I do love the program. It saved me a lot of prep time and kept lessons chock-full of learning!
Everything you need to create a Spanish Immersion Environment in your classroom.
Calico Spanish gives instructors an incredible foundation for teaching Spanish. The curriculum was structured by teachers so that students would have the opportunity to learn Spanish in an immersion environment. Children absorb the language through observing gestures, visual aids, pantomime and demonstrations. They comprehend Spanish throughout various activities by using audio cues, visual aids and actions to stimulate their brains' language acquisition centers. Finally, they have the opportunity to naturally use Spanish as they engage in fun activities and sing along with our custom Mi guitarrí music resources.
Students will be able to successfully communicate in Spanish! Concepts and vocabulary are presented and reiterated throughout each chapter so that students can develop conversational Spanish skills by the end of Level One. Interactive activities and sentence frames give each student opportunities to express unique ideas in Spanish. Students are equipped with solid, foundational Spanish skills that enable understanding of new concepts and vocabulary when presented using contextual cues and prior knowledge. By making Spanish fun, students are comfortable using their acquired language skills and are responsive with full sentences and independent ideas by the end of Level One. It is surprising how quickly children can learn Spanish, so set challenging goals to watch your students progress!
It is challenging for teachers to find time to develop interesting lesson plans that meet the diverse needs of their students. Calico Spanish makes lesson preparation quick and easy for teachers so they can focus on their class. Teachers are equipped with research-based strategies that are interwoven into over 160 straightforward lesson plans. Using proven methods of language acquisition, the lesson plans present topics in diverse ways so that visual, audio and kinesthetic learners can better understand, use and retain the language.
Visual learners grasp information best when it is presented in an orderly, visible fashion. Our fabulous visual aids are integrated into each lesson so that students can make their own connections between words and images. The colorful graphics engage students while aiding them in comprehension and retention. As a result, teachers can effectively present new ideas and vocabulary.
Audio learners need vocal input and output in order to cement linguistic concepts. Level One focuses on oral language comprehension, so students are given ample opportunities to hear the language within a context they can understand. Students retain the language because it is presented in a memorable way through 30 interactive songs and poems. Lessons give all students the opportunity to actively communicate, which greatly aids them in language acquisition and retention!
Movement and touch strongly appeal to kinesthetic learners. Children want to be a part of Calico Spanish's fun individual and group activities, many of which utilize Total Physical Response (TPR). When students actively participate in Spanish, the language gains meaning and significance. Concepts are best remembered when physical responses are engaged because the movement becomes connected to the language in the student's mind. Students truly enjoy learning through the many skill-building games and activities!
The lesson plans supply teachers with an array of options for introducing and reviewing concepts and vocabulary in Spanish. These different methods encompass all types of learners to create an environment where teaching and learning Spanish is enjoyable! Since children are discovering the language for themselves through vibrant visual aids, catchy music and TPR activities they better retain the language and actively want to use it. From the first presentation to the last targeted assessment, teachers are equipped to engage each of their students to make learning Spanish fun!
These dynamic lessons use research-based strategies to engage all types of learners. The teacher's manual includes two scheduled options optimized for either a 30 or 60 minute class schedule. Lesson segments are clearly divided to give teachers maximum flexibility in scheduling classes. Level One includes so many resources and lesson ideas that many teachers easily extend the program across two school years.
Calico Spanish provides everything you need to create your own Spanish immersion environment. With the quality music, visual aids and detailed teacher's manual you will enable your students to learn and communicate in Spanish. Calico Spanish is an incredible, enrichment program for providing elementary-aged children with the opportunity to become bilingual, bi-literate and bi-cultural!
Mi guitarrí Music Resources:
Calico Spanish understands that students need to feel secure and comfortable in order to engage in learning. Our custom Mi guitarrí music resources establish a dependable routine to every lesson. With both original and traditional songs and poems, our music helps shorten the natural silent period children experience by encouraging them to use Spanish in a fun and active way.
Spanish Songs for Kids CD: Designed to expose students to an authentic accent, Mi Guitarrí includes custom and traditional songs, poems, games and memory aids for selected topics such as days of the week, parts of the body, greetings, etc. Joel Valle's clear voice delivers 30 tracks of educational entertainment that kids and adults will both enjoy!
Songbook: Encourages creativity by providing the piano melody, guitar chords and full lyrics to every song!
Big Book of Lyrics: Perfect for reading together as a class to provide extra literacy and vocabulary practice. Key illustrations are included to support vocabulary acquisition. This is a favorite!
Calico Spanish Music Video DVD: Provides an attractive option for connecting visual and audio cues through 19 song videos. Features custom graphics and on-screen lyrics.
» Click here to learn more about the music resources.
Visual Aids:
The vibrant graphics set a cheerful tone that attracts eager learners. Furthermore, the custom visuals allow teachers to easily communicate new concepts, tie the components of the curriculum together, and help students make connections between written and vocalized words.
