According to Instituto Cervantes (2017), there are more Spanish speakers living in the United States than there are Spanish speakers in Spain. Tragically, many Spanish-speaking English Language Learners (ELLs) are failing in American schools (Huerta, Tong, Irby, & Lara-Alecio, 2016; Lichon & Dees, 2018). Yet, Catholic schools have…

This edited book documents practices of learning-oriented language assessment through practitioner research and research syntheses. Learning-oriented language assessment refers to language assessment strategies that capitalise on learner differences and their relationships with the learning environments. In other words, learners are placed at the…

Foreign language teachers know the benefits of bringing art into their classrooms. Works of art are cultural artifacts that convey rich cultural perspectives. Integrating art into the foreign language curriculum facilitates visual learning, providing valuable opportunities to help the students develop visual thinking. Art can also be an effective…

These two curriculum units were developed as a result of study in Mexico and Guatemala during the Fulbright Hays Summer Seminar Abroad Program, 2000. The units are designed for use in an upper-level high school Spanish class. They are intended to be taught in Spanish, and the supplementary materials (with a few exceptions) are written in Spanish.…

"El Interprete," a communicative activity designed for third- or fourth-semester Spanish language students, promotes communicative competence through: (1) lowering stress; (2) having students work in pairs; and (3) helping students concentrate on the transmission of real messages. These activities are appended with suggestions for creating,…

This Spanish version of "How to Work and Live in the Real World: Basic Steps for Youth with Handicaps and Their Parents and Teachers" is for young people with handicaps who are getting ready to graduate from high school and begin working and living in the adult world. The booklet places a special focus on individuals with cultural…

High school students enrolled in a Spanish language class heightened their awareness of the Mexican people by studying and discussing Mexican crafts. Working in the style used by the Mexicans, they designed and made their own art products. (RM)

In September 1992, France opened 104 high school subject-area classes taught in English, German, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. The experience of the first year of these "European sections" is examined, and the implications for change in the French education system are considered. (MSE)

This curriculum unit, designed for a Spanish I class at the high school level, explores the Olmec, an ancient civilization in Mexico. The unit aims for students to develop an appreciation for early civilizations and their importance to the present day. It gives seven objectives for students to work toward and lists detailed strategies for…

Memory-assisting devices used in high school Spanish instruction are described, including strategies in many forms: visuals, sounds, rhythms, rhymes, and actions. Mnemonics for subjunctives include: a suffix-"switching" procedure; a word ("dishes") to remind them of the six verbs not using the first person to form the present subjunctive; a…

A study investigated the types of in-class, speaking-oriented activities that second language learners find anxiety-producing and the types of instructor practices that students perceive as anxiety-reducing. A 4-page questionnaire was administered to 135 university-level students of intensive Spanish and 109 high school students in first- and…

This booklet is intended for classroom use in first-year high school Spanish to acquaint students with the McDonald's fast food restaurants in Costa Rica. The specific objectives are for the student to: (1) discuss the similarities and differences between the American and Costa Rican McDonald's, (2) set up a miniature McDonald's in the classroom,…

An oral testing method used in an intensive high school Spanish program is based on a model of communicative competence positing four forms of competence: strategic; sociolinguistic; discourse; and linguistic. All oral domains but linguistic are tested in the first and second years. In the first year, benchmark testing occurs. The rubric used has…

This resource guide is designed to provide foreign language teachers with suggestions for helping students learn how to become better language learners. The five chapters of the guide for teaching writing skills are as follows: (1) Teaching Learning Strategies (e.g., rationale for teaching, types, useful strategies, guidelines, instructional…

This resource guide is designed to provide foreign language teachers with suggestions for helping students learn how to become better language learners. The four chapters of the guide for teaching listening skills are as follows: (1) Teaching Learning Strategies (e.g., rationale for teaching, types, useful strategies, guidelines, instructional…