Cristy Baldwin, World Languages and Cultures Department Chairperson
Darlington’s World Languages program is designed to prepare students for the challenges of an increasingly global community. The language is a means for attaining various outcomes: communicating with speakers of other languages, gaining cultural understanding, and connecting with other disciplines. As students achieve proficiency in the language, they are also exposed to cultural practices, products and perspectives of the world where the language is spoken. Students are given ample opportunities to explore, develop, and use communication strategies, learning strategies, critical thinking skills, and skills in technology, as well as the appropriate elements of the language system and culture needed to carry out a communicative act. We strive to create true global citizens. We envision graduates who will develop and maintain proficiency in another language as well as develop their curiosity to make them lifelong global learners.
Current research and classroom practices indicate that a variety of approaches can successfully lead learners to the competencies set up by ACTFL. In keeping with the latest research and best practices, the new language is presented in practical, comprehensible ways. Using acquisition driven instruction and competency-based teaching and assessment, our curriculum teaches language and culture simultaneously, allowing students the opportunity to develop cultural understanding and communicative proficiency even in beginning language courses. Students progress through three ranges of performance: novice, intermediate and advanced. They are equipped with the four skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking in their different modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational.
Spanish 1
You will begin your journey to join more than 437 million Spanish speakers worldwide! This course is a platform for learning how to acquire a language. It stresses the acquisition of Spanish in both written and oral form by presenting four skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The four skills are taught within the context of cultural practices in the Spanish-speaking world. Daily lessons will focus on learning, responding to and using new vocabulary in situations inspired by novels, cultural study and student created stories. The goal is to move you from a novice-low learner into a novice-high proficiency level in three modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational.
Skills Developed through reading, writing, speaking, and listening
Identifying letters, symbols, familiar words, key words, highly contextualized phrases, cognates, borrowed words and basic facts related to supporting details when supported by gestures or visuals (reading or listening).
Inferring meaning of some unfamiliar words in a text. Identifying some facts from simple sentences. (reading and listening)
Responding to questions (with words, phrases or sentences) on topics and events found in novels, class created stories and other CI and TPRS supplied sources (reading, writing, speaking and listening).
Producing comprehensible, short-length, organized oral presentations and written compositions according to your novice proficiency level (speaking and writing):
Expressing possession, wants, existence, location, movement, likes and dislikes (speaking and writing)
Describing people and events (speaking and writing)
Knowledge Developed while using the language communicatively
Super 7: tiene, quiere, es, está, le gusta, hay, dice - for different subjects
Basic future intentions: va a
Compelling, comprehensible vocabulary related to their lives and the novels read
Cultural awareness of at least 4 different Spanish-speaking countries
The following AP themes will be presented: personal identities, families, communities, contemporary life, beauty, global challenges
Spanish 2
You will develop proficiency and competence in the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) essential to communicative language learning. This course expands on the different uses of the present tense and AP themes learned during Spanish 1. It also introduces you to discussing events in the past. You will continue to increase your linguistic skills and confidence with more advanced verb combinations taught within the context of purposeful activities and relevant readers. Skills are developed further by reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The goal is to move you from a novice-mid learner into an intermediate low proficiency level in three modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational.
Skills Developed through reading, writing, speaking, and listening
Understanding and using words, phrases, and formulaic language that have been practiced and memorized to get meaning of the main idea from simple, highly-predictable oral or written texts with strong visual support. Texts may be informational, short fictional texts, or conversations and are non-complex, or straightforward.
Identifying key words in the simplest connected texts (connected texts have words that are linked in phrases, sentences, and paragraphs as opposed to lists) dealing with a limited number of personal and social needs. Inferring meaning of some unfamiliar words and phrases in the text.
Identifying, comparing and describing some products, practices, or perspectives related to everyday life and personal interests or studies in your own and other cultures.
Utilizing practiced structures, accurate word order, spelling and mechanics at the novice level.
