The Spanish Class

The Pre/Early Readers Spanish program is designed for students who are in the beginning stages of building reading and writing skills in English. Students will learn Spanish through songs, movement, hands-on games, group story time, and practical conversational phrases that will build their vocabulary, starting with the basics and then advancing. Each vocabulary unit introduces interrelated words and phrases that build on each other, so that students are regularly reviewing previously-learned material and incorporating new words and phrases into what they already know. Our program also includes a literacy development component to promote early reading skills through developmentally appropriate activities. We will focus on letter sound recognition, rhyming patterns, sight words, and tracing and identifying words and short sentences in Spanish. Songs and music-based activities create a foundation for phonemic development, and accompanying posters and practice worksheets, as well as read-aloud story time, support early readers in building sound letter recognition and familiarity with print materials.

Research shows that the earlier children are exposed to the sounds of a language, the more likely they are to achieve near-native pronunciation and fluency. Young children are able to acquire the sounds and vocabulary of a new language, even as they progress in speaking and reading their native language. Once students become fluent readers in English, they will be assessed to determine which Beginner level 1-3 they will move to next.