Spanish for You! and National Standards for Learning Spanish

Spanish for You! is a curriculum designed to build foundations in the Spanish language for learners in grades 3 through 8. Students learn vocabulary useful in everyday life, verbs and present tense conjugation**, and grammar concepts as components of language they can put together in different ways to speak, read, and write in Spanish. Through the methods of the curriculum they learn about syntax and pronunciation as well.

** Some packages also teach compound verb structures – acabar de, tener que, ir a, etc. and one teaches regular preterite conjugation.

Spanish for You! is designed to provide students with the opportunity to learn how the language works and use it skillfully. It is designed using a simple, focused approach for maximum language learning within the limited time and budget constraints of organizations, schools, and families.

We, Spanish for You!, have reviewed our curriculum against the national standards for learning Spanish as provided by ACTFL, and conclude to the best of our ability the following with regard to how the curriculum meets those standards. We do not claim responsibility in our evaluation for any standard that your school or organization may interpret as not having been met.

Communication – Goal One – Communicate in Spanish

Standards 1.1 – meets this standard
Standards 1.2 – partially meets this standard – see note below
Standards 1.3 – meets this standard

1.2 Note: Materials created for native Spanish speakers are not presented in the curriculum. However, the curriculum does provide ample time opportunities for teachers to be able to supplement with these types of materials in conjunction with the Spanish for You! lessons.

Cultures- Goal Two – Gain Knowledge and Understanding of the Cultures of the World

Standards 2.1 – partially meets this standard – see note below
Standards 2.2 – partially meets this standard – see note below

2.1 and 2.2 Notes: Spanish for You! is sold in school-year-long themed packages. Students complete themes rather than levels. Our 6 themed packages are: Mi vida, Conversaciones, Estaciones, Verbos, Viajes, and Fiestas. It is our Viajes and Fiestas themed packages that meet this standard.

The other themed packages focus on the students’ lives and do not connect to other cultures; however, the packages are designed to provide you ample time in the school year to easily supplement with cultural materials.

For example, one unit in the Mi vida theme is Mi casa. It would be very easy while doing this unit with your students to incorporate in the types of homes in which children from other Spanish speaking countries live. Students would be able to speak, read, and write about homes from other countries using the vocabulary, verbs, and grammar concepts they learn in this unit.

Connections- Goal Three – Connect with Other Disciplines and Acquire Information

Standards 3.1 – meets this standard
Standards 3.2 – does not meet this standard, although teachers can supplement with print and non-print media that is only available in Spanish at any time he/she sees a fit in the curriculum sequence.

Comparisons- Goal Four- Develop Insight into the Nature of Language and Culture

Standards 4.1 – meets this standard
Standards 4.2 – partially meets this standard as per notes provided in Cultures Goal 2 above.

Communities- Goal Five- Participate in Communities at Home and Around the World

Standards 5.1 – meets this standard as per note below
Standards 5.2 – may meet this standard as per note below

5.1 Note: Spanish for You! is designed to be hands-on and interactive providing students with opportunities to use their language skills with others at home or outside the home with the interactive activities provided. Those activities do not directly instruct the student to use them with Spanish speakers, but can be used by parents or teachers to accomplish this.

The curriculum content is designed to be useful in everyday life allowing learners to use their language skills outside the home with Spanish speakers such as when visiting an Hispanic restaurant or store, visiting a Spanish speaking country, etc.

5.2 Note: This standard is met with our Viajes or Fiestas themed packages. If using another of our themes, then the teacher would want to supplement with an activity and incorporate the Spanish for You! material to initiate that enrichment action.

CONCLUDING NOTES:

The various Spanish for You! themes teach students a variety of content with no single theme covering every aspect of every standard specific.

For example, talking about likes and dislikes using “gustar” and “encantar” does not appear in every school-year-long theme package. Although learning to ask and answer either/or questions to ask about and show preference is present in all the themes.

Spanish for You! themed packages are intended each to be used over a school year. Each theme is provided with 24 weeks of lessons for grades 5-8 and 30 weeks for grades 3-4.

We provide teachers with information on how to easily fill those extra weeks in their school year with little or no cost. It is those extra weeks where teachers can:

• supplement with cultural material if they are not using one of our themes that contains the cultural element
• supplement with authentic literature, television, visual media, videos, etc. that they believe fit their students’ needs most appropriately
• do expansion activities using the material the students have been learning, such as writing and performing skits or dialogues, create oral presentations, writing songs to commonly known tunes, etc. There are instances in the different themed packages when students do these types of activities, but you are able to expand even more if you choose.
• learn to speak, read, and write about major holidays, such as Thanksgiving, as well as holidays in other countries.

30-Day Money Back Guarantee from date of purchase on homeschool and teacher themed packages. If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please e-mail us at support@spanish-for-you.net. We will give you instructions for returning the book from your package. Upon its receipt, we will provide a full refund.