Spanish at St. Mary
Our program supports academic preparation for success in the primary grades and middle school while upholding Catholic values. The focus of each class is on developing grammar skills: building vocabulary through singing, speaking, reading and writing. The activities in every unit of study provide ample opportunities for learning new vocabulary in different formats, and role-playing real-life situations. Another component of this program is the exploration of Latin American cultures through stories, music, dance, food and games.
Grades 5th – 8th
Students will continue to develop their language skills through fundamental grammar and vocabulary, as well as many writing opportunities. These interactive lessons, along with practice and preparation, are the foundations that lead to the mastering of a foreign language. Listening and reading comprehension practice, as well as some casual conversations, will also be part of the curriculum. We continue working on greetings, interrogatives, family, school, numbers, telling time, using the calendar, foods, clothing, sports, hobbies, weather, seasons, professions, health, feelings, nationalities, geography, shopping, body parts, and prayers. With our main focus on grammar, to be (Verbs), adjectives, number/gender agreement, regular verb ending (Present Tense), irregular verbs, stem changing verbs, pronouns, reflexive pronouns, regular preterit, present progressive, obligations, immediate future/past, question words, and prepositions we know your student will be prepared for Spanish in their high school years. We use textbooks Descubre for Advanced 8th Grade Spanish, Avancemos for 8th grade and 7th grade, and Viva el Español for 6th and 5th grade. After observing Spanish at a High School level and speaking to several teachers at the schools, they encourage working on vocabulary and grammar to prepare them for Spanish 1 and/or Spanish 2. It is my goal to have them prepared grammatically as a steppingstone to conversational Spanish in High School.