High School Spanish Curriculum Reviews

Esther Swartzentruber is instructional coordinator at Faith Mennonite High School and has experience teaching high school Spanish. The following outline offers some of her insights and perspectives on Spanish language curricula.

A few general thoughts:

• No matter the curriculum, I have found that it absolutely does not work to teach language as a half-credit. Language learning courses must be full credit courses and meet every day. Daily exposure is vital to language-learning success.  
• Second, students absolutely must commit to memorizing vocabulary on their own and practicing Spanish outside of class every day (10+ minutes per day).
• Third, curriculum does not teach languages; teachers teach languages. Preferably teachers who have clear memories of their own language learning experiences, and who have a clear understanding of the methods and approaches used by their instructors.
• Yes, “spoken-language first” approaches sound amazing! I have seen aspects of that teaching style used to greater or lesser effect. I think what’s important, if such an approach is used, is to directly explain that you will be using that teaching method. I have been in college-level language classes where students were unaware that the instructor was using that approach (at least partially), and basically just checked out. Many times in the high school classroom, I used *parts of* this approach where once a week or once a month the entire class was Spanish only, and students had to use context clues to follow along and participate. There is a certain subset of students that can be resistant to that approach unless you coach them through your method and help them find confidence for total language approaches. 

Regarding curriculum:

BJU 2018 3^rd edition

Pros

• Clear learning objectives at the beginning of every chapter
• Self-evaluation forms at the end of every chapter so students can rate themselves on mastering the objectives
• Organized vocabulary lists at the end of every chapter
• Oral listening exercises, with a number of Spanish voices/accents, so students get used to listening to and responding to native speakers. (These exercises move toward that total language approach, but students should be coached in these in the beginning. May function better as whole class exercises.)
• Helpful verb charts and rigorous activities
• Cultural articles
• Catechism and Bible verse instruction

Cons

• Assessments – the 2018 edition got rid of quizzes, and only includes massive end-of-chapter tests. These tests regularly include vocabulary that students have not learned. Teachers have to be vigilant in choosing/eliminating test questions/sections. (It worked this year for our teacher to break up these tests and use them throughout the chapter.) Also, the tests are insanely long. Could take some students 1 to 2 hours.
• With the BJU curriculum, it’s important to prompt vocabulary retention by requiring a weekly vocab quiz, separate from the curriculum. Students have to memorize vocab, separate from regular quizzes/tests/assessment.
• Instruction on the alphabet, vowels and consonants, and classroom phrases are hidden in the introduction. A wise teacher will create stand-alone lessons around these on the first few days of classes.

Abeka 2021 edition

Pros

• Clear alphabet, vowel and consonant, and syllabication instruction at the beginning of the course, with great activities
• Geography articles
• Bible verses, etc.
• One book approach (no separate activities manual, like BJU)

Cons

• Weird textbook layout with vocabulary on one page, and the picture of the object on the second page/spread, without it being labeled (?)
• Mind-numbing prescriptivist language activities that euthanize the joy of language learning, a la Abeka English grammar

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