Spanish

 

The Lamplighter School believes that acquiring a second language and appreciating its many cultures is essential to building global citizens.

Lamplighter’s Spanish program is designed to inspire curiosity and widen students’ perspective and world views. Language skills are taught in a comprehensive and dynamic program in which students learn in the target language, leading to greater proficiency. Spanish instruction is sequential and cumulative, building vocabulary in context and through authentic materials such as illustrations, manipulatives, games, songs, rhymes, play-acting, reading, and cooking.  Students acquire a wide, age-appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structure, a love for learning a second language, and a respect for other cultures.

Our youngest pre-K students begin Spanish instruction with two thirty-minute long classes per six-day rotation.  From Kindergarten through fourth grade, students enjoy three thirty-minute sessions per six-day rotation.  Early Childhood classes are play-based and introduce students to Spanish through thematic, fun, hands-on activities, such as songs, rhymes, drama, stories, and games.  Special projects that invite planning in other subject areas and with other grade levels enrich the program. In Kindergarten, for example, students create a Spanish kitchen garden of cilantro, tomatillos, tomates, cebollas, y chilies through combined lessons during Science and Spanish.  Cultural events such as Dallas Children’s Theatre puppet performances in Spanish help bring the Spanish language alive for our youngest learners.

In Lower School, students continue to develop their Spanish with conversation, videos, games, and projects.  For example, students celebrate a Spanish speaking country with music, tales, poems, facts, foods, and traditions.  Other holidays such as Día de los Muertos, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Valentine’s Day are studied and celebrated in Spanish class.  Cultural assemblies, performances and presentations by Ballet Folklorico or mariachi, cooking lessons, and use of bilingual books and materials add to the relevancy of Spanish throughout the school.

World Languages

Spanish

The Lamplighter School believes that acquiring a second language and appreciating its many cultures is essential to building global citizens. Based on the principles of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL), Spanish is offered twice a 6-day rotation in Pre-K, and three times a 6-day rotation in Kindergarten/T1.  These 30-minute long classes are play-based and introduce students to Spanish through thematic, fun, hands-on activities, songs, rhymes, drama, puppet play, TPTRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling), and games. Students acquire a wide, age-appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structure, a love for learning a second language, and a respect for other cultures. Special projects that invite planning in other subject areas and with other grade levels enriches the program. In Kindergarten, students create a Spanish kitchen garden of cilantro, tomatillos, tomates, cebollas, y chilies through combined lessons during Science and Spanish.  In Kindergarten/T1, students are introduced to reading and writing simple words, basic phrases, and stories in their second language during “Cuadernos” (notebook) time. Adding cultural events such as Dallas Children’s Theatre puppet performances in Spanish or celebrating Dia de los Muertos brings the Spanish language alive for our youngest learners.

 

After-School World Languages

Opportunities to explore other world languages such as Mandarin, French, Japanese, and Italian have been offered through our after-school program, NightLight.  Every semester, new classes are offered and meet once-a-week for one-hour.