First Grade Spanish

INSTRUCTOR:  Elizabeth Morgan

Curriculum Map  Class Page

Synopsis:

Students learn to love the Spanish language and culture through song, music, dance, interactive games and activities. A vocabulary foundation is created throughout the school year as students learn the basics like colors, numbers, days of week, seasons and weather.  Students study the alphabet in depth and learn how it differs from English - with this knowledge, they begin to write in Spanish. 

Students learn to speak Spanish by simply mimicking what they hear during each class period and, therefore, are able to understand basic greetings and conversational phrases.

It is important for students to become familiar with the Spanish language and culture so as to foster an open-mindedness toward diversity.

Points of Integration are the topics discussed in Spanish, which directly relate to what they are learning in their core subjects. Students do stories, listen to music videos and practice writing in the target language about these topics:

Bugs

In the garden & how plants grow

On the farm and farm animals

Holidays & Cultural traditions celebrated in Latin America

Shapes

Continents & Oceans 

Hibernation & Cold Weather Animals

Grouping Animals by category

NC Standard Course Goal for Second Language Learning:

In the K-2 Foreign Language at the Elementary School (FLES) program, the primary goal is the development of listening and speaking and cultural awareness through concrete experiences. However, one must not forget that language acquisition begins with listening. For this reason, "Successful language learning activities emphasize comprehension rather than speaking at the beginning stages" (Curtain and Pesola, 1988).

At Woodlawn, the 'daily routine' of Spanish class includes:

Calendar & Weather Q&A - students are able to tell what day it is, what the date is and what the weather is in Spanish.

Words in Action - students respond to teacher's commands and/or vocabulary through action (TPR).

Hola & Adios songs w/ video - greeting and farewell in target language.