Asking questions and providing responses on topics and events in the present and past.
Producing brief, organized or logically sequenced oral presentations and mid-length written compositions in the present, past and simple future.
Identifying and making simple comparisons between some cultural products (e.g. monuments, clothing, music), practices (e.g. pastimes, school life), or perspectives (e.g. reasons for celebrations, eating habits) related to everyday life and personal interests from your culture and other cultures.
Knowledge Developed while using the language communicatively
Sixteen most common verbs: es, está, hay, tiene, le gusta, va, quiere, sale, hace, pone, puede, da, dice, sabe, vuelve, ve in present and past tense used in context with different subjects.
Most common reflexive verbs: se va, se siente, se sienta, se levanta, se llama, se despierta
Compelling, comprehensible vocabulary related to your lives, your immediate environment and the novels read
Cultural awareness of at least 4 more different Spanish-speaking countries
The following AP themes will be presented: personal and public identities, families and communities, contemporary life, global challenges, science and technology
Required Prerequisites
Spanish 1
Spanish 2 Honors
¡Ven a esta clase a mejorar tu español! This class explores your ability to express yourself and participate in communication exchanges using sentences and series of sentences. You will be able to handle short social interactions in everyday situations to communicate information about yourself, others and everyday life. This course expands on the different uses of the present tense and AP themes learned during Spanish 1. It also immerses you in discussing events in the past. You will continue to increase your linguistic skills with more advanced verb combinations taught within the context of purposeful activities and relevant readers. Skills are developed further by reading, writing, speaking, and listening. You will also be encouraged to recognize the intent and purpose of the material you encounter as well as to make connections to the world around you. The goal is to move the novice-high learner into an intermediate mid/high proficiency level in three modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational.
Skills Developed through reading, writing, speaking, and listening
Communicating by understanding and creating personal meaning.
Understanding, asking, and answering a variety of questions.
Initiating, maintaining, and ending a conversation to satisfy basic needs and/or to handle a simple transaction.
Showing emerging evidence of the ability to communicate about more than the “here and now.”
Identifying the author’s perspective and providing a justification.
Expressing needs, preferences, feelings and emotions
Using paraphrasing to convey and comprehend oral and written messages
Comparing and contrasting information regarding historical events and cultural themes
Understanding and producing discrete sentences, strings of sentences and some connected sentences to write short (>200 words) organized compositions using visual and technological support in both the present and the past tense.
Knowledge Developed while using the language communicatively
Sixteen most used verbs in present, imperfect and preterite tense in specific situations
Compelling, comprehensible vocabulary related to your life, the novels read and the world around you
Cultural awareness of at least 4 more Spanish-speaking countries
The following AP themes will be presented: personal identities, families and communities, contemporary life, global challenges
Required Prerequisites
90 in Spanish 1
Recommendation of teacher or department chair
Spanish 3
¡Asiste a esta clase para expandir tu habilidad de comunicarte en español! You will increase your ability to communicate in Spanish so that you can be understood by a sympathetic speaker. You will manage to convey messages and support them with simple details. You will move from only utilizing practiced simple and compound sentences to recombining learned language to create simple and compound sentences. Your pronunciation will be mostly comprehensible even when you speak slowly with some hesitations or self-corrections. You will continue to increase your command of expressing ideas about the present and the past but you will also be introduced to some hypothetical ideas. The goal is to move the novice high to the intermediate mid proficiency level in three modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational.
Skills Developed through reading, writing, speaking, and listening
Creating meaning through recognition of key words and formulaic phrases that are highly contextualized.
Understanding texts with highly predictable familiar contexts and emerging ability to make inferences based on background and prior knowledge.
Recognizing structural patterns that have been used in familiar and some new contexts.
Expressing needs, preferences, feelings and emotions and begin to self-correct
Asking questions and responding to such questions by listing, naming and identifying
Beginning to engage in simple conversations - ability to communicate in highly practiced contexts related to oneself and immediate environment.
