Mary Munford Elementary Spanish Program

Mary Munford Elementary Spanish Program Overview

FLES, the Foreign Language in Elementary School was developed to be a progression from Kindergarten through Fifth Grade. At the end of the fifth grade students will take a Placement Test. It is hoped that many of them will move into directly Spanish 1 in sixth grade.

Kindergarten, grades one, two and three are intended to be primarily enrichment, with emphasis on vocabulary and simple conversation. Grades four & five must move to rigor, including speaking, reading, writing, verbal comprehension and some grammar.

Program Goals

To achieve linguistic fluency and cultural understanding is a long-term endeavor, requiring experiences beyond classroom setting. Within the scope of the level study, students will be able to perform with reasonable success in each of the following areas:

Communicate in Spanish Students function in a variety of practical settings using listening, speaking, reading and writing skills as well as knowledge of the Hispanic culture.

Understand other cultures Students demonstrate an understanding of traditions, customs and cultural contributions and how these elements relate to language.

Connect with other disciplines and acquire information Students connect information about the language and culture they are learning with concepts studied in other subject areas.

Develop insight into their own language and culture Students recognize, compare and contrast language concepts as well as cultural beliefs, practices and products.

Participate in the global community Students use Spanish to communicate with speakers of that language at home and around the world, to improve their own communication skills and to enhance their view of themselves as citizens of the world.

The Curriculum

Students participate in a curriculum that supports Virginia Standards of learning and the National Foreign Language Standards. FLES instruction is proficiency–oriented. This means that there is a greater focus on meaningful communication than on grammatical structure. Students are encouraged to first understand and then to produce in the language. Through out the lesson, students and teachers use Spanish as much as possible.

Each subsequent school year, teachers will build on the previous year’s curriculum adding greater detail, rigor and breath. Curriculum for the First Nine weeks

We will post these documents by Grade on the Munford Spanish Website. Parents and Staff are encouraged to use the curriculum to help students reinforce the Spanish that they are learning in class.