Snapshot
READ Ñ in Spanish
Currently, our Spanish curriculum and class materials are mostly teacherdesigned and/or teacher-selected from an array of permissible sources, often from the internet. Given the novice proficiency level of our students, making learning meaningful and relevant and providing optimal opportunities for creativity and language acquisition and production is dependent on providing a variety of Comprehensible Input, which is simply defined as language that can be understood by learners despite their not being able to process every word or structure.
Are books an innovative approach? Yes! Considering our students’ cognitive developmental level in the high school age group, the resources listed on this application will appeal to the learner who, instead of always reading unrelated short texts that aim to separately teach the language, will be reading and discussing novels and graphic novels, enjoying the flow and suspense of the stories, and experiencing the accomplishment of so soon accessing literature in a World Language.
The two major strategies implemented will guarantee to provide Comprehensible Input through reading the novels together as a class and through independent, voluntary reading. Additional strategies will include: class and group discussions; role play; personalized questions and answers; summarizing; using context clues and cognates; circling; rewriting the ending of a story; rephrasing; paraphrasing; circumlocution; and playing on students’ strengths and talents, especially since purchasing Sr. Wooly’s novels will grant instant student access to a wealth of online resources (such as songs, games, and videos) that will benefit multiple learning styles.