Spanish

6^th Grade

There is a strong emphasis on learning vocabulary, correct pronunciation and spelling, and conjugating verbs in the present tense.  Students review grammar concepts, idioms, and vocabulary daily through games and drills.  To incorporate culture and knowledge of the Spanish-speaking countries, the students go on relevant field trips and do art projects, and students learn the names of all the Spanish-speaking countries.  Trying to communicate in Spanish is emphasized by certain days on which students use Spanish exclusively in class dialogue.  The basic skills are reinforced through a variety of activities, including writing and performing playlets for their classmates.

7^th Grade

This course focuses on the development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing competency in Spanish.  Students communicate with each other utilizing the grammatical structures and vocabulary learned in class.  Focus is on the proper use of nouns, adjectives, and verbs to create sentences and paragraphs in Spanish.  An overview of Aztec, Mayan, and Incan cultures is also introduced during this year.  Projects include country reports, creating family albums, writing book reports, and reading a Spanish novel.  This course incorporates field trips to relevant museum and art exhibits, as well as opportunities to experience different cultural cuisine.

8^th Grade

This course continues to focus on achieving communicative goals through speaking, reading and writing in Spanish.  Commands, past tense, direct and indirect objects, pronouns, and irregular verbs are used to give directions, express preferences, make purchases, and order food.  Projects include creating menus, reading a novel in Spanish, and researching and creating a PowerPoint presentation on a Mexican state as an interdisciplinary project with their computer class.  Field trips to museums and art exhibits enhance the classroom instruction.  They will also experience different tastes of cultures during various culinary adventures.