Spanish 1 is a highly-interactive, multifaceted, systematic approach to developing a solid foundation in spoken and written Spanish. The homework includes vocabulary activities, reading, cultural elements, grammar drills, audio comprehension and pronunciation lessons to build a variety of necessary knowledge and skills. During class, the time is dedicated to growing comfortable and proficient in speaking and understanding the kind of practical Spanish that is useful in everyday situations. Students will be encouraged and evaluated during the live class time, and their graded work will include simple written compositions, quizzes, exams, and recorded spoken submissions. The Spanish 1 curriculum is a custom-designed program that integrates grammar, vocabulary, culture, pronunciation and comprehension at an ambitious but manageable pace.
Note: TPS offers Spanish 1 and 2 in two levels: standard and honors, where this “standard” course is one day of live class per week and “honors” is two days of live class per week. How do you choose between them? The workload and level of difficulty are similar, but the honors class has more dedicated opportunity for instruction and speaking, so your proficiency will be higher after the honors course. If you are seriously considering going to Spanish 3 or higher — or if you just love the idea of learning Spanish from a world-class expert teacher — then you will want to take the “honors” course with two days of live class per week. If you are pretty sure you just want two basic years of Spanish to meet your foreign language requirement, then you may prefer this excellent “standard” course with one live class per week. You can change your mind in either direction after each year, and you can still go to Spanish 3 from either track (though you will be better prepared from the “honors” track).
Note: This high school credit course allows grade 8 enrollment. However, the rigor, pace, and workload are high school level and no accommodation is made for students who are not ready to work at a HS pace with HS standards of evaluation. Students seeking a more relaxed pace Spanish 1 course are encouraged to consider Spanish 1A/1B instead.