The Little Chute Area School District’s goal is for students to acquire the Spanish language. When you learned how to speak your first language, you acquired it naturally by listening to other people speak it around you for a long time; not by studying it. We will not be solely memorizing verb charts and vocabulary lists to regurgitate on a test, but actually using Spanish. Therefore, much of our class time will be spent using and interpreting Spanish--not using English to talk about Spanish--and the focus will be on listening and reading more than speaking and writing. Those skills will come naturally as you take in more and more Spanish by listening and reading.
Little Chute Area School District’s Spanish coursework is based on the Comprehensible Input approach, which means that students will receive messages and communication from the teacher or other sources that are understandable to them in the target language. We will use a variety of methods and strategies to provide students with a rich exposure to language in meaningful and entertaining contexts, from storytelling, to authentic audio and video, to games, to current events and more.
It is important to note that world language coursework if founded in basic literacy skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) that are vital to any student’s success post-high school. In addition, research shows that world language students enjoy improved standardized test scores, are able to think divergently, and have a better understanding of their first language.