¡Hola familias!

We cannot believe that the year is over and your students are off to the high school in the fall! We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for all of your support.  It has been a pleasure teaching your children Spanish and sharing our passion for language learning and culture with them.  

We finished the year strong with students learning how to give commands and talk about the chores they do around the house (feel free to give them summer chores in Spanish!). Students also learned additional clothing vocabulary (they learned the basics during our travel unit) as well as patterns and how to describe how clothes fit. Students demonstrated their knowledge from the year in a very successful final fashion show. It was great to see the students’ creativity!

We also had several National Spanish Exam medal winners.

As a reminder:

Premio de Oro - students scoring at or above the 95th percentile.

Premio de Plata - students scoring from the 85th through the 94th percentiles.

Premio de Bronce - students scoring from the 75th through the 84th percentiles.

Mención Honorífica - students scoring from the 50th through the 74th percentiles.

Students in Grades 8, 9 or 10 scoring above the 75th percentile are eligible to apply for the Global Citizen Scholarships.

Our Premio de Oro Winners were:

Matthew Karle

Samantha Morrison

Nicholas Smith

Our Premio de Plata Winners were:

Andrew D'Amico  (just one point from gold!)

Anika Das

Julia de los Reyes

Olivia Harvey

Michael Matta

Uma Paithankar (just one point from gold!)

Our Premio de Bronce Winners were:

Andrew Brogan

Eileen Chau

Dominico Cincotti

Georgia Cummings

Gabriella Fargnoli

Gage Fuller

Madison Lehr

Jacob Levine

Abigail Obar

We also had many students who earned a “mención honorífica”. We are very proud of all students as the National Spanish Exam often features vocabulary and structures they have not yet been exposed to!

As your students prepare for the new challenges at the high school, here are some reminders of how they can keep their Spanish fresh over the summer to smooth their transition in the fall:

1.Students brought home their portfolios on Wednesday last week. They can review vocabulary, grammar and previous assessments from 7th and 8th grade.

2. Review vocabulary from 7th and 8th grade on the site Quizlet.com. There are great interactive games that students can play or flashcard sets they can study...playing games on Quizlet could be an easy and fun solution if your student ever says "I'm bored" over the break!

3. Play games or complete practice activities on the website Conjuguemos.com. This is a great way for students to keep grammar concepts fresh. To play games, they can click on the topic they want to study and click on the "new interactive games" link on the left hand side of the activity.

4. Practice with a friend or family member who speaks Spanish!

5. Watch t.v. or listen to music in Spanish. Any input in Spanish, even if they only understand a few words will help keep their listening skills sharp.

6. If you are going to a Spanish Speaking Country, encourage your child to use their Spanish! An "Hola, ¿Cómo está usted?" can go a long way!

As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. We hope everyone has a happy, safe and restful summer vacation!

Un saludo cordial,

Kathy De Lima and Leigh Netcoh

8th grade Spanish Teachers