Course Content per Level

Here is WHAT WILL BE COVERED IN CLASS at each LEVEL:

 

 TOTAL BEGINNERS:

  • No text books. Only Comprehensible Input (Listening, Reading).
  • Very little focus on Output (speaking and writing).
  • Use Personalized Conversations, Story Telling and Reading as the INPUT sources.
  • Descriptions: of people, of places, of settings, of actions (adjectives, adverbs).
  • How to ask and answer simple questions, including all the question words.
  • Storytelling basics: setting, characters, problems, resolutions.

 

NOVICE (Level 1): 

  • No text books. Use of novels written in a format which supports Comprehensible Input. 
  • Focus on Comprehensible Input (Listening, Reading).
  • Output (speaking and writing) emerges when natural for students, but is not forced nor expected.
  • Personalized Conversations, Story Co-Creation & Retelling, Readings are the INPUT sources.
  • Descriptions: of people, of places, of settings, of actions (adjectives, adverbs).
  • How to ask and answer simple questions, including all the question words.
  • Storytelling basics: setting, characters, problems, resolutions.
  • How to order in a restaurant – vocabulary, verbs, conversations.
  • Build the foundational of using a set of 200+ commonly used verbs.
  • Exposed to/ build foundation in these Verb Tenses:
    • Present Tense
    • Past Tenses (Preterite & Imperfect)
    • Present and Imperfect Progressive Tense (is —ing, was —ing)
    • Simple Future phrase in present & past (is going to _____, was going to _____)
  • Reflexive verbs.
  • All the little connecting words – and how they fit in sentences, to make the language flow.
  • Using two or more verbs together – (quiere hablar, puede hacer, quiere poder hacerlo)

 

INTERMEDIATE  (Level 2):

  • Comprehensible Input (CI) (Listening and Reading) continue as the base of class.
  • Use Personalized Conversations, Story Co-Creation & Retelling, Readings as the INPUT sources.
  • Opportunities for Output practice (when students are ready): speaking & writing.
  • Continue to build fluency with common vocabulary, plus expand vocabulary.
  • Add 200+ more commonly used verbs.
  • How to navigate a city: vocab/verbs/places, and giving directions with commands.
  • How to talk on the phone, make reservations, be polite, shop, and ask for what you want.
  • Continue to build fluency with Present & Past Tenses (including Progressive Tenses).
  • More Verb Tenses: 
    • Future Tense
    • Conditional Tense
    • Perfect Tenses (Present Perfect, Past Perfect)
    • Imperative (Commands)
    • Introduction to some subjunctive phrases
  • Giving commands and giving directions (what/how/where/when to do something).
  • Navigation, shopping, weather, traveling in conversation, stories.
  • Grammar practice books available to do outside of class to complement the class.
  • Feeling much more comfortable with the language and using it with friends and strangers.

  

HIGH INTERMEDIATE (Level 3):

  • Comprehensible Input (CI) (Listening and Reading) continue as the base of class.
  • Use Personalized Conversations, Story Telling and Reading as the INPUT sources.
  • Output: Multiple opportunities for Speaking/Writing during class and for homework.
  • Additional sources of Input: movies in Spanish, additional novels, newspaper articles.
  • Focus on Personalized Conversation in class – being able to tell “stories” about what happened to you, to talk about your life – in all tenses, but especially the past tense.
  • Specific useful phrases and vocabulary for your profession, life, interests – that build on the foundation of vocabulary &  verbs learned in Levels 1-2, and that go with new grammar or verb tenses.
  • How to ask or tell someone to do something (commands) and with very specific ways that you want it done – or would have wanted it done (subjunctive and conditional phrases).
  • How to talk about your hopes or desires.
  • Discussions about novels, movies, culture, art, music, and historical events.
  • MORE Verb Tenses + Moods:
    • Imperative (Commands)
    • Future Perfect
    • Conditional Perfect
    • Present Subjunctive
    • Past Subjunctive
    • Present Perfect Subjunctive
    • Past Perfect Subjunctive
  • The Passive Voice 
  • The many different uses of “se“: reflexive verbs, in place of “le”, passive, accidental.
  • Conditional Phrases (“if……, I would……”,   “if ___would have happened, I would have……”)
  • COMBINING all of the new vocabulary and verb structures in comprehensible conversation, storytelling, and reading in order to build your fluency easily and thoroughly! 

 

ADVANCED (Level 4):

  • Designed around the participants – like a group tutoring session or a book club!
  • Writing lessons
  •  Specialized grammar lessons
  •  Conversation and writing around a cultural theme, movie, novel
  •  Discussions of current events, history, culture of various 
  •  Art History of Spain and Mexico
  •  Music and Dance History of Cuba, New York, Spain
  •  Ideal for educators, people who need to pass a Spanish Proficiency Test, or those who are above all the other class levels, but want to keep up a regular Spanish practice, meet regularly with other Spanish-speakers, or who want to learn more about the CULTURE of a variety of Spanish speaking countries – and learn in Spanish !

 

CORE FLUENCY STUDY-TRAVEL EXPERIENCES ABROAD:

  • Offered for Novice and Intermediate Levels:  intensive instruction and experiential activities.
  • Not appropriate for Total Beginners..
  • Different trips or options are offered to differentiate per level.
  • Add-ons include: Home-Stays, City Trip, or Outdoor Adventure – added before or after the Class week.