Summit is one of the only local schools to offer Spanish instruction to students PreKindergarten-8th grade. Besides exposure to Spanish language and culture, Summit’s goal for students is to help them become confident communicators in Spanish. If your student is new to Spanish or hasn’t had previous instruction, don’t worry. With repetition, humor, and fun activities, Senora Andrea finds that new students begin to understand Spanish quickly.

In the younger classes, Spanish connects to themes that students are already studying as they learn the Spanish vocabulary. (For example, students learn the Spanish words for apple and pumpkin while students study autumn in their classroom.)

Summit’s Spanish program is based in telling stories. They talk about characters and build stories.  Classroom experience involves improvisation, acting things out, and a lot of imagination! “Anything can happen in Spanish class.” Students may travel to other planets, ride on cows, or take a rubber chicken to the hospital.  Students do silly and unexpected things because language sticks when it’s connected to emotion. So you might hear about goofy things happening in Spanish class!

Summit Schools Spanish Standards are aligned with the national language standards of the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Language (ACTFL).  Our approach at Summit is to give students consistent exposure to Spanish Language and culture, and to build a “micro fluency” focusing on the most common structures in the Spanish language.
Summit’s standards and the goals of ACTFL:
  1. I can meet and greet people using Spanish.

  2. I can respond appropriately when my teacher asks me a question.

  3. I can co-create with my teacher and my classmates to share information and tell stories.

  4. I can take risks, improvise and experiment with new language in multiple situations.

  5. I can use the Spanish we learn in class to describe real and imaginary situations.

  6. I can express feelings and emotions in Spanish.

  7. I can tell what I like and dislike in Spanish.

  8. I can translate Spanish into English when I read sentences at my level.

  9. I can describe something that Spanish speakers do in their culture.

  10. I can use Spanish to talk about other subjects that I study.

  11. I can describe some ways that Spanish is similar or different from English or other languages I speak.

  12. I can explain some customs that Spanish-speaking people have that are different from my own customs.

For more information on Summit’s Spanish program, including tutoring, please email Senora Andrea Happel.