Transcript Acquire, Develop, Learn

Acquire, Develop, Learn
®
How age-appropriate elementary Spanish curriculum connects students
to the world, inspires them to be life-long language learners, and
engages their natural ability to learn.
Acquire, Develop, Learn
®
The Acquire, Develop, Learn methodology provides students with an
age-appropriate and comprehensive Spanish language education—they
become effective Spanish communicators, globally literate citizens, and
life-long language learners.
Acquire
• Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the
capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce
and use words and sentences to communicate.
• Children do this naturally without having to “learn” language.
• Developmentally, children have the natural ability to do this with a
second language too.
Children’s Natural Ability to Acquire Language
Dr. Wilder Penfield
• Uncommitted cortex is a blank slate, designated for language-learning.
• Children cannot learn language in the “classical method”, i.e. grammar,
memorization, and translation.
• Suggests using the “mother’s method.”
Dr. Patricia Kuhl
• The Linguistic Genius of Babies
• Babies learn language by listening to the humans around them.
• Findings suggest that natural language acquisition is a social function of the
brain i.e. it takes live human interaction for effective language acquisition to
take place. Stay human!
• Both suggest that there is a critical period for second language
acquisition after which natural acquisition becomes more difficult.
Sonrisas Level I: Do age-appropriate activities
that support language acquisition
• Music and verse (TPR)
• Games, role-play, and drama (TPR)
• Calendar activities
• Reading authentic literature
• Art projects
Sonrisas Level I
• Music and verse
• Games, role-play, and drama
• Calendar activities
• Reading authentic literature
• Art projects
Sonrisas Level I
• Music and verse
• Games, role-play, and drama
• Reading authentic literature
• Art projects
Develop
• To develop is to expand by a process of growth.
• What processes of growth do we implement in order to expand
students’ second language acquisition?
• Students are bridging two very different developmental stages: from
an imaginative, experiential early childhood mode of learning to a
more concrete, systematic adolescent mode of learning.
• While they are bigger than young learners, developmentally they still
have a lot in common.
• Activities must change to support this transition.
Sonrisas Level II: Continue age-appropriate
acquisition activities and add new,
developmentally-appropriate activities that
expand acquisition.
CONTINUE:
ADD:
• Music and verse (TPR)
• Games, role-play, and drama (TPR)
• Calendar activities
• Reading authentic literature
• Art projects
• Thematic Units
• More complex language concepts
• Partner Time = three modes of
communication
• More independent reading and
writing
Sonrisas Level II
Thematic Units
•
Organizing units thematically provides
opportunity to engage students in more complex
and sophisticated thinking and language use.
•
Themes have relevance in the context of
students’ lives.
•
The essential question in each unit connects the
content of each lesson to the theme.
•
The essential question allows the teacher to
differentiate instruction based on his or her
unique knowledge of Spanish-speaking cultures
and his or her understanding of students. This
brings each lesson to life by making a personal
connection between the content and the
students.
•
If we can help our students see that our
differences are expressions of our shared
humanity, then we are teaching them tolerance
and compassion in addition to language skills.
Sonrisas Level II
More Complex Language Concepts
Attributes
Examples
• No skills or vocabulary taught in
isolation
• Focus stays on developing
acquisition and age-appropriate
language for effective
communication
• Students use the verb hay to
provide information about their
school.
• Students use descriptive adjectives
and the verb ser to compare and
contrast their personal traits.
• Students use preterite forms of the
verb ir to provide information
about where they and others have
gone.
Sonrisas Level II
Partner Time = Three Modes of Communication:
Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational
• With partner, students have to interpret text and/or images.
• Partners use information that they have interpreted to have an
interpersonal conversation in order to complete a task.
• Partners then present outcome of task to class.
Sonrisas Level II
• Interpretive
• Interpersonal
• Presentational
Sonrisas Level II
More Independent Reading and Writing
Learn
• To learn is to gain knowledge or understanding of or skill in by study,
instruction, or experience.
• Developmentally, upper elementary students are ready for more explicit
instruction. They are ready to learn using abstract thought processes.
• After acquiring and developing a strong foundation of practical Spanish and
an inherent understanding of many grammatical concepts, students are
ready to begin learning the “how?” and “why?” of the Spanish language.
