Specials: Spanish

Program Goal(s): At St. Francis Xavier School our goal is:

• To make learning a second language available to students in K- 8 because research indicates that a second language is most easily acquired in the early years.  
• To teach Spanish in a communicative or natural way, so that students use the language for real communication purposes.
• For students to not only learn how to communicate with Spanish speakers, but to l also learn about their cultures and daily lives.
• To teach children Catholic Prayers in Spanish as we pray for each other on a daily basis.

In class students will:

• Discuss similarities and differences between cultures.
• Ask and answer real life questions individually, in pairs or whole class discussions.
• Work with others to practice new words, sounds, and sentence structures.
• Develop listening and speaking skills within the context of different real life scenarios (filming students for later review)
• Play educational games using the Textbook’s web site  For online practice and self-tests and other teacher generated activities at Quia www.quia.com       
• Complete written and oral activities using Realidades  audio files.
• Listen and discus videos (DVD’s) using Realidades DVD Program.   
• Use Technology and Internet to go on virtual tours, connect with other Spanish speaking students in the world, and have plenty of online vocabulary practice, audio and online testing at the Computer Lab.
• Go on field trips to use Spanish beyond the school setting and put into practice what was learned in class.

Currently, students in grades K-3 received Spanish instruction once a week, grades 4- 6 twice a week. Students in 7th grade meet three times a week while 8th grade receives Spanish instruction fours time a week with a once a week lesson in the computer lab.  

Spanish
	Ted Novak	K-3 Spanish	Ted is third generation St. Francis teacher. He is currently working on his Master's Degree in Social Justice and Human Rights from Arizona State University where he attended school as an undergraduate. Ultimately, he hopes to earn a doctorate in International Law.
	Celeste Castorena	4-8 Spanish