Spanish 1 for 8th Grade Students

For the 2016-2017 school year we have an opportunity to offer Spanish to our incoming 8^th grade students.  Due to the addition of a full time French teacher last year, students are a little more spread out than previously in the language department at the high school.  With this, we are able to free up one Spanish teacher from the high school to teach for two hours at the middle school.  The School Board at their May 4th meeting approved a proposal to offer Spanish classes at the middle school for high school credit (a Language Arts grade of “B” or better plus teacher recommendation will be required),

Some advantages to adding this program include:

• ·         Earlier introduction of a foreign language to our students
• ·         Allows students the possibility of the time to take more than one language at high school
• ·         Progresses our goal to “Develop a district-wide world languages program”- Strategic Plan Goal #5
• ·         Students who successfully complete the course will fulfill a high school credit
• ·         Provides a transition to the high school by having a high school teacher at the middle school
• ·         Provides 8^th grade students with some school choice (as they will have in high school)
• ·         Students will still be able to choose band as an option

Some disadvantages are:

• ·         Not all 8^th grade students will be able to take Spanish (there will be room for 2 classes)
• ·         The teacher will need to travel between schools

Here is how this will work. The high school Spanish Classes will be held from 8:00-9:30 at the middle school.  Students rotate days for Unified Arts classes and this class will work in the same way.

Our current 7^th grade students will have an option to choose 6 out of 8 Unified Arts classes for their 8th grade year.  Those students who are in Spanish 1 will have this class for the entire year (not just one semester as they do for Unified Arts classes).

I am so pleased we are able to do this for our students.  Learning a foreign language has been shown to  increase student knowledge, provide cultural awareness, and boost creativity and self-confidence. Please look for information about this opportunity that will be sent home soon from the middle school.