Spanish

About this course

The language taught here is Spanish, and sixth grade is the first year that covers a whole beginning Spanish course rather than a survey of vocabulary. The opening units rebuild the foundation quickly, running through greetings, numbers to one hundred, colors, days, months, family, food, animals, clothing, and body parts, then turning them into conversations about age, weather, time, likes and dislikes, school, and making plans. The first grammar unit covers subject pronouns, ser and estar and how to choose between them, articles, adjective agreement, plurals, negation, and the present tense of -ar, -er, and -ir verbs plus tener, ir, and hacer. The second grammar unit, near the end of the year, is where the real advance happens: reflexive verbs, stem-changing verbs, demonstrative and possessive adjectives, direct object pronouns, adverbs of frequency, connecting words, and an introduction to the preterite, the Spanish past tense, with the regular endings for all three verb families, the common irregulars, and the time expressions such as ayer and la semana pasada that go with it.

Reading and writing each get a full unit. Your student works through the alphabet, vowel and consonant sounds, accent marks and word stress, cognates, then reads a Spanish menu, street signs and labels, a short story, a dialogue, John 3:16, and El Padrenuestro, the Lord's Prayer, printed line by line with the English beneath. The writing unit covers Spanish capitalization and punctuation including the inverted question and exclamation marks, then builds to descriptions, questions and answers, a letter beginning Querido amigo, a thank-you note, a copied Bible verse, and a written testimony in Spanish. The culture unit surveys Spain, Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, along with Christian traditions, food, music, architecture, family life and hospitality, and how to talk about the gospel in Spanish.

There are 108 lessons in 9 units of 12, each planned for about 30 minutes, which is a real increase over fifth grade. A lesson is a structured reading with headings, conjugation lists, example sentences, and a written practice task, closing with a Bible connection and a ten-question quiz that grades itself. Pencil and paper are the only supplies, and vocabulary flashcards are the standing homework. There is no audio in the course, so pronunciation instruction is written description only, and that matters more this year than before. Several lessons, particularly the role-play review at the end of unit 8, are built around two people holding a conversation and ask your student to run through scenarios such as meeting a neighbor or ordering at a market. If nobody in the household speaks Spanish, plan to read the scripted lines together, since your student cannot do those lessons alone. It assumes the vocabulary and the ser and estar basics of the earlier grades.

What the course covers

• Core vocabulary review: numbers, colors, calendar, family, food, clothing, body
• Conversations about age, time, weather, school, opinions, and plans
• Subject pronouns, ser and estar, articles, plurals, and adjective agreement
• Present tense of -ar, -er, and -ir verbs plus tener, ir, and hacer
• Reflexive verbs, stem-changing verbs, and direct object pronouns
• The preterite past tense and its time expressions
• Pronunciation, accent marks, word stress, and cognates
• Reading menus, signs, stories, dialogues, John 3:16, and El Padrenuestro
• Writing letters, thank-you notes, descriptions, and a personal testimony in Spanish
• Culture: Spain, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Latin American church life

What your student will be able to do

• Conjugate regular and common irregular verbs in the present tense
• Describe past events using the preterite tense with correct time words
• Choose correctly between ser and estar in extended sentences
• Read a Spanish menu, sign, story, or prayer and explain its meaning
• Write a letter, a description, or a testimony in Spanish with correct punctuation
• Carry a scripted conversation through greetings, questions, opinions, and plans

Scope and sequence

All 9 units of Spanish for Grade 6, in the order they are taught.

Every lesson, by title

All 108 lesson titles are listed here — nothing is withheld until you download. Open a unit to read its contents.

One whole lesson, exactly as it comes

This is a real lesson taken from the middle of the course — the teaching text, the practice, the homework, and the first three quiz questions with their answers. It is not a marketing excerpt.

What you will need

Drawn from the materials named across all 108 lessons of this course. Most families already own most of it.