Showing awareness of the most obvious cultural differences or prohibitions, but may often miss cues indicating miscommunication.
Producing short (>2 minutes), organized oral presentations, and writing short (>200 words), organized compositions in the present tenses with increasing proficiency using visual and technological support as appropriate
Paraphrasing, using circumlocution, and body language to convey and comprehend messages
Listening skills through current events podcasts, videos and role play guided book discussions
Knowledge Developed while using the language communicatively
Sixteen most used verbs in present, imperfect and preterite tense in specific situations
Compelling, comprehensible vocabulary related to their lives and the novels read
Ability to control memorized language sufficiently to be appropriate to the context and understood by those accustomed to dealing with language learners.
Cultural awareness of at least 4 more Spanish-speaking countries
Noticing: verb conjugations in context, pronouns (possessive, direct and indirect object, subject) in context, perfect tenses, subjunctive and conditional in context
Producing: present, past and simple future oral and written products
The following AP themes will be presented: personal identities, families and communities, contemporary life, beauty, global challenges
Required Prerequisites
Spanish 2 or Spanish 2 Honors
Recommendation of teacher or department chair
Spanish 3 Honors
¿Quieres comunicar tus ideas con algunas personas pacientes que hablan español? This is the course for you! By the end of the course, you will have the ability to communicate information and express your own thoughts about familiar topics. You will develop your ability to identify main ideas and supporting details from a variety of texts or audio products. When speaking to other Spanish speakers, you will generally be able to express yourself and participate in conversations on familiar topics. You will be able to handle short social interactions in everyday situations by asking and answering a variety of questions.
Skills Developed through reading, writing, speaking, and listening
Giving and defending an opinion on themes as related to the AP Spanish language and culture themes
Giving recommendations or advice based on planned or spontaneous situations
Expressing cause and effect relationships within the context of familiar situations
Identifying global challenges: sustainability, social justice, climate change, water crisis, resource conservation
Identifying different opinions in beauty and aesthetics
Understanding words and texts with familiar contexts and ability to make inferences based on background and prior knowledge.
Engaging in simple and complex conversations - ability to communicate opinions and knowledge in contexts related to oneself and immediate environment.
Expressing how cultural differences or prohibitions may impact decisions in the world
Producing longer (<2 minutes), organized oral presentations, and writing short (<200 words), organized compositions in present, past and some subjunctive tenses with increasing proficiency using visual and technological support as appropriate
Paraphrasing, using circumlocution, and body language to convey and comprehend messages
Knowledge Developed while using the language communicatively
Some control of the usage of both past tenses (imperfect and preterite) to retell an event.
Better understanding of subjunctive and the situations when it might be used
Introduction to perfect tenses
Introduction to conditional
Understanding and producing narrative in the present, past and future
Some control of the usage of connectors and conjunctions to develop more complex sentences and elaborate ideas.
Broaden vocabulary to include synonyms and antonyms; prefixes, roots and suffixes
Recognize vocabulary and accents specific to different Spanish speaking countries
The following AP themes will be presented: personal identities, families and communities, contemporary life, global challenges
Required Prerequisites
85 in Spanish 2 Honors
90 in Spanish 2
Recommendation of teacher or department chair
Spanish 4
Students deepen their understanding of hispanic culture and focus on communicating with each other in Spanish! This is a film, conversation and composition course designed to give students something to talk about, investigate, and enjoy while reviewing and polishing the use of vocabulary learned in Spanish 1-3 and diving deeper into cultural topics.
Skills Developed through reading, writing, speaking, and listening
Giving and defending an opinion on themes as related to the AP Spanish language and culture themes
Giving recommendations or advice based on planned or spontaneous situations
Expressing cause and effect relationships within the context of familiar situations
Understanding words and texts with familiar contexts and ability to make inferences based on background and prior knowledge.
