Spanish

Our Spanish curriculum focuses on language acquisition through comprehensible input: a collection of techniques and strategies to prioritize the delivery of understandable and compelling messages in the target language. This style’s approach to second language acquisition resembles that of first language acquisition,  which is through storytelling, reading and listening, also called the “Natural Approach.” Grammatical structure recognition and vocabulary are first naturally acquired through comprehensible input and then formally studied at a later stage in the acquisition process, as grammar and memorization of vocabulary in the early stages do not translate into language acquisition.  

Material used in this method often exposes students to the hispanic culture through a variety of activities, games, stories, music and videos that reflect the everyday use of Spanish within the hispanic world. An example is playing the Spanish version of the “The Price is Right" to acquire vocabulary and numbers. Students read stories and short novels about cities/towns and their traditions in Spain, Central America and South America. You can also often find students singing and dancing to the lyrics of a song in Spanish in a variety of music genres such as: salsa, merengue, reggaeton, flamenco or tango. After all, it is a collection of research-based principles that informs us what we do in our classrooms and the belief that input must be compelling, not just comprehensible.