I teach grade 4-8 Spanish here at Alexandria Middle School. The students have Spanish once every three days, in an 'A-B-C' rotation with PE & Health. 4th and 5th graders have class for 40 minutes, while 6-8th graders have a 50 minute class.
Each class begins with an activitiy called 'Conversamos!' ("Let's have a conversation!"), in which the students and teacher speak entirely in Spanish for 10-12 minutes based off the Question of the Day, which is an opinion-based questions such as 'Which do you prefer: cookies, ice cream, or fruit?' or 'Which do you like best: the spring, summer, or fall?' The students each respond to the question in Spanish, and then ask it to a classmate.
Next, we work on building listening skills. The students watch various videos entirely in Spanish, such as 'news' stories (such as a gorilla who learns sign language, a dog who works as a delivery person, etc.), people in Spain being interviewed on the street, or songs with cartoons to go along with them. Sometimes subtitles are used to help with understanding. The students have to perform some type of task while listening, such as making lists of familiar words or words they can guess the meaning in context, translation, or writing phrases/sentences they think were said in Spanish.
Last (after a short mask break, weather-permitting), the students will work independently in Google Classroom or the Spanish iXL program, and/or participate in a whole-class interactive Spanish game using the iPad/Chromebook and Smartboard.
Hasta luego!