Engage in simple and complex conversations - ability to communicate opinions and knowledge in contexts related to oneself and immediate environment.
Producing longer (<2 minutes), organized oral presentations, and writing short (<200 words), organized compositions in present, past and some subjunctive tenses with increasing proficiency using visual and technological support as appropriate
Paraphrasing, using circumlocution, and body language to convey and comprehend messages
Knowledge Developed while using the language communicatively
Some control of the usage of both past tenses (imperfect and preterite) to retell an event.
Some understanding of subjunctive and the situations when it might be used
Introduction to perfect tenses
Introduction to conditional
Narrative in the present, past and future
Beginning control of the usage of connectors and conjunctions to develop more complex sentences and elaborate ideas.
Broaden vocabulary to include synonyms and antonyms; prefixes, roots and suffixes
Recognition of vocabulary and accents specific to different Spanish speaking countries
Required Prerequisites
Spanish 3 or Spanish 3 Honors
Recommendation of teacher or department chair
AP Spanish Language and Culture
¿Te gustaría incrementar tu habilidad de comunicarte en español y hacerlo más fácilmente y con fluidez?
The AP Language and Culture course takes a holistic approach to language proficiency and it recognizes the correlation between vocabulary usage, language control, communication and cultural awareness. You will learn language structures in context and use them to engage in discussions about historical and current events. This course is equivalent to an upper-intermediate college course.
Skills Developed (from The College Board AP course guide)
Reading and replying to an email message - formal and informal emails
Writing an argumentative essay based on 3 sources
Participating in informal simulated conversations - with friends, classmates, family, teachers
Interpreting audio, visual or audiovisual materials
Delivering a presentation in response to a prompt
Comparing and contrasting Spanish-speaking communities to their own communities
Writing essays based on evidence from argumentative sources: article, graph and audio
Knowledge Developed while using the language communicatively
AP Spanish Language and Culture themes:
Families in Different Societies
Lessons on – customs and values; education communities; family structure; global citizenship; human geography; and social networking.
Essential questions on the theme of Families and Communities may include:
What constitutes a family in different societies?
How do individuals contribute to the well-being of communities?
How do the roles that families and communities assume differ in societies around the world?
The Influence of Language and Culture on Identity
Lessons on – alienation and assimilation; heroes and historical figures; national and ethnic identities; personal beliefs; personal interests; and self-image.
Essential questions pertinent to Personal and Public Identities may involve:
How are aspects of identity expressed in various situations?
How do language and culture influence identity?
How does one’s identity develop over time?
Influences of Beauty and Art
Lessons on architecture, describing beauty, defining creativity, fashion and design, language and literature, or visual and the performing arts.
Essential questions on the theme of Beauty and Aesthetics may include:
How are perceptions of beauty and creativity established?
How do ideals of beauty and aesthetics influence daily life?
How do the arts both challenge and reflect cultural perspectives?
How Science and Technology Affect Our Lives
Lessons on –access to technology; effects of technology on self and society; health care and medicine; natural phenomena; and science and ethics. Discuss the social effects of new communication technologies based on existing news sources in Latin American, the Caribbean, or Spain.
Essential questions geared toward a better understanding of Science and Technology may include:
How do developments in science and technology affect our lives?
What factors have driven innovation and discovery in the fields of science and technology?
What role do ethics play in scientific advancement?
Factors That Impact the Quality of Contemporary Life
Lessons on—education and careers; entertainment; travel and leisure; lifestyles; relationships; social customs and values; and volunteerism. You may be asked to research social media and technology in Spanish-speaking populations and debate its impact on an individual's well-being.
Essential questions on the theme of Contemporary Life may include:
How do societies and individuals define quality of life?
How is contemporary life influenced by cultural products, practices, and perspectives?
What are the challenges of contemporary life?
Environmental, Political, and Societal Challenges
Lessons on – economic issues; environmental issues; philosophical thought and religion; population and demographics; social welfare; and social conscience.
