Spanish
	Sixth Grade The Sixth Grade Spanish program has as its primary learning outcomes: to teach students to communicate in Spanish with reasonable accuracy at this level and to teach them word recognition and spelling in Spanish to give students an appreciation for the culture of the Spanish speaking world Through group work and student-to-student dialogue, students in Sixth Grade Spanish are provided ample opportunity to learn to speak the language with more fluidity and greater accuracy in pronunciation. Whereas the Fifth Grade program is conducted with a predominately audio/visual/lingual approach and an introduction to the written language, students in Sixth Grade Spanish are expected to read and write all of the vocabulary that they learn to use orally. Students are presented with aspects of Spanish and Latin American culture through readings, projects, map study, videos, including the video component of their textual program and activities geared to their age level such as games, songs and skits. Seventh Grade Through repetition and audio-visual stimuli, students continue to learn basic conversational expressions and mannerisms inherent to everyday life in Spain and Latin America. As written material becomes more complex, grammatical structures and sentence patterns are observed and analyzed. Students have completed the text they began in Sixth Grade (Somos Así En Sus Marcas 1A) and continue the second level of this method (Somos Así En Sus Marcas 1B). One of the most important components of the program is the time spent on daily oral practice of new vocabulary. Along with all the listed grammatical structures, students are actively engaged in the memorization of a significant number of new words. Students must be able to use these words in context with accurate pronunciation and understanding. The most common forms of practice are student-student and teacher-student. Students will also occasionally group in larger groups for presentations and mini-skits as well as for poetry (Foreign Language Week). As students continue their pair and group oral/aural interaction, they become accustomed to fluent conversation. They could have individual evaluation on oral assignments, or they might receive a group grade at the end of a project. By working together, students learn to communicate more effectively and to share responsibility. By the end of this course, a student should be able to initiate and comprehend a simple conversation, write a paragraph in grammatically correct Spanish and have a firm understanding of the fundamental principles of the language. The primary grammatical structures covered in Seventh Grade Spanish are listed. All verbs are taught with their respective infinitives and conjugations, and students will be expected to know the gender and spelling of all nouns they learn. Eighth Grade This course follows the general description and methodology used in Sixth and Seventh Grade and are defined as the first part of Level Two Spanish with an emphasis on improving reading and writing skills as well as speaking. The program will provide the students with the ability to put together all previous knowledge of the language, thus becoming a much more challenging course of study. By the end of Eighth Grade, the students will have learned all the basic grammatical structures and vocabulary and will be able to use them in appropriate situations. Throughout the course, they are encouraged to use the language to express meaningful questions, responses, preferences and opinions to continue to develop oral-proficiency. By the end of this course, a student should be able to initiate and comprehend a conversation, write a paragraph in grammatically correct Spanish, and have a firm understanding of the fundamental principles of the language. The primary grammatical structures covered in Eighth Grade are the following: definite article with parts of the body reflexive verbs (in all tenses already studied) demonstrative pronouns the use of the impersonal “se” use of verbs after prepositions verbs normally used with an indirect object pronoun commands, affirmative, negative, singular and plural verbs “saber” and “conocer” verbs with spelling changes like “conocer” past tense, the imperfect, regular and irregular forms, spelling changes adjectives of nationalities the suffix “isimo” (a) vocabulary for basic conversational use: places to go and things to do, asking for service, letter writing, possessions, parts of the body, health, daily occupations, hygiene and personal care, types of vehicles, parts of car, car maintenance and foreign countries Ninth Grade The Ninth Grade Spanish Program is a continuation of the previous course, however, with a strong emphasis on improving reading and writing skills. Students learn more complex grammatical structures using previously acquired knowledge. Students are introduced to essay writing and begin to appreciate Spanish literature. At the end of this final level offered at East Woods, students will have a solid command of the main grammatical structures of the language. Ninth Grade students will read a series of short books, such as Pepe Rey reading series books and the students are expected to discuss and write short summaries. They will learn new vocabulary and grammar, be introduced to basic literary analysis, and their study skills will be expanded well beyond the level of simple comprehension. The primary grammatical structures covered in the Ninth Grade are the following: difference between the preterit and the imperfect tense prefixes exceptions to position of adjectives in the sentence adjectives used as nouns long form (or stressed) possessive adjectives possessive pronouns verbs “reír” and “freír” more irregular verbs in the preterit the imperfect progressive tense adverbs the subjunctive mode the subjunctive after expressions of doubt and uncertainty the subjunctive after certain prepositions and conjunctions the subjunctive and impersonal expressions the subjunctive and adverbial clauses the present perfect tense the verb “haber” + past participle the past participle as adjectives the past perfect tense the passive voice the formation and use of the future verb tense the formation and use of the conditional verb tense vocabulary: being helpful around the house, vacation and outdoor activities; the environment and its protection, going shopping and asking for services, travel, hotels and other places to stay when traveling, health and medical care, cities and city life, personal relationships, friendships, family life, universities studies and careers rooms of the house, furniture and appliances, lodging, travel documents, camping equipment, transportation, at the airport, on a plane and occupations. Culture: Spanish food and customs Mexico North America