River Valley School District Curriculum

Course name: Exploratory Spanish

Credit(s) or Grade Level: 7th grade

Academic Standards: DPI      ACTFL

Prerequisite(s): None

Course Description: Exploratory Spanish is a nine week course taken in 7th grade. Students will be introduced to the Spanish language, conversation, and culture. Through a series of units and projects, students will obtain beginning knowledge in the area of Spanish including cultural aspects of Spanish-speaking people.

Units:

Duration:

Essential Learning/Outcomes:

Introduction: Basic Questions, Cognates, and the Alphabet

2 weeks

• Students will learn and practice the expectations of Spanish class.
• Students will learn questions in Spanish that will help them in the classroom.
• Students will compare the English and Spanish words using cognates.
• Students will learn the alphabet in Spanish and compare it with English.

Numbers

1 week

• Students will learn numbers 1-30 in Spanish.
• Students will practice saying their phone number.
• Students will practice simple math problems in Spanish.
• Students will learn about the exchange rate.
• Students will learn about Mexican pesos and compare them to US currency.

Colors

1 week

• Students will learn colors in Spanish.
• Students will be able to say what their favorite color is in Spanish.
• Students will learn about Frida Kahlo’s life and her artwork.
• Students will analyze Frida Kahlo’s artwork.

Basic Conversation & Classroom Supplies

1 week

• Students will learn and use greetings and goodbyes.
• Students will learn how to ask someone else’s name and tell them their own name in Spanish.
• Students will learn how to ask how someone is along with some emotion words for response.
• Students will learn how to say how old they are in Spanish.
• Students will learn how to say when their birthday is in Spanish.
• Students will learn classroom supply words in Spanish.
• Students will learn about Quinceañeras.

Animals

1 week

• Students will identify animals in Spanish.
• Students will identify where animals live in Spanish.
• Students will learn how to describe animals in Spanish.
• Students will learn about alebrijes.

Country Project

2 weeks

• Students will research a Spanish speaking country.
• Students will make a Google Slideshow about what they learned.
• Students will present what they learned about the country to the class.

“Living on One Dollar a Day”

1 week

• Students will watch the documentary “Living on One Dollar a Day”.
• Students will compare the experiences of the people in the documentary with their own experiences.
• Students will explore what poverty looks like around the world.
• Students will learn about life in Guatemala.