First Thousand Words in Spanish: Affectionately referred to as the dictionary, children love this colorful, hardback book because it is full of interesting scenes and characters.The book lends itself to hunt and find activities that become an integral part of introducing new words in Spanish. (Usborne Publishing)
¡Corre, perro, corre!: Help students reach literacy and comprehension milestones as they read or as you read aloud from this Spanish paperback version of Go, Dog, Go! (by P.D. Eastman)
Calico Spanish Flash Cards: Custom flash cards feature wonderful artwork to post on the bulletin board, use in games and assist in, presenting new concepts. Includes animals, alphabet, numbers, emotions, greetings, conjugation of verbs, verb phrases and pronouns.
Verbos Flash Cards: Spanish immersion flash cards that introduce 94 action verbs with illustrations that clearly communicate each action, without the use of English. (Trend Publishing)
Bulletin Board Posters and Labels: Form a Spanish Center with custom, classroom-sized components that establish a familiar Calendar Time sequence and thematic units for students.
» Click here to learn more and view our visual aids
Teaching Tools:
The Calico Spanish Teacher's manual and related resources offer incredible value to the classroom teacher by providing ready-to-implement lessons in detail. Teachers save time in planning and preparation and gain new ideas for effective lesson presentation. A variety of strategies are used so that the Spanish language and culture are brought to life. Efficient to implement and adaptable to different ages, the teaching tools are the backbone to the Calico Spanish curriculum.
Teacher's Manual: The manual is practically formatted into 15 Chapters and offers two preplanned schedules making it readily adaptable for teaching schedules ranging from 20 minutes to 1 hour. Teachers find that the design allows for quick preparation and effective implementation! Level One is an exceptional investment as it provides sufficient activities and resources for two years of beginning Spanish instruction for most class schedules.
Assessment Book: Targeted group and individual assessments for readers and non-readers provide valuable feedback regarding students' Spanish comprehension and language acquisition. Our customized oral assessment rubric guides expectations and provides appropriate goals for student language acquisition and production.
Student Activity Book: Every student can make an individual connection with Spanish by creating his/her own songbook, calendar, alphabet sheet and much more!
Student Resources CD-Rom: Unlimited printable copies of reproducible Calico Spanish components from pdf files. Including: Calico Spanish Student Activity Sheets, Calico Spanish Student Copies and Assessment worksheets.
» Click Here to View All Program Components
Calico Spanish offers a custom SMART Board™ Gallery with all the visual aids, music resources and even the big book of lyrics ready for your Notebook lessons. Teachers using SmartBoards in their classes love having access to all our amazing visuals at their fingertips. Available for separate purchase.
Our Complete Calico Spanish Gallery set contains all image and audio files for Calico Spanish Level 1. With over 200 images and 30 audio files, this set comes complete with our numerous galleries, including our Mi Guitarrí Music Gallery, Numbers, Letters of the Alphebet, Weather and Greetings galleries and much more. This $250 value is only $199 when purchased with the Level 1 Complete Set! For more information, please visit our SMART Board™ Galleries page.
Calico Spanish has several activities available on Quia.com. Drag our activities into your profile and assign them to your students for extra practice in class or at home. Targeted activities enhance learning and the familiar Calico Spanish graphics add to the fun and aid in retention for your students.
Calico Spanish covers a range of topics including those listed in the list on the right. Read more details by clicking on a topic of interest or view the scope and sequence.
The beauty of a complete, all encompassing curriculum is that key elements are integrated together. Every chapter presents new concepts and vocabulary such as a number, color, animal, actions and verb phrases. These topics are reiterated throughout the chapter in games, songs and activities to reinforce the language connections. Once these basics are acquired, it is possible to move on to even more complex ideas.
Again, the overall goal is to build students' comprehension skills and give them a love for Spanish language and culture that will motivate them to continue learning Spanish for years to come.
These topics barely outline the width and depth of content presented in Calico Spanish Level One. To better understand how the Teacher's Manual is structured and the different components of the lessons, please click here to get your instant free download of Chapter 4 from the Teacher's Manual!
Calico Spanish is designed to help your students enjoy the process of learning Spanish. The primary goal of Calico Spanish Level One is to develop a student's receptive language skills. This is accomplished using a variety of interesting, research-based techniques. The curriculum relies predominantly on Tracy Terrell's Natural Approach to language instruction. Other key language instruction theories utilized throughout the program are Stephen Krashen's language acquisition theories and James Asher's Total Physical Response (TPR) methods.
» Read more about the Calico Spanish Methodology
Calico Spanish meets or exceeds the requirements set in "Standards for Learning Spanish" as outlined in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century, published by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The standards were developed around five key goals for language learners, known as "The Five C's". They are the following:
These standards provide guidance regarding the type of curricular experiences that will best equip students for life in a multilingual world. Calico Spanish Level One provides an interactive introduction to Spanish that meets or exceeds each of these goals. Furthermore, it is an excellent preparation for the Level Two program, which continues to build on the standards and deepens the connections and language skills already achieved in Level One.
» Detailed description of how Calico Spanish Level One is aligned with "The Five C's"
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