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our eighth 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 questions provide the framework for our purpose in teaching foreign language. With these broader purposes in mind, Eighth Grade students continue to build upon the vocabulary and communication skills taught in the Seventh Grade and complete their formalized study of grammatical structures of Level 1 Spanish.

Eighth 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.Eighth Graders continue the acquisition process of linguistic structures and focus on the present, past and immediate future tense of many regular/irregular verbs; object pronouns; possessive adjectives; comparatives and superlatives; prepositional phrases; reflexive verbs; and commands. Formal grammar explanations are interspersed with a variety of teaching strategies and reinforced with 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.

Eighth Grade Spanish skills include:

  • Initiating conversation, exchanging information
  • Reading, telling and writing basic stories
  • Stating chronological order of events and describing units of time
  • Using present, past and immediate future tense forms
  • Talking about geography of Central and South America and the Caribbean
  • Describing daily household routines
  • Identifying and describing household items and terms
  • Asking for and giving directions around town
  • 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 through studying other cultures
  • Sharing observations about trips taken by students and teachers to other countries