Spanish 1 (Ages 12-16) - Quarter 1 - Communication Through Stories and Culture

Using comprehension based methods of language teaching and an orientation toward proficiency, this course teaches language communication and culture simultaneously, allowing Spanish students the opportunity to develop cultural understanding at a depth rarely achieved in beginning language courses.

In this course students will learn to communicate at a Novice-Mid proficiency level using high frequency words in Spanish through input-driven teaching methods. Students will learn Spanish through interactive stories and effective questioning techniques that build communication skills without stress.  My teaching style is interactive and fun.  Students will be speaking in Spanish from day 1! This class is a communication-oriented class, not a grammatical or linguistic study of Spanish. Grammar will be mentioned as it pops up. Instead of spending our precious time on grammar, which does not build fluent communication at the lower levels, we will focus on building proficiency in listening, reading, writing, and speaking in this course. There will be a grammar review in the 4th quarter of this course to help prepare students for grammar-oriented classes in the future.  This class is suitable for students who have had little to no Spanish in the past.

We will spend roughly 2 weeks on each unit.  We will meet in person once a week and each week there will be about 2-3 hours of flex learning in addition to our in-person meetings in order to provide more input in the language.  

In each unit, prior to the first in-class meeting, students will complete vocabulary building activities to prepare for class.  During the in-class meeting on the first week of each unit, we will learn an interactive story together as a class, focusing on repetitions of the vocabulary in context to build fluency. We will also use the new vocabulary to communicate about our lives in a guided Q&A session. After this meeting, students will receive links to various activities in order to further acquisition and confidence in the language.

During the in-class meeting on the second week of each unit, we will play communicative games and learn about the cultural element of the unit. For homework, students will receive links to various activities, including assessments for the unit.
The flex learning hours include material that can be graded for feedback, which is reflected in the price. There is also a supplemental course available to go over some of the FLEX activities live.


Weeks 1, 2, & 3: 
Unit 1- CORE VOCABULARY**:
este es, un muchacho/una muchacha, se llama, dice, me llamo, cómo te llamas, me gusta
In this unit, we we learn how to introduce ourselves and others. We will also learn about a popular Spanish nursery rhyme.

Weeks 4 & 5: 
Unit 2- CORE VOCABULARY:
corre, ve, camina
In this unit, we will learn about the culture and traditions of the running of the bulls.

Weeks 6 & 7: 
Unit 3- CORE VOCABULARY:
abre la puerta, nunca cierra, son [las ocho]
In this unit, students will interact with a fun story and we will do a movie-talk.

Week 8: 
Unit 4- CORE VOCABULARY:
habla, toma, quiere ser
In this unit, students will learn about professions and popular universities in Spanish-speaking countries. Students will also learn about a very interesting languages from the Canary Islands of Spain.
This unit will go into Quarter 2 of this course.

**Core Vocabulary = the vocabulary focus of the unit, but additional vocabulary will be learned as well.

Please join me for quarters 2, 3, and 4 to receive instruction for a full year's worth of Spanish 1. If all 4 quarters are taken, students can expect 120 hours of classwork which generally equates to 1 high school credit. However, please make sure to check with your state homeschooling standards first. 

Parent reviews from my classroom:
"[Student] has taken Spanish for years, but this year she has gone around the house speaking Spanish like it is her native language! Thank you!"
"Thank you for all you did this year making the the class so fun for [student]. He has the best Spanish foundation in our household already!"