• “(Intermediate students) are at a maximum of openness to people and
situations different from their own experience…a global emphasis is
extremely important…” (Carol Ann Dahlberg, Languages and Children:
Making the Match)
• Focus is still on communication. Goal of formal instruction can be seen as
one means to successful communication.
Sonrisas Level III: Continue to develop acquired
language and add explicit instruction for culture,
grammar, and communication strategies.
CONTINUE:
ADD:
• Thematic Units
• Calendar activities
• Partner Time
• Independent reading and writing
• Explicit TPR (grammar)
• Spelling
• Culture instruction
• Grammar instruction
• TPRS Storytelling®
• Communication strategy instruction
Sonrisas Level III
Explicit TPR
•
Teaches new grammar concepts and
phrases that are practical for classroom
and everyday usage.
•
Makes link to the acquisition mode of
instruction by teaching new concepts
through the body.
•
Utilizes grammar concepts that lend
themselves to the TPR method, such as
commands (imperative mood),
prepositions, object pronouns, adverbs,
and idiomatic expressions.
Sonrisas Level III
Spelling
•
Students begin to integrate the sound
and writing systems of Spanish.
•
Students use their prior knowledge (from
Sonrisas Level I and II) of the Spanish
alphabet to form words.
•
Addresses the comparisons standard:
“Learners use the language to investigate,
explain, and reflect on the nature of
language through comparisons of the
language studied and their own.”
Sonrisas Level III
Culture instruction
•
Piques student interest at the beginning
of a new unit rather than adding culture
as an afterthought.
•
Uses text and images to generate a
discussion.
•
Makes connections between the cultural
information being presented and
students’ personal experiences as well as
teacher’s.
•
Questions for discussion:
1.
2.
3.
Have any of you ever seen or heard a
coquí?
Can you think of any animals that are a
symbol of your state or country?
Why do you think certain countries
choose animals as symbols of their
culture?
Sonrisas Level III
Grammar instruction
•
Introduces students to a grammar
concept that they will learn and practice
in the Grammar Exercise, TPRS Story, and
Partner Time activity.
•
Teacher moves slowly through the
grammar lesson, reviewing information
thoroughly and answering any questions
students may have.
Sonrisas Level III
TPRS Storytelling®
•
Highly effective language-learning method.
•
Provides students with lots of conversational
repetition in the target language using
comprehensible input—giving them the opportunity
to internalize vocabulary and language structures by
developing a strong sense for what sounds correct in
the target language.
•
Fun for students—engages their imaginations and
gives them the opportunity for deeper learning.
Their retention of language structures increases
through connection to the story, and they’re able to
apply grammar concepts throughout a fun and
creative process.
•
Students are not learning vocabulary and language
structures in isolation; rather, students are
practicing them throughout the storytelling process
and applying them during subsequent activities.
Sonrisas Level III
Communication
strategy instruction
•
“Students must learn strategies that will help
them bridge communication gaps that result
from differences of language and culture.”
(Natinal Standards Collaborative Board, WorldReadiness Standards for Learning Languages)
•
Empowers students.
•
Students are given the opportunity to practice
the communication strategy in the reading
and in the Partner Time activity in each unit.
•
Addresses the comparisons standard by
encouraging students to develop insights into
the nature of language.
Outcomes of the Acquire, Develop, Learn
Methodology
• Connects students to the world.
• Age appropriate themes connect the language students are learning
to the everyday world around them.
• Learning about Spanish-speaking culture connects students to the
global world, and they become globally literate citizens.
Outcomes of the Acquire, Develop, Learn
Methodology
• Inspires students to become life-long language learners.
• Students see that learning a new language opens them up to having
new experiences and making new friends.
• Children are inspired by learning a new skill. It promotes self
awareness and self confidence in young learners.
Outcomes of the Acquire, Develop, Learn
Methodology
• Engages a child’s natural ability to acquire and learn language.
• Age-appropriate activities engage students in the right way at the
right time in order to maximize the effectiveness of their second
language education.
• Engages students because it is fun. This fosters a positive foreign
language experience that they will carry with them for the rest of
their lives.
Acquire, Develop, Learn
®
Sonrisasspanish.com
[email protected]
(970) 264-9288 office
(970) 264-9286 fax
PO Box 3806
Pagosa Springs, CO 81147