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our seventh grade program

Spanish

The Middle School Spanish Program is centered on three questions:

  • “How does one really come to understand other cultures and perspectives?”
  • “How does the study of foreign languages improve human understanding throughout the world?”
  • “How are we enriched by the study of foreign languages?

These questionsprovide the framework for our purpose in teaching foreign language. With these broader purposes in mind, Seventh Grade students continue to build upon the vocabulary and communication skills taught in the Sixth Grade and begin a more formalized study of grammatical structures of Level 1 Spanish.

Seventh Grade students have an opportunity to listen to and read simple stories using Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS), as well as have the opportunity to prepare skits, play grammar and vocabulary games, sing songs, explore a variety of media sources in Spanish, and learn about Hispanic culture.Seventh Graders continue the acquisition process of linguistic structures and focus on the present tense of many regular/irregular verbs, subject pronouns, non-personal verb forms, definite and indefinite articles, the gerund, number and gender agreement, and sentence and question syntax. Formal grammar explanations are interspersed with a variety of teaching strategies and reinforced with a variety of differentiated activities and cultural explorations. Emphasis is also placed on repetition and internalization of contextualized vocabulary and basic structures, communication, and the importance of understanding other languages, cultures and points of view.

The following skills are part of the Seventh Grade Spanish Program:

  • Initiating conversation, exchanging information
  • Asking and answering simple questions
  • Reading, telling and writing basic stories
  • Stating chronological order of events and describing units of time
  • Using present and past tense forms
  • Talking about clothing and fashion
  • Describing one’s self and family
  • Talking about professions
  • Reacting to oral commands of request using physical movement (TPR)
  • Comparing and contrasting Hispanic and American holidays and traditions
  • Reflecting on a variety of perspectives gleaned through the study of other cultures
  • Sharing observations about trips taken by students and teachers to other countries