We have spent several class periods in our 7th and 8th grade classes with our own Spanish improv days. The students get a random topic, come to the front and speak about it as much as they can, entirely in Spanish. Today the 8th graders told stories about what they were like as six year olds, using the imperfect tense. I have a hard time believing that they could be as mischievous as they claim!
The third graders finished learning about animal names, and demonstrated their máscaras. Leones, tigres y osos, oh my!
Mr. Shildt's fourth graders blew me away today. They created original presentations on the present tense conjugations of their favorite regular -ar verbs, and taught all of the conjugations to the class (yes, even the vosotros form). They acted them out and demonstrated correct subject verb agreement, even in the acting (such as pointing to a girl jumping and saying, "Ella salta"). They were brilliant! (I admit to some bias--I love these kids--but even so, I have also been a teacher for nearly 18 years and I am not that easily impressed.) They were phenomenal. It is so exciting, because although we are not an immersion program, we are able to spend more time in Spanish than most schools, and we focus on building a strong foundation with the grammar as well as the vocabulary.
It is one of the things that makes All Saints unique. We are able to serve families that would not be part of an immersion program, yet still make sure that their children learn to speak Spanish in a way that prepares them for real life and any Spanish program that they will enter as they grow. One of the many reasons that I love teaching here!
