Kindergarten Spanish class is a class full of music. The typical day starts out by having the students work on some worksheets that have Spanish words. We go over those words and we repeat them for practice. There is a song to clean up, and a good morning song. After that, we move to our class board to go over the date, we sing the days of the week song, and then the students answer questions posed to them in Spanish. For instance, what day is it today, what day was it yesterday, and what day will it be tomorrow? We sing the months of the year song and the students answer in Spanish what month we are presently in. Then, we count the number of days in that month. Once we are done with the date, we meet at the carpet to start the topic of the day, read a story, and sing a song related to the topic. The students go to the tables to work on the project for the day. Once they are all done, we meet again on the carpet to sing more songs.

In Kindergarten we focus on the listening part of the language. This is done in a manner in which the students can understand spoken language. We also work on building their Spanish vocabulary using the right pronunciation so they can start with proper language production little by little. This is why they are always encouraged to use the Spanish words that they already know. Another key goal of our program is to allow our students to develop a love for different cultures around the world. It is for this reason that we give special importance to Hispanic Heritage month, Black History month and other notable holidays and celebrations. In the kindergarten class we start with basic concepts like color, numbers, months, days and then we move to more complex ideas, including Veteran's day and good citizenship. This also helps to teach them to identify the difference between a country, a state and a city.

Click on the "Play" button below to sample some of the songs sang in the primary class.

Intermediate students learning Spanish as a Foreign Language are immersed in a second language while they learn social studies, writing, reading, and culture. The classroom environment is packed with activities that promote learning of the target language. Structured language instruction covers all four language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing/grammar.

Each day combines language learning with engaging activities, which may include, but not be limited to, writing workshop, reading with partners as well as reading independently, music, poetry, rhymes, skits, games, storytelling, word games, read aloud, vocabulary flashcard practice, choral reading, repeating reading, word meaning, reading comprehension questions requiring higher level thinking strategies, graphic organizers, and Hispanic world culture. The teacher uses whole group instruction, small group instruction and student independent practice.

During whole group instruction, the teacher uses linguistic modifications like gestures, facial expression, body language, controlled sentence length and complexity, re-statement, expansion, repetition, paraphrasing and lower speech rate to make instruction comprehensible. Mini-lessons are introduced while the teacher models the strategies and what the students are expected to accomplish during their independent practice. Modeling and using real life application to support vocabulary are an essential component of the foreign language classroom.

Total Physical Response is another key component of the daily activities. The teacher interacts with the student by delivering commands and students demonstrate comprehension through physical response. The students are not expected to respond out loud until they feel comfortable enough to produce language. This will lower anxiety and creates an excellent atmosphere for learning. The teacher creates situations in which students develop their self-confidence and perseverance needed for them as foreign language learners. These approaches will help to involve them actively in language learning, a requirement for attaining communicative compete

Click on the "Play" button below to hear intermediate students dictating the Pledge of Allegiance in spanish.

Yearlong Objectives:

• To develop communicative competence in the Spanish Language.
• To understand and interpret written as well as spoken language utilizing different topics.
• To gain cultural competence by acquiring knowledge, acceptance and respect of other cultures.
• To make connections, reinforce and further core subject matter through the foreign language.

Some key lessons:

Hillcrest's foreign language curriculum is aligned with the National Standards and with the Social Studies and Foreign language Sunshine State Standards. Instruction is organized around the development of social language and academic language using themes related to each area .These theme-driven monthly units are as follows:

August: Rules, commands, basic greeting & days of the week.

September: Colors, shapes, months, numbers 1-20, school and family, Constitution Day, Freedom Week & Beginning of the Hispanic Heritage Month.

October: Heritage Month, Influential people from different Hispanic countries, harvest, October holidays, Fall seasons & Columbus Day.

November: Thanksgiving, animals, categories, community, Veterans Day, Flag Day, Professions, Nation, State ,City and government.

December: World's Holiday celebrations, weather/winter.

January: Food names, Martin Luther King Jr. & body parts.

February: Our country/Our World, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln & Black History Month.

March: Springs activities, clothing & St. Patrick's Day.

April: Our Earth, Natural Resources, landscape, Arbor Day, plants and flowers.

May: Parts of the house, transportation and honoring parents activities.