Our Spanish classes are live, three times per week, all-year long, and taught by a native Spanish speaker and bilingual Waldorf educator.
Teacher: Juan Pablo Barillas (Read more about his biography here)
Course Description
Learning another language is also learning another way of viewing the world. When you understand how other people express their ideas and comprehend a whole set of new concepts, you will access a new way of thinking, expanding your mind and your life. Spanish is spoken by more than 500 million speakers and is the official language of 20 different countries from different cultures.
This course focuses on gaining skills through applying the language to daily tasks and students’ interests. We are not simply developing vocabulary, but are aiming for functional Spanish that the students will actually use. We will use many different approaches to learning, including games and exercises that build comprehension, speaking and writing skills. We will also use audio-visual media for the same goals.
Separate classes for middle school and high school.
Students in middle school (grades 6-8) will be together in a class, and students in high school will be together in a different class. Each of these two age-based groupings will be further separated by skill level.
Which skill level should my child be in?
Beginner Level. This introduction to Spanish is intended to spark a love for the Spanish language. Our main focus with this level is not so much to focus on grammar and spelling (which is saved more for the intermediate course), but rather to have a balanced experience of basic speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
Intermediate/Advanced Level. This level is for students who already have some foundation in Spanish – generally, a year’s course of beginner’s Spanish. While this level will continue to build the foundation of speaking, listening, reading, and writing, the students will produce some written work, and even some of their own videos. Advanced students will be given material appropriate for their level.
More details about our Spanish courses.
- Year-Long Courses. All of our Spanish courses meet for the entire year, for a total of 32 weeks. These courses follow the same Math Academy calendar for vacations. The first day of class is Tuesday, September 3.
- Three times per week – Live! The instructor meets live with the students (via Zoom) three times per week. Each meeting lasts 45 minutes for grades 6-8, and 50 minutes for grades 9-12.
- Class Times. Classes meet (live via Zoom) at the following times (all times are MT):
- Middle School Beginner Spanish: M, Tu, Th at 1:45-2:30
- Middle School Intermediate/Advanced Spanish: Tu at 12:45-1:30, W at 1:45-2:30, F at 12:00-12:45
- High School Beginner Spanish: M, W, TH at 12:45-1:35
- High School Intermediate/Advanced Spanish: Tu, Th, 2:45-3:35 and F at 2-2:50pm
- Limited Class Size. Classes will between 5 and 15 students.
- Not Recorded. The live sessions with the students are not recorded
- Assignments. Students should expect to do a bit of homework between classes – around 20 minutes per class for middle school and 30 minutes for high school. This assignment could involve a writing exercise, reading a short passage, or watching a short video or audio segment.
- No Group Meetings. There are no extra student group meetings beyond the three live sessions per week.
- Course Reports. We will provide a course report at the end of the course.
- Tuition. The tuition for the course is $993 per year ($110.33 per month). Payments are made monthly (see the Math Academy Calendar for the start dates of each quarter).
- Financial Assistance. We have limited funds for offering financial assistance to families. You can fill out our financial assistance form to request this. This form must be submitted and approved before you enroll (both registration and payment).
