Sp 1 Para Empezar- the first chapter

We are working in our first chapter of the book, called Para Empezar, or To begin with.  So far in this chapter student have learned/are learning : Conversation (Greeting, How are you?, What is your name?, Nice to meet you, Goodbye) Classroom commands, numbers, time, body parts, school supplies, alphabet, calendar, and weather.  They should know how to spell, say and write these words and know where the accents go (only on certain words).  

Our first assessment is August 25 over conversation & numbers.  Our second assessment is September 1 over all vocab and grammar concepts in the chapter- it is a chapter test!

Students should have the following workbook pages finished: CP 1-6 by the first assessment and CP 7-12 by the second assessment.  These will be DUE before the chapter test. 

There are also additional pages from the GP side that we will do in class &/or for homework dealing with vocabulary, pronunciation, & flashcards.  They can work on any of these for extra practice GP 1-24. 

Happy Studying!

Tips for Studying and Learning Spanish

Parents and Students,

I've received a lot of questions about how to best learn a language and down the road improve scores from 1's and 2's to 3's and 4's.  Learning a language is hard and will take lots of work.  This is most likely the first time you will be challenged and your parents probably can't help you.  You will need to learn to self-advocate for help, ask questions, and get advice.  Here are some suggestions:

*Parents- please read over the letter in the inside cover of the workbook on the GP side that gives some ideas for creating work habits and study routines for learning a language, and also provides a list of webcodes to review for each chapter.

*Students should be spending 10-30 minutes a night on homework every night.  This is mostly workbook pages.  These are graded 1-2 days before every chapter test.  If they cannot be completed the night they are assigned (extreme circumstances), they need to be done the next night or over the weekend.  They will be checked at the end of the first week for completion, and if not done, students will come to Lunch Bunch to complete these pages (during lunch that day or the next).

*In addition, students should be spending ANOTHER 10-45 minutes a night reviewing the chapter's vocabulary, grammar concepts and overall themes of the chapter. 

They can do this in a variety of ways...

1. Make flashcards from index cards- the first few times they go through them looking at Spanish and saying or writing the English.  After 2-5 times doing this, they should be looking at English and producing Spanish in both speaking and especially writing.

2. Fill out the GP side of the workbook which includes picture flashcards, 2 column vocab checks, and detailed notes and more practice on the grammar concepts for each chapter.

3. Visit the websites that are linked up to my school website- the textbook one, Conjuguemos, Quizlet, Slampost

4. Visit the website www.conjuguemos.com to practice the chapter's vocab, grammar and verbs through activities.  This is ESPECIALLY helpful a night or two before the test.  Do the activities until you are getting 90% and 60 attempts/words. Hit record send to me.

5. Visit the website www.quizlet.com to practice the chapter's vocab through flashcards, games, activities and tests.  This is linked up through my website.  Remember, however that NOT all the words are on this website, so be sure to look in the textbook!

6. Visit the website www.phschool.com to practice the chapter's vocab, verbs and grammar concepts with webcodes that are listed through the chapter in the textbook or the front of the workbook.

7. Listen to the pronunciation of the vocab either provided through the Realidades 1 textbook- linked through my website- Audio Files, or on the quizlet website- linked up through each chapter.  By listening to pronunciation, this helps with spelling in Spanish.

8. Ask questions in class, if you don't understand something ask me, I’m here to help!!

9. Write out each vocab word 10 times until you can spell it correctly without looking.

10. Draw a picture dictionary for your chapter’s vocab words.

Right from the start students need to figure out what works for them.  Now is the time to develop study habits, ways to study and get the results desired.  Since these quizzes are basically Spanish spelling tests, the students need to be able to spell correctly and have memorized the vocab words at the end of each chapter- to be able to produce in writing.  This is the way to succeed. 

Students- Figure out the way you memorize and learn materials and keep trying things until you get the score desired.  Learning a language is a full body experience.  You need to embrace listening to it, speaking it, movement with vocab and writing it as many times as needed until you understand and successfully produce it.  Use the language as much as possible, in as many ways as possible, to learn it-- make connections!