3. Objectives
Based on World Language Standards
Range level expectation‐ Novice Low
To reach all students at the elementary level
4. Goals
Exposure to Spanish language and culture
Basic Spanish communication skills
Students will develop insight into their own
language and culture
5. Why Spanish?
Cognitive advantages
Used in business and education ‐ global market
Improves employment opportunities in the US
Change attitudes and beliefs
7. Use of videos
Once a week, 20 minutes each for three weeks of
each month.
Input is facilitated through immersion
Sections include: Songs, interaction (guessing),
themed skits, geography, culture, food and
numbers
Videos cover themes that students are familiar
with (e.g., family, community, animals, feelings and
weather).
8. Classroom visits
Each classroom once a month
We visit 45+ classrooms = 1000+ students
Focus is on oral delivery and interaction
Four different dynamics; whole and small group
instruction, pair work, and individual work.
Ongoing assessment: We talk to teachers, check how
students are doing on activities.
16. Three Standards of Communication
Interpretive‐ Language users listen, view, and read
using knowledge of cultural products, practices,
and perspectives.
Interpersonal‐ Culturally appropriate listening,
reading, viewing, speaking, and writing occurs as
a shared activity among language users.
Presentational‐ speaking and writing occur in
culturally appropriate ways.
Colorado academic standards for world languages.
17. Interpretive
•Receive input from video
•SpeciYic language structures Interpersonal
•Activity acts as
reinforcement/informal •In class lessons
assessment •Provide feedback
•Repeat and guess during video •Student to student
interaction
•Teacher to student
interaction
Presentational •Lessons built around
content from videos
Reading, writing,
listening and speaking
21. Based on the communicative method
Language as a medium of communication.
Communicative ability from early stage.
Use of target language: immersion.
Meaningful, functional and spontaneous
communication: active versus static.
Authentic resources and inspiration.
Diverse learning dynamics.
Student‐centered: adapts to students needs.
Emphasis on oral skill but not limited to it.
Errors as part of learning a language.
Use of visual stimuli.
22. Content-based language instruction
The content is based on student interests, is
cognitively engaging, and teaches across the
curriculum.
Familiar topics and authentic materials motivate
students and lead to more active participation.
Students learn science, math, geography, art,
literature, grammar and history through themes
such as Star Wars, Pirates, Cowboys, etc.
23. Learnerfocused instruction
Promoting interaction to make students take an
active role and be receptive.
Choosing appealing themes in order to motivate
students.
Creating a good rapport with students.
Using continuous assessment to adapt instruction to
students needs: hearing their voices.
24. Immersion
To reflect naturalistic language acquisition.
To expose students to as much input as possible
given our limited contact time.
To encourage students to be proactive and use
learning strategies such as induction and
prediction.
25. Scaffolding to Support Immersion
1.Visual stimuli
• Gestures
• Staging
• Characterization: animated and familiar
characters and puppets
• Images: reused in multiple videos and constantly
associated with the same concepts
• A minimal use of subtitles in Spanish/English
26. 2. Familiar themes
3. Music and sound
4. Humor
5. Narrative
6. Contextualization, sequencing and repetition.
27. Culture
To change attitudes and beliefs so students will be
motivated to learn Spanish.
To promote positive attitudes towards
multiculturalism and multilingualism.
To promote learning across the curriculum by
teaching geography, history, science, etc.
To emotionally benefit multicultural students.
28. Continuous assessment
To improve pedagogical strategies.
To hear student voices so we can work towards
toward fulfilling their needs and interests as
language learners.
30. Challenges
To change attitudes and beliefs of students,
teachers and the community: towards learning
Spanish and towards the teaching approach.
To give as much opportunity for learning as
possible through a distance learning program with
such limited contact time.
To keep students engaged in lessons that are
delivered through a virtual medium.
31. Achievements
Through continuous assessment we have realized
that students are learning Spanish and becoming
more aware of Spanish speaking cultures.
Some teachers are better understanding our
teaching approach and becoming more involved.
With experience we are becoming more proficient
in the use of the technology and are able to take
advantage of it to meet our instructional goals.
32. Future goals
More assessment to hear student voices and
measure their progress.
Incorporate computer and Web based activities.
Make instruction even more learner-centered.