Course title

Spanish Heritage Honors

Pre-requisite

None

Course description

Spanish Heritage Honors was just approved as a Level 2 Foreign Language class. We would like it to also be a Level 1 Foreign Language class. This course is designed for native Spanish speakers. Course content will emphasize increasing student literacy in Spanish using academic vocabulary, the study of grammar, and extensive reading and writing in Spanish. In addition, cultural aspects of the people and countries where Spanish is spoken are explored through a variety of activities including videos, music, and enrichment activities. This course content will prepare students for the Advanced Placement Spanish course. *This class is designed for native Spanish speakers at BUHS and YHS. This course is for Spanish Heritage Students who already know how to speak Spanish. This course is designed to develop Spanish literacy and writing skills through an immersive and authentic curriculum. The course will focus on improving and understanding the use of Spanish grammar, vocabulary, spelling and writing. This class is not intended to be a pre-AP course. Most students should take another class after Heritage Spanish and before AP Spanish. Traditionally that has been Honors Spanish III in our district. Although, if the teachers feels that a student is ready for AP Spanish after having taken Heritage Spanish they may recommend that student for AP Spanish and allow them to skip Honors Spanish III. This should be the exception and not the rule. Themes- Originally this class(curriculum) was designed with themes, similar to AP or IB. Señor Espinoza and I selected the themes but since then each of us adapted the themes to meet the needs or the students and ourselves. Themes should be taught with a wide variety of texts, videos and audios resources to expose the students to as many authentic resources as possible. Each theme should have the goal to strengthen the students reading and listening comprehension skills along with their production skills in speech and writing. These are the themes that work for me. They are not set in stone. Each teacher can adjust (or change) the themes to best fit their classroom and teaching style. That being said, the themes should tie into the Spanish Speaking World, strengthening the Heritage ties that the student has with the language. • ¿Quién soy yo? o I use theme as my introduction to the class. This theme gives me the opportunity to get to know the student and evaluate their level of Spanish. I have the student create avatars of themselves and other family members or friends and then write brief descriptions of each person in Spanish. I have them write physical and personality descriptions as well and discuss likes/dislike, similarities and differences (comparisons) etc. I also have the student present one of their family member descriptions to the class or on Flipgrid. • El Multilingüismo o This theme is designed to teach the history of Spanish Language and its expansion across the world as well as discover and learn about other languages spoken in Latin America and Spain. • Fiestas y Celebraciones o This theme is designed to teach about numerous holidays and celebrations that take place in the Spanish speaking world (Latin American and Spain). Students learn about many different cultures and their celebrations and make comparisons to their own culture and others. • Civilizaciones Precolombinas o This theme is designed to teach students the history of Latin America by covering civilizations such as the Olmec, Aztec, Maya, Inca and more. Students have the opportunity to learn about the history of Latin America before the arrival of the Europeans. This theme ties in with the Multilingüismo theme nicely because many of the indigenous languages still spoken in Latin America are tied to these civilizations. • Gastronomía o This theme is designed to explore the cultural aspect of gastronomy throughout the Spanish Speaking World. Students explore recipes from many different Spanish Speaking countries and also try cooking a dish that they investigate and learn about. I also use this unit to teach about the imperative tense. Student’s write a recipe using the imperative form of verbs. This theme is a lot of fun and I usually leave it for the end of the semester and have a food day with the student at the conclusion of the theme. Additional Resources and Materials: • Viviana y su gran aventura mexicana- This is a ready that is fairly easy for most students in this class. I like it because it has reading comprehension questions and vocab practice that go along with it. It also helps student feel successful reading in the language. The, although fictional, teaches many interesting cultural and historical aspects about Mexico. • El Mundo en tus Manos- I pay for the bi-weekly subscription of El Mundo en tus Manos from Martina Bex. This includes 5 articles every 2 weeks to read. I usually select one article a week to read in order to expose my students to currents events and news in the Spanish Speaking World. We/They also answer reading comprehension questions that go along with the articles. o EL MUNDO EN TUS MANOS: News summaries for Spanish students 2021-2022 (teacherspayteachers.com) • Spanish Tongue Twisters: I have my students learn, practice and record themselves saying a Spanish Tongue Twister every week. This provides me an opportunity to hear the “quiet” students speak weekly. I also can focus on common letter combinations that students struggle to read and improve their reading skills. o Spanish Tongue Twisters for Perfecting Your Pronunciation

School country

United States

School state

Arizona

School city

Buckeye

High school

Buckeye Union High School Youngker High School

School / district Address

1000 E. Narramore Avenue.

School zip code

85326

Requested competency code

Foreign Language

Date submitted

Approved

Yes

Approved competency code

  • LNG1

Approved date

Expected grade level

9th

Online / Virtual

No