SPANISH

Dear parents,

My name is Teresa Valderas.  This is my second year at LCA.  My husband Sean and I have two beautiful kids; Ian that it is entering PreK 4, and Cora that will be a 4^th grader both here at LCA.  I am a native Spanish speaker and have lived in the United States since 1995.  While in my home country of Spain, I attended the University of Seville where I earned my Spanish teaching certificate. After moving to the United States, I earned a Bachelors Degree at Cameron University with concentrations in Education and Spanish.  In addition, I earned a Masters Degree of Education from Southwestern Oklahoma State University.  I have taught in both public and private schools to preschool, elementary, middle school and high school students.

This year we are going to continue using our Symtalk curriculum that was introduced last school year.  This curriculum has been widely used in schools all over the state of Texas.  I have had the privilege to observe in the classroom setting with one of the best elementary Spanish teachers in the Lewisville ISD.

 The Symtalk method teaches the students the fundamentals of the target language.  Students learn how to substitute words for clear symbols, resulting in communication beginning with the first lesson.  The vocabulary is recycled throughout the book, resulting in mastery of the core vocabulary by the end of the book.  Verbs are introduced as lexical items, so that students learn conjugations naturally.  As students' language acquisition progresses, they will not only speak, but listen, write and read (depending on grade level) in the target language since Symtalk develops all four skill areas.

The elementary grades will be starting this curriculum on different levels.  Kindergarteners and 1^st graders will used the Symtalk method focusing on the listening and speaking sections as no written activities will be required at these grade levels.  In addition, all elementary grades will be using different materials provided by the teacher as they advance throughout the year.

The teacher will provide the students with a Spanish folder where they can keep all Spanish handouts and work so they can go back and review.  Our class only meets once a week, so the students will take home their folder once every four to six weeks depending on grade level for parent review.  It is very important that no papers will be taken out of their folders as we will use all materials throughout the year.

 An overview of what’s going on in Spanish class will be posted every six weeks on my SchoolNotes page which you can access from the home page on the LCA website: www.lakelandchristianacademy.org.  Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions or concerns.  I am looking forward to working with all of you in order to help your children learn the beautiful language of Spanish.

God bless,

Teresa Valderas