supplies
Session 5 - Review and Presentations - Material to this point is reviewed, and students can record a video of their presentation, using the information learned. Specific instructions are given in class. OPTIONAL: Live class
Session 6 –  Cultural Connection - cultural connections introduces poems and songs that talk about the subject. This week will introduce a song from Cri Cri, Mexican children's singer, about school.
Session 7 – My pastimes - Sports 1; begin learning to tell time
Session 8 – My pastimes - Sports 2
Session 9 – My pastimes - Hobbies
Session 10 – Review and presentations - Students will prepare a project and present it to the class via video. They will use as much Spanish as they are comfortable. OPTIONAL: Live class

Thematic vocabulary and grammar build upon each lesson. There is an emphasis on listening comprehension and speaking about different topics. Throughout the course, numbers to 100 will be learned and practiced each week; days of the week will be integrated in the questions and answers, and students will learn to tell time. They will also continue to build upon their reading skills.

Each lesson contains question and answer frames that students can leave audio and/or video responses to in Round Robin game fashion. This can create an ongoing asynchronous conversation among the students. This provides high interaction and motivation amongst the students to continue their language journey.

Some prior knowledge of Spanish is recommended. Basic conversation skills such as how to introduce oneself, tell about oneself (age, birthday), months of the year (at least their own birth month), numbers to 10, and talk about people in the family, are helpful.  Some reading ability is helpful, but not required, and will be practiced. 

50/50 Spanish/English, according to student ability