Spanish for Staff

Know Your Proficiency Level!

"Fluent" is not a very useful term when describing how much you can use a language because it implies a yes or no answer. "Proficiency" is a better term because it includes levels of skill. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) uses the following major levels to describe proficiency:

Novice - Can use memorized words/phrases and make lists of words

Intermediate - Can create new sentences; can ask and answer many basic questions

Advanced - Can talk about past, present, and future; can deal with complicated situations

Superior - Can use the language in almost any setting and communicate with ease

You might try completing a self-assessment grid or a checklist to evaluate your own skills with the languages you know.

Classes/workshops/study groups

Teachers who want to learn more Spanish as a group can also borrow and use the distance learning course "Spanish for Educators", which is appropriate for Novice and Intermediate learners. It was designed as a distance learning course and includes 40 DVD lessons (with accompanying worksheets) on vocabulary and structures that would be useful in a school environment. For more info on our study groups or on borrowing this DVD course please contact Mr. Aldrich.

Rosetta Stone for staff members

We are pleased to continue and extend our partnership with Rosetta Stone, an internationally famous language learning software company that started right here in Harrisonburg.

Teachers can request accounts for their own professional development. You can even earn recertification points for using Rosetta Stone to learn a work-related language! Simply fill out the "Educational Project" form and mail it to Jeremy Aldrich at Central Office for approval before you begin logging hours.

Languages available include: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Dutch, English, Filipino (Tagalog), French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Recommended Websites

Interpretive Reading/Listening Skills

DuoLingo (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced) - Vocabulary, sentence, and translation practice

Tar Heel Reader (Novice) - Short easy-read books; search by book language

Memrise (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced) - Vocabulary practice on a number of levels and themes; you can create your own lists as well!

BrainPop Español (Intermediate, Advanced) - Log in with your school's BrainPop login information

Interpersonal Skills
Espanglish chat (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced) - Text chatting online

Verbling (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced) - Video chat with a native speaker of the language you're learning and teach them some of your language as well

Presentational Speaking/Writing Skills
Using direct commands (Novice, Intermediate)

Spanish songs for learning (Novice, Intermediate) - Lots of children's songs lyrics and sound clips

StudySpanish verb drills (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced)

Recommended books

Spanish for Educators by William C. Harvey

Chapters include: Information Parents Need to Enroll Their Children in School, The School Building, The Primary Grades, The Curriculum, Success in School: Enlisting Parental Support, Medical Problems and Emergencies, In the Counselor’s Office, Verb Conjugation Charts, Answer Key for Practice Questions, Glossary

McGraw-Hill's Spanish for Educators by Jose Diaz and Maria Nadel

Chapters include:
Before You Begin, At School, The Younger Students, The Older Students, Discipline, The Counselors, The Administrators, Support Staff, Verbs, Dictionary