| Term | |
| 1 | This term, students in prekindergarten learned several songs in the target language (Buenos días; Tengo hambre; Queremos bailar; Te amo; Adiós, amigos); were introduced to numerous stuffed animals from the Spanish room; practiced responding to action commands; listened to stories; and participated in class conversations. Because the class is 100% immersion, each student picks up different vocabulary each day, and may or may not share those words at home. Please keep in mind that the focus at this stage is comprehension—any verbal production is going above and beyond! Gracias for a great quarter. |
| 2 | This term, students in prekindergarten practiced singing songs in the target language and responding to new action commands. They also listened to increasingly creative class stories involving Adventures in Stuffed Animal World. For example: once, the ever- mischievous Pato managed to get stuck in-between the windowpane and the screen, and complained for days afterwards about how cold he still was; after surviving that drama, he built a pulley-system to learn how to fly properly (as young ducks ought to), but ended up making a rocket ship to aid in the process; next, he brought a snowball to class but couldn’t understand why it kept getting smaller and smaller; and one day, he even started speaking in English to make sure that everyone was paying attention! It should be noted that he now has VISA (Very-Important-Stuffed-Animal) status as a newly inducted member of the Wishing Well, complete with photo. [That said, taking attendance led to an interesting philosophical conversation about the Smartboard—if you are there on the board, then who is in front of me? Zoikes!] In addition to imaginative stories and class conversations, pre-kindergarteners also worked on several mini-projects (with shapes, animals, index cards, glue, dominoes, and cards), and continued building their vocabularies at an impressive rate. Gracias for another fantastic quarter! |
| 3&4 | This semester, students in prekindergarten built the night sky—size-appropriate for stuffed animals—out of glow-in-the-dark moon and star stickers on blue paper; chose a stuffed animal to cuddle with under a huge blanket/manta; had the class electrician/electricista turn off the lights; whispered buenas noches/goodnight to their peers; and then pretended to fall asleep as they listened to Pato sing Estrellita (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star). When the sun rose, students stretched, chatted, and then started the bedtime routine all over again! They also met Stan, the pet dog of Pato—“Why is he named Stan, Pato?” “Because he speaks Stan-ish!”—and played a few sports games together. In addition, students spent a week decorating their very own mini-piñatas; read Corre, perro, corre (Go, Dog, Go) and several David Shannon books, among many others; classified and sorted toys by color and size; and even ventured outside (yes, Spanish exists there, too!). Gracias for a fabulous year. |
La cueva de español 