Spanish¡Buenos días! ¿Qué tal? What comes naturally in a real-life situation when you are meeting someone for the first time? Greetings! So, this is how we start our year in the Spanish classroom. Our approach to teaching Spanish is communicative and task-based. What are the tools needed if you are going to meet someone? How do you go about it? What are the cultural norms when greeting someone, say in Argentina or Venezuela? Are they different or the same as your own? With this approach, students acquire meaningful language competency and an exposure to the rich cultures of the Spanish speaking world. Experiencing different cultural norms provides students not only with a deeper understanding of their own culture, but most importantly helps them become better global citizens. We strongly emphasize the performance of the language. Whether doing math, playing BINGO or Jeopardy, celebrating El día de los muertos, greeting each other or talking about our daily activities, students are involved in dialogue, role-play, games, dance and singing that are authentic and purposeful.
Maria R. Flores María, a native of Guadalajara, México, has been teaching for more than 20 years. She is currently teaching Mazama, Kalama and Loowit at the Gardner School. María loves teaching our youngest kids. She especially enjoys introducing them to her native language through games, songs and storytelling. María holds a B.A. from the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional and a M.Ed. from Centros de Estudios de Postgrado from Guadalajara, México. She moved to the US in 1998. She lives in Vancouver with her husband and son. María loves traveling and enjoys good food with her family.
Rachel Aponte Rachel spent her childhood years growing up in Paris, France and Caracas, Venezuela. She studied in Madrid, Spain and the Bay Area in Northern California and holds a B.F.A. in Painting from the California College of the Arts and a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of California, Davis. Rachel has been teaching for 15 years. This is her second year at the Gardner School. Rachel teaches Wy’East, Klickitat and Tahoma. She has found teaching at the Gardner School to be a very rewarding experience. Teachers and students engage in a challenging and dynamic exchange of information where learning is an exploratory, student-centered and interactive experience. Rachel is excited to bring her multicultural and multidisciplinary background as well as her passion to the teaching of Spanish.
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