Instructional Practices

Conversational Spanish instruction is proficiency-oriented. This means that there is a greater focus on meaningful and purposeful authentic communication rather than on grammatical mastery. Students are encouraged first to understand and then to produce in the language. 

When teaching Conversational Spanish, practices should focus on maintaining students’ oral fluency, cultural identity, and confidence in both languages, while scaffolding toward English. 

Instruction is consistently conducted in Spanish to expose students to the language and culture as much as possible. The Spanish language is used by both teachers and students! 

Comprehension of content is made possible through the usage of non-verbal cues such as gestures, mime, role-play, visuals, realia, intonation, and body language. Content is presented in real-life and content-related contexts. 

Language acquisition is fostered by communicative tasks including games, songs, rhymes, chants, and other hands-on activities. 

Instruction is differentiated and scaffolded in such a way that learners become increasingly confident and independent when understanding and speaking in Spanish. Instruction is age-level appropriate, taking into consideration the level of language experience, as well as student interest. Lessons are designed to address diverse learning styles and needs.

Teachers will use a variety of highly effective language instructional practices to help their students engage, practice and communicate in the Spanish language daily.