We are thrilled that Cristina Bodoia will be continuing her internship with Spanish Connection into the Spring of 2011, finishing another great year of Spanish at Larrabee. Christina is a Western student with a BA in Spanish and currently working towards her K-8 Teaching Credential in Elementary Education, Bilingual Education and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). She has lived in Mexico and taught ESL while studying at the Universidad de Guadalajara. Originally from Seattle, Bellingham has become her new home for the last six years and she hopes to teach in the Bellingham School District when she finishes her studies. She has been teaching Spanish at Larrabee since January, utilizing the TPR (Total Physical Response) Method to teach language which the kids really enjoy because they get to move around. Every lesson is interactive and involves movement, singing and dancing. Her goal is to keep students engaged in the lessons and excited about learning a foreign language. She has chosen to supplement the mini lessons with visuals in Spanish so that the students are familiar with written text as well. So far they have covered basic greetings and introductions, action verbs, and telling time. She welcomes anyone that would like to come by to observe a lesson and learn some Spanish!
Spanish Connection is currently underway! Students began learning to utilize the website videos and links this week. Spanish will be taught using the TPR method (Total Physical Response) one day a week by our two Spanish speaking interns from WWU. The students will also be encouraged to use the website to access video lessons and reviews other times during the week. One of the benefits of having web-based material is that it can be utilized anywhere, anytime with internet access. Personally, I have been allowing my children to jump on the website while I make dinner. It is fun to listen to them so eagerly speak another language. We hope to update the website bi-monthly with new videos and material. Some students will pick up the language immediately and be ready for more advance material, while others may need time to adjust to the basics of a new language. Using the contact form to request additional instructional material and videos is a great way for us to know what the students want to learn. We had a request this year from quite a few students wanting to learn about "food". The interns hope to start out the year reviewing some of the material covered last year as well as introduce "food" into the curriculum.
We are looking forward to another great year!
Welcome back Larrabee students and families! This year Spanish Connection will continue to progress, offering Spanish class two days a week for grades 1-3. Intern Kara Loeppky is returning this year and is joined by Amy Roark. Like Kara, Amy is a Spanish and Education major at Western Washington University. Both interns will continue to teach through the TPR method (Total Physical Response) and will be instructing through music and PE. One of the ongoing goals is to get more students using the language outside the classroom, at home and in the community. We will continue to upload videos for review and family participation at home. Please feel free to come in and observe a class or contact us to get more information. The interns will update with lessons and reviews weekly, so check back every Friday for news and updates.
I have recently had the pleasure of getting to know our new Spanish Connection Intern. Her name is Kara Loeppky. She grew up here in Bellingham and went to Carl Cozier, Kulshan and Sehome schools. She continued her education at University of Washington, following high school in 2004, where she received a bachelor's degree in Spanish studies. After college Kara moved to Costa Rica for a year where she taught English to Spanish speaking students and now she is back at Western studying Spanish and wants to become an elementary school teacher!
Kara has done an incredible job jumping into the position. Especially with out a second intern to help teach. We hope to have Kara back and one more intern with her for the start of the 2010-2011 school year.
Welcome to the Spanish Connection Website! We hope you can use this website to further your learning and enjoyment of the Spanish language.
The video library is a series of video lessons recorded by the interns! It is a great way for students to practice speaking and listening to the language.
The Activities and links page is dedicated to a variety of great Spanish language websites. There are many free and useful tools to help improve language skills.
Please check back soon for more exciting news and updates!
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