Teacher: Ms. Valerie Dalebroux

Bienvenidos al Programa de Espanol !
(Welcome to the Spanish Program at SCL!)

SCL students are introduced to Spanish starting in 2nd grade, meeting once a week. Our text book is called Viva el Espanol (Workbook A), where we start with the basics, including greetings, weather, colors, numbers, family members, common animals, clothing, classroom and household objects, phrases that describe how one is feeling, etc. At this level I try to make instruction as "hands-on" as possible, playing interactive games that aim to keep the children as engaged as possible, and having them all actually speak the language every class. Already they can all say "Aqui esta el libro"! (Here is the book.)

Starting In 3rd grade students have Spanish class twice a week. Not only to we review what was learned in 2nd grade, we progress to the Viva el Espanol Workbook B, which broadens their vocabulary to foods, sports, freetime activities, common adjectives, places, modes of transportation, zoo animals, describing what we like and don't like, prepositions and an expanded list of body parts. They all seem to especially like the game we call "Rondo el Mundo" (Round the World) with body parts, and by the end of 3rd grade most can explain (en espanol) whether they have a headache or their feet hurt!

In 4th grade we use Viva el Espanol Workbook C. As in the previous two years, we continue to expand our vocabularies, and we start to put together more complex sentences. By the end of the year, they will be able to read questions (en espanol) and give an appropriate answer. For example: Que te gusta hacer los sabados? (What do you like to do on Saturdays). And they will be able to respond: Me gusta dormir o me gusta jugar al futbol. (I like to sleep or play soccer). We start to work on simple verb conjugations, and by now they are pretty good at agreement between nouns and adjectives!

5th graders - 8th graders use the textbook "Como te va?"(McGraw Hill). The text also starts with some of the basics (such as dates and telling time), but each chapter revolves around a few themes, and vocab. and grammer are more intertwined from this point on. Since this is my fifth year here at SCL, I've been thrilled to see how my students have progressed year by year, each year building on the previous year's foundation. As a result, for example, this year's 6th graders are more advanced than last year's 6th graders because they've had 1 more year of Spanish with me than the previous 6th graders!

5th graders will start to learn conjugations of the irregular verbs that we use every day (to have, to be, to give, etc.), as well as regular -ar verbs. They get comfortable with interrogatives, possessive pronouns, and they should have no trouble saying things like: "Yo tengo dos perros negros. Tienes tu un perro?" (I have 2 black dogs. Do you have a dog?") or "Cuantas tias tienes tu? Tengo cinco tias y seis tios" (How many aunts do you have. I have 5 aunts and 6 uncles.) Of course, we start every year with a review of what was learned in the previous year as well!

6th, 7th, and 8th graders work from the same textbook, and the instruction gets progressively more academic with each grade--with the goal that they have a solid foundation for high school Spanish, whatever their ability level. Some SCL students have already placed in accelerated or more advanced Spanish courses when they've started high school! Because I've placed a premium on their ability and comfort level speaking Spanish in the classroom, I'm proud to say that many have an excellent pronunciation when they use Spanish, and I've seen tremendous progress in the way they express themselves en espanol!

7th and 8th graders also work from a Thematic Short Stories workbook, which requires reading, answering "preguntas de comprension" (comprehension questions), and answering extemporaneous questions (all en espanol!). Usually these little stories involve a funny adventure that results in a surprise ending that keeps the students' interest right up to the last sentence. They get to practice their oral reading skills, and see verb conjugations and new vocab. in a slightly more attention-holding setting.

Lastly, we have started a mid-winter project that lets the student focus more on Hispanic culture in grades 6, 7 and 8. Each student gets to chose a Spanish-speaking country to report on, and their presentation includes a poster, a written report (2-3 pages), and an oral presentation. I try to inject a bit of Hispanic culture into my classes when time permits. I believe strongly in encouraging every child to develop a more global view of the world, and we occasionally discuss politics/ cuture/ religion/ history/ even ecology and the environment with an eye toward achieving understanding through mutual respect. Because I lived abroad and speak 3 languages fluently, and because my husband and I have children who have lived, learned, taught, and worked in Peru, Ecuador, Chili, Guatemala, and Spain, I am blessed with a mountain of material from my travels that I can share to try and make our classes and classroom more exciting. And while I hesitate to pass the blowgun from the Amazonas region around the room, or the sea salt harvested in land-locked Bolivia, I hope the pictures of my travels elicit a curiosity that helps move us toward a broader perspective and understanding of this world we live in.

While I don't usually give homework, we do have quizzes and tests occasionally in grades 4-8. The students usually have a week to prepare, since I am at SCL only Wed. afternoon, Thursday and Friday, and we only meet twice a week. I remind them to plan for the test, schedule it in their academic calendars, think about when they should prepare (the night before? or maybe over the weekend?) They are always given materials to study from, either in worksheets I hand out, or material I put on the board that they are given time to copy into their Spanish notebooks. They are given precise info regarding what they need to know for the test. They are sometimes even given class time to prepare, if I think it would be helpful.

Students in all grades (2-8) will be evaluated according to classroom behavior and participation, to a certain extent.

If you need to reach me, please leave a message with the school office and I will return the call as soon as I can. Please keep in mind, because I am not at SCL Mondays or Tuesdays, I wouldn't receive a message left those days until noon on Wednesday at the earliest.