Essential questions related to Global Challenges may include:
What environmental, political, and social issues pose challenges to societies throughout the world?
What are the origins of those issues?
What are possible solutions to those challenges?
Required Prerequisites
Spanish 4 with a grade of 95 or higher
Spanish 3 Honors with a grade of 90 or higher
AP Application completion required with teacher recommendation
Post AP Spanish Cinema, Cultures, and Conversation Honors
Let’s talk about life! You will communicate and understand ideas in Spanish that communicate beyond the classroom. This is a conversation and composition course viewing, discussing and interpreting Spanish and Spanish- American films. This course will further develop your conversational fluency, as well as increase the level of sophistication of your written expression. This course is meant to be comparable to an Intermediate level university course. Taught in Spanish.
Skills Developed through reading, writing, speaking, and listening
Communicating information and expressing with detail and organization on familiar and some new concrete topics using paragraphs.
Expressing full ideas to maintain conversations on familiar topics and new concrete social, academic, and work-related topics.
Communicating in paragraph length conversation about events with detail and organization.
Confidently handling situations with an unexpected complication.
Sharing point of view in discussions.
Understanding main ideas and supporting details on familiar and some new, concrete topics from a variety of more complex texts that have a clear, organized structure
Knowledge Developed while using the language communicatively
Exchanges information and ideas; interacts to meet needs in a variety of contexts, sometimes involving a situation with a complication; or explains preferences, opinions and emotions and provides advice
Uses connected sentences that often combine to form paragraphs.
Begins to explain perspectives (e.g. family or cultural values) by comparing familiar products (e.g. literary or historical figures) and practices (e.g. social norms, celebrations) in learner’s own and other cultures.
Converses using appropriate language and behavior and avoids major social blunders.
vocabulary from academic, social and professional topics of interest.
Maintains audience interest via technology, creativity, writing style, and elaboration on the topic or event.
Shows consistent control of major time frames and frequently-used structures, in familiar and some unfamiliar contexts to tell a story, state a viewpoint with supporting evidence, or deliver presentations.
Incorporates intercultural knowledge into presentations via language, register, content, or behavior.
Identifies the complete main idea of the informational texts, main story in fictional texts, or main message in conversations and discussions.
Identifies supporting details to the underlying message in informational texts, main story in fictional texts, or main message in conversations and discussions.
Required Prerequisites
AP Spanish Language and/or AP Spanish Literature and Culture
Recommendation of teacher or department chair
AP Spanish Literature and Culture
This course is meant to be comparable to a third year Peninsular and Latin American Literature college and university course. The course consists of a comprehensive and inclusive survey of Hispanic literature from the medieval period to the 20th Century. Students will recognize the intent and purpose of the discourses and participate on the mid to high-intermediate level, particularly with respect to reading and writing skills.
Skills Developed
Interpersonal communication
Interpretive communication
Presentational communication
Cultural connections
Recognize how the viewpoints of people of Hispanic countries is reflected in their practices and products
Interpret and analyze authentic works in prose and poetry
Identify literary terminology and literary devices and critically analyze the form and content of various genres
Write organized and coherent essays (scored with the AP scoring guidelines) and prepare for the AP Spanish Literature and Culture Exam
Knowledge Developed while using the language communicatively
AP Spanish Literature and Culture is structured around six themes:
Interpersonal Relationships
Duality of Being
Time and Space
Literary Creation
Construction of Gender
Societies in Contact
Required Prerequisites
AP Spanish Language and Culture
Recommendation of teacher or department chair
All students enrolled in AP courses are required to take the AP Exam.
In addition to the school’s robust Spanish program, which begins in our youngest grades and continues throughout a student’s high school career, students also have the opportunity to pursue additional offerings in French, Chinese, and Latin through Darlington’s partnership with One Schoolhouse, the online leader in Independent School education. Darlington joins over 130 other Independent Schools throughout the country to help expand the scope of our World Language program.
