Spanish I

Teacher: Matthew Zoeller, and Rachel Andersen
Textbook: Cuentame Más by Carol Gaab and Kristy Placido
Length/Credit: 1 year, 1 credit
Course Description: Spanish I starts with the assumption that students know little to no Spanish coming into the class. Using the methodology of Comprehensible Input, students are comfortably engaged in precise and intentional comprehensible communication with the teacher, resources, and each other. The class develops a solid foundation of familiarity with the highest frequency verbs in both written and spoken Spanish.

Units

• Memory: 10 Commandments, The Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 28:19-20
• Preliminary 1: introduction and basic description verbs, interrogatives
• Preliminary 2: parts of the body, school-specific and high-frequency functional verbs
• Preliminary 3: emotions, high frequency functional verbs
• Chapter 1.1- 1.3: 3rd person singular and plural present tense, high-frequency verbs
• Chapter 2.1- 4.3: present and past tense, high-frequency verbs, location phrases

Spanish II

Teacher: Megan Obermueller
Textbook: Bex, Martina. SOMOS, The Comprehensible Classroom, 2019. and Bex, Martina. SOMOS Flex, The Comprehensible Classroom, 2020.
Course Length: 1 year/1 credit
Course Description: Spanish II builds on the foundation of Spanish I, which develops a strong foundation in high frequency structures in Spanish. Students are engaged in strategies that provide a wealth of Spanish language input - both written and spoken - that is both comprehensible and compelling. Through CI, Comprehensible Input, the student will read and listen to stories, co-create stories, watch short film clips, read current events, discuss our daily lives and interests, play games, listen to songs, explore Spanish-speaking culture, and make connections to the christian faith and worldview. A large percentage of the input is guided to be in indicative present and past tense, though exposure to the subjunctive and other forms will also naturally occur.

• Intro Unit: review of question words and high frequency verbs from Spanish 1
• Unit 1*: El lobo hambriento
• Unit 2: Los deportes
• Unit 3: El cortejo y El chico del apartamento
• Unit 4: Los niños prisioneros de Bolivia
• Unit 5: La Guerra Sucia
• Unit 6: El Gaucho
• Unit 7: La inmigración
• Unit 8: Biblioburro
• Unit 9: El crimen
• Unit 10: Una aventura de camping
• Unit 11: Los tres cerditos
• Unit 12 (optional): El camino de Santiago

*In the SOMOS curriculum, these units are listed as Unit 10 through 23.

Major structures/grammatical features highlighted during this course:

• High-frequency Spanish words and phrases
• Present progressive
• Present tense
• Near future
• Past tense (preterite and imperfect)
• Reflexive vs. non-reflexive verbs
• Direct object pronouns
• Indirect object pronouns
• Ser vs. Estar

Spanish III

Teacher: Noah Schilling
Textbook: Cuentame Mucho by Carol Gaab and Kristy Placido
Course Description: Spanish III builds off of the foundations set in Spanish I and II. Using interviews, students will learn how to get to know someone in the target language. Reading will be a major focus, as we will read 2 novels in the target language, as well as mini-readings throughout the majority of the year. Students will learn about the Dominican Republic through a cultural unit. Culture will be emphasized throughout the year, and especially during the Locura del Marzo (March Madness) unit, which focuses on current music and various latin artists. Various tenses will be used throughout the year, although not exclusively taught (including preterite, imperfect, subjunctive, conditional, present perfect). Students will keep a running personal vocab list of any words they find helpful as well.

• Persona Especial (Special Person) Interviews: Will give students practical experience describing people in various tenses (present, imperfect, present perfect, and subjunctive)
• Chapter 1A-1D: Useful locomotive action verbs in past tense
• Chapter 2A-2D: Practical learning around driving a vehicle, as well as communicating desires (subjunctive) and the conditional tense.
• “Felipe Alou: Desde las valles a las montañas¨: Cultural mini-novel allowing students to contrast life in the US and life in the Dominican Republic. Uses target language to connect with history, race issues, current events, and culture.
• ¨Mi Vida Loca¨: Uses virtual trip to Spain to learn practical communication skills when traveling. Locura de Marzo: This unit is all about music! Students will learn popular Spanish songs and present a song and artist to the class!

Spanish IV

Teacher: Matthew Zoeller
Texbook: La Vida y Muerte en la Marasalvatrucha by Anonymous, Los Ojos de Carmen by Verónica Moscoso, Vector by Carrie Toth
Length/Credit: 1 year, 1 credit
Prerequisite: Spanish III and Department Consent
Course Description: Students in the fourth year of Spanish will be assumed to have a good understanding and relative fluency in the language. While still using the methodology of comprehensible input, there will be more time in Spanish IV that is dedicated to specific grammatical concepts; both simple and complex. In that regard it will more resemble a college level course and prepare students who plan to continue in linguistic pursuits of any kind. Student grades will be based more on projects and presentations than in previous years. Grammatical material will include a mastery of all previous tenses, as well was some more complex ones like conditional and future perfect, imperfect subjunctive, and passive voice. This is not an AP class.

