Spanish
More about the Spanish program
Students at MSA are required to take Spanish and pass each year according to the flowchart. The purpose of this six-year program is to form a strong basis of the Spanish language. The learning includes grammar, vocabulary, writing, literature, conversation, and culture. Students will leave MSA with a strong background in Spanish to help them in their college studies.
Students in 8th through 11th grade who are new to MSA and have not taken any Spanish courses will be placed into High School Spanish I.
Students with previous Spanish experience coming to MSA will take a placement test to determine a starting level and follow the flow chart from there. This does not apply to incoming 6th graders who have had Spanish approximately once a week throughout elementary school but Spanish immersion students and native speakers will take the placement test. Students need to follow the flowchart based on the benchmarks at MSA. For example, this means they may have taken a class called “Spanish II” at another school that is not the equivalent of our Spanish II because we start Spanish in 6th grade and have different course names. This student may still take MSA Spanish I based on the placement test.
Exceptions
A 6th grade student who has gone through the immersion program may take a placement test and has the potential to start in Middle School Spanish IA, Middle School Spanish IB, or MSA Spanish II depending on their score. This student would follow an accelerated path until they exhaust the Spanish program at MSA and be required to maintain a B- to stay at the accelerated pace.
A middle school student who gets below a C- will repeat the same course the following year. New 7th grade students in Middle School Spanish IA that get below a C- will take High School Spanish I in 8th grade.
Required Courses
Middle School Spanish IA
6th Grade
This course is the first year of Spanish. It will include grammar, vocabulary, writing, listening, speaking, and cultural skills. Students will learn the basics of Spanish such as the alphabet, greetings, conjugation of verbs in the present tense as well as likes, dislikes, descriptive words, school and class schedules, and family vocabulary. Some cultural aspects of Spain and Mexico will be introduced.
Middle School Spanish IB
7th Grade
This course is the second year of Spanish. It will include grammar, vocabulary, writing, listening, speaking, and cultural skills. Students will learn basic communication discussing sports, places people go, weather forecasts, vacations, clothing, and shopping. Students will focus on mastering the present tense and learn regular verbs in the past tense. Students will also read a short novel and do discussions in Spanish. Some cultural aspects of Mexico, Spain, and Latin America will be introduced.
High School Spanish I
8th-12th Grade
This course is for students new to MSA is grades 8-12 with little to no Spanish experience. It will cover information from Middle School Spanish IA & IB to prepare students for Spanish II. Topics include grammar, vocabulary, writing, listening, speaking and cultural skills. Students will learn greetings, present and past tense, verbs, likes, dislikes, school, family, description, sports, weather, vacation, clothing and shopping vocabulary. Culture from various Spanish-speaking countries will be introduced.
High School Spanish II
8th-12th Grade
This course is the third year of Spanish. It will include grammar, vocabulary, writing, listening, speaking, and cultural skills. Students will learn to communicate about travel, sports, daily routines, shopping, myths and legends, and childhood experiences. The present, past, present progressive and imperfect tenses will be covered. Traditions and folklore from Mexico, Central America, South America, and Puerto Rico will be presented.
High School Spanish III
High School
This course is the fourth year of Spanish. It will include grammar, vocabulary, writing, listening, speaking, and cultural skills. Students will learn to communicate about food/cooking, making movies, technology, news, problem-solving, family relationships, and the environment. The present subjunctive, imperative, comparatives and superlatives, por and para, and impersonal expressions will be taught in this course. Traditions and folklore from Central America, the Dominican Republic, Spain, and the United States will be presented.
High School Spanish IV
High School
This course is the fifth year of Spanish. It emphasizes the use of the language for active communication. It will include grammar, vocabulary, writing, listening, speaking, reading and cultural skills. The subjunctive mood will be continued in this course. Students will learn to communicate about the outdoors, volunteering, the future of our planet, and heroes. Grammar will include a review of previous content, the present subjunctive will be continued in this course, and the conditional tense will be added. Traditions and folklore from Mexico, areas of the US, Central America, and the Caribbean will be presented.
High School Spanish V
High School
This is the sixth year of Spanish. Students will continue to advance their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in the target language as well as their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. Students will develop their understanding of the language and culture through the analysis of Hispanic literature. They will be able to communicate in Spanish about communication and organization, leisure time, the past and future, and literature. Grammar will include a review of previous concepts and the addition of the perfect tenses, progressive tenses, and other subjunctive tenses. Traditions and folklore from Bolivia, 33 Ecuador, Peru, Spain, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay will be presented.