Curriculum

MADISON SIMIS CURRICULUM GUIDE FOR CALICO SPANISH

OVERVIEW

     Madison Simis Elementary School initiated their Spanish Program in the Fall of 2013. The school adopted a program called Calico Spanish, which is a complete Spanish Program that uses music, visual aids and fun activities to introduce young students to Spanish. All students in kindergarten through fourth grade receive  40 minutes of Spanish Classes per week with a full-time Spanish Teacher. 

 Program Goals 

     The purpose of the Calico Spanish Program is to expose the students to the language through visual aids, activities, songs, and mini-dramatizations and to use Spanish with the students as much as possible.

     The program is based on something known as the natural approach described by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen. In this type of learning students learn language only when they are exposed to messages in that language in which they can decipher and understand. The teacher regularly uses new words with the students along with visual cues, hand signals, repetition, and dramatizations so that students naturally start to grasp the meaning of the communication.

     The primary goal in this program is to develop the student’s receptive language skills. In other words, students will eventually begin to understand messages spoken to them in Spanish. Once students have a basic framework for understanding the language, they start to build their confidence in creating their own messages in the language. In this course students at first respond to Spanish and then begin creating their own simple sentences and communicate their own ideas in Spanish. This type of language comprehension is advocated by the program before any type of formal grammar instruction. In fact, Calico Spanish follows this approach and doesn’t focus on grammar. It is expected that once students complete Levels 1 and 2 of Calico Spanish they will then begin to formally study Spanish Grammar.

     The focus of the program is on comprehension. The teacher should be using Spanish as much as possible, but students should be allowed to ask questions in English. If the instructor is fluent, they should repeat questions back to students in Spanish and answer them in Spanish. The teacher should encourage the students to use what they are able in Spanish. Students shouldn’t be expected to be fluent or to immediately start using some of the vocabulary. 

   Students will need time to build these skills gradually and the focus should be more on understanding Spanish and practicing the pronunciation through all of the great songs, activities, reciting and repeating words from the calendar, and answering simple questions and providing simple answers.