Units

• Memory: Juan 15:5-7, Romanos 8:28, Josué 1:9, Salmos 23, Santiago 4:14-15, Filipenses 4:6-7,
• Present Perfect, Preterite Past Participles (regular and irregular)
• Los Ojos de Carmen, Conditional tense (regular and irregular)
• Future tense (regular and irregular)
• Imperfect subjunctive + conditional
• Perfect subj. + conditional perfect
• Silent Sustained Reading

Spanish V

Instructor: Rachel Andersen
Textbook: Rumbos: Curso intermedio de español by Jill Pellettieri, Norma López-Burton, Robert Hershberger, Rafael Gómez, and Susan Navey-Davis
Length/Credit: 1 year, 1 credit
Course Description: Spanish V focuses on developing fluency and giving students the skills necessary to use Spanish in their communities. It also gives students the groundwork to succeed in Spanish at the college level if they choose to continue studying it after high school. Each chapter features work with vocabulary and grammar, as well as time focused on reading, writing, speaking, listening, translating, and interpreting.

Units

• Chapter 1: Review of present indicative, differences between ser, estar, tener, and haber, noun/adjective agreement
• Chapter 2: Preterite vs. imperfect, saber vs. conocer
• Chapter 3: Por and para, reflexive verbs, superlative adjectives
• Chapter 4: Present subjunctive, uses of se, passive voice
• Chapter 5: Direct and indirect object pronouns, verbs like gustar
• Chapter 6: Future tense, conditional tense, commands
• Chapter 7: Subjunctive in adjectival and adverbial clauses, perfect preterite
• Chapter 8: Imperfect subjunctive, relative pronouns, pluperfect tense
• Chapter 9: Present perfect subjunctive, pluperfect subjunctive, future perfect tense
• Chapter 10: Actions in progress, review of all tenses Translation project: Luther’s Small Catechism

Mandarin I

Teacher: Yue Zhang
Textbook: Integrated Chinese Level 1, Part 1
Length/Credit: 1 year, 1 credit
Course Description: Mandarin I is an introductory course to the Chinese language. Emphasis
will be placed on pronunciation, conversation skills, and oral communication skills. Through
comprehensible input, students will become familiar with basic conversation skills in both past
and present tense, as well gain familiarity with basic orthographic elements of the language. 

Units

• Introduction to the Chinese culture and Mandarin Pronunciation
• Chapter 1: Exchange basic greetings; Basic question and statement sentences order
• grammar
• Chapter 2: Introduce family members and occupations.
• Chapter 3: Numbers, time and date
• Chapter 4: Hobbies and make plans for weekends with friends
• Chapter 5: Visiting friends and entertaining visitors

Mandarin II

Teacher: Yue Zhang
Textbook: Integrated Chinese Level 1, Part 1
Length/Credit: 1 year, 1 credit
Course Description: Mandarin II is designed to increase a student’s comfort level, character
recognition, and linguistic proficiency with the Chinese language. The fundamental skills of
listening, speaking, reading, and writing will be further developed. The course focus will be
balanced between communicative content and the structure and form of the language. Students
are expected to be active participants in language acquisition.

Prerequisite: Mandarin I and Department Consent

Units:

• Chapter 1: Making appointments and phone calls
• Chapter 2: Discuss how to learn Chinese
• Chapter 3: School life and daily routing; write dairy and vlog in Mandarin
• Chapter 4: Shopping
• Chapter 5: Transportation vocabulary 

Mandarin III

Teacher: Yue Zhang

Textbook: Integrated Chinese Level 1, Part 2

Length/Credit: 1 year, 1 credit

Course Description: Mandarin III is a continuation of course work accomplished in Mandarin II.  Students will use the target language in class for communication, reading, writing, translating, and presentation.  Besides continuous learning of the target language, the rich Chinese culture and history will be introduced and explored.

Prerequisite:   Mandarin II and Department Consent

Units

• Chapter 1: Talking about weather and compare weather in two places or different times
• Chapter 2: Dining and Chinese food
• Chapter 3: Asking directions and talking about places of interest
• Chapter 4: Birthday party and Chinese zodiac
• Chapter 5: Seeing a doctor and easy Medical vocabulary

Mandarin IV

Teacher: Yue Zhang

Textbook: Integrated Chinese Level 1, Part 2

Length/Credit: 1 year, 1 credit

Course Description: Mandarin IV is designed to enable students to consolidate and expand conversational usage and grammatical and cultural knowledge encountered in prior courses in the sequence. This course will continue to improve students’ reading, listening, speaking and writing abilities. Combined with introducing Chinese culture and history and by using lots of hands-on activities and games, this course will continue to bring students lots of fun. 

Prerequisite:   Mandarin III and Department Consent

Units

• Chapter 1: Dating
• Chapter 2: Renting an apartment and names of furniture
• Chapter 3: Talking about sports and games
• Chapter 4: Travel and talking about your plans
• Chapter 5: At the airport and train station

Mandarin V

Teacher: Yue Zhang

Textbook: Integrated Chinese 3

Length/Credit: 1 year, 1 credit

Course Description: Mandarin V is a continuation course of Mandarin IV. Students will be able to express orally more in-depth and write by using a range of accurate and advanced vocabulary (like Proverb and verse). Students will also be able to state or discuss opinions with confidence. This course will continue to introduce more Chinese history and regionally culture. Besides, some Chinese history related games will be brought into class to help students strengthen impression and stimulate interest. 

Prerequisite:   Mandarin IV and Department Consent