Welcome to the World Language corner of Mountain Song Community School!
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Our Programs
Our students currently attend Spanish class twice a week. Our focus is on the cultural aspects and spirit of the Spanish language. We aim to familiarize students with the Spanish language through developmentally appropriate stories, songs, activities, and art. Our classes are structured following the concept of "head,heart,hands".
Classes
Lower Grades | 1-4
In Waldorf methods tradition, the focus is on building relationships with students and their grades teachers in a “go slow” approach. We begin each class with a verse, are called to circle with a song, and given requests in Spanish. Learners are invited and exposed to Spanish language through verse, song, story, games, role-playing, hands-on art, and cultural exposure. Through these activities, we explore greetings, simple conversational vocabulary, the alphabet, vowel and consonant sounds and pronunciation. Students are also engaged in learning activities about numbers, colors, geography, nature, animals, family, the body, foods, seasons, and the weather. Classes are structured so that there is no need to translate, and the teacher does so only if a child asks for a meaning. Group recitation is the norm, but the children are slowly encouraged to speak and answer questions individually. Most work is done orally, and everything that is learned and memorized forms the basis for later, more formal, language lessons. Students are also introduced to the concept of creating and maintaining a Spanish main lesson notebook.
Upper Grades 5-7
In grades 5-7, the children begin to learn to write in Spanish by writing down the poems, stories, and dialogues presented to them in the earlier grades. It is essentially the task of these grades to learn to read the foreign language, to be able to do simple dictation, and to write answers to questions that have first been dealt with orally in a living way. As reading and writing skills grow, the teacher draws attention to such things as grammatical details and spelling rules. Students are responsible for creating a Spanish main lesson notebook. Students are guided through artistic perfomances and renditions of Spanish inspired music, song, and art.
