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~ What did you read that makes you nervous or causes you concern?
LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE... IT IS natural that you are a bit nervous.  This subject is something new for you so you don't feel confident.  Don't worry, we'll work together.  I give you the material, we'll practice in class, you do your assignments and try to participate in class and you will do great.  Remember, Spanish 1 and 2 it is very basic, I will not expect you to recite Shakespeare in Spanish. As long as you review for 10 minutes all your notes from schoo and do your homework just .... Enjoy the class!

~ QUIZZES &TESTS... I hear you!!!  As I said in class, I can take classes just for fun, but the moment I hear the word QUIZ, TEST OR EXAM, I freeze!  Our quizzes are very friendly, you will not even think that is a quiz.  They are short when is written, they are fun if they are verbal (skits).  Also, if you did your review during the week which probably is 10 minutes a day and again if you participate in class, you will feel more confident.  You also have the option of retaking the tests or quizzes.  However, you need to complete and hand out the form you have in your binder re: retaking a test.

_ What do you foresee to be a challenging for yourself?
~ REMEMBERING EVERYTHING... If you review the material at home for no more than 10 minutes a night, you will help yourself to remember most of the stuff.  When you do that, you are moving the new words and new material you learned from the short term memory to the long term memory.  10 minutes is more than enough, by the 4th day of doing this technique, you will be able to remember words more than if you don't review at home at all.  10 minutes review new words + 10 minutes doing homework = Excellent results!  Also, it is impossible to remember every single word, unless you practice and practice.

~ Speaking Fluently... Please don't worry.  It takes approximately between 5-7 years to actually be able to be fluent.  We are not expecting this from you.  I just want you to be able to use the phrases you are learning in the classroom and also for you to be able to use the material you are learning in class.  By no means, I  am not expecting for you to be fluent.  Just do your assignment, practice in class when we do the verbal assignments, be in class in person and mentally :)  and you are just fine!

~ Retakes ... As long as you show me that you have been reviewing the material, that you have done additional handouts to learn more and you prepare yourself everytime you retake the tests, you can take it as many times as needed.  Tests will have the same content but every version  will be a different.

~ Will the class be fun?... You are the class!  It all depends how we work as a team.  I can have lots of fun activities as long as everyone is on target.  Personally, I have fun with every class, but it depends your definition of fun.  Will we dance, yes!  will we sing?  yes!, we will play games?  yes!   Will we have group project? Yes!  Will I honor your ideas for games and projects?  Yes! as long as they are school appropriate of course.

~ Extra credit ... Sorry, I don't believe in extra credit.  I believe that if the student did not do the assignment on the first place, then why will they do an extra assignment?  It is also not fair for those students who make sure to manage their time and have their assignments on time.  If you need help managing your time, please let me help you.

~ Getting called on when I don't raise my hand... I do understand your concern.  However, in the past, if I don't call on students, they just shut down and mentally are not in the class.  The best advice is that being this is basic Spanish, you can do it! n Just pay attention, seat in the front if necessary, ask me questions, send me e-mails with your questions, let me know when you don't understand something, I'll make sure that you know the stuff.  You need to help me to help you learn.  If you put the effort of learning the language, you will be amazed of how much you can learn.  Be open minded and have fun with the language.

~ Learning the sounds of the words... As I mentioned in class, if you learn how to pronounce the five vowels, you are a winner!   Spanish is a phonetic language, what you see is what you read, unlike English were the letter "a" has three different sounds. There are in total 52 sounds in English alphabet though it comprises 26 letters. It actually depends on the dialect of English. North American English has 44 sounds.  On the other hand, Spanish has 27 letters and 27 sounds for Spanish 1 and 2.   Easy!!!

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~ What did you read that makes you nervous or causes your concern?

HOMEWORK... Most of the time homework is a handout that can be done in less than 15 minutes with the exception of Essays.

The students have homework three days a week.

SPANISH 1                            Monday, Tuesday & Thursday

SPANISH 2                          Monday, Tuesday & Wed. with Thursday to review the material for the weekly quiz on Friday.

~ TEST GRADES... Your child will have the opportunity to retake a test if needed.  I will review the material with the student either during SET or twice a week after school if it is necessary.  Your child will hand in a form giving me the reasoning why s/he has to retake the test, and I will help him/her to prepare for the retake.

~ How can we help my child excel in this class.  Neither my spouse or I speak Spanish?... Thanks for asking.  This is a very important question.  The good news is that you don't have to speak the target language.  Research shows that students gain additional cognitive, academic and employment benefits by learning a second language so they need your support.
The way of helping your child is simply by supporting the idea of learning Spanish.  If the parent helps the student to have a positive experience, right there it is a big help for your student.  You can simply ask what the student learned in class?  When you see signs in places like Sears, Home Depot or any other place where they have signs in English and Spanish.  Ask them to read them.  It's okay if they don't know the meaning, but right there you are helping them to practice their pronunciation.  Expose your child to second-language events and activities.  The Smithsonian in DC have great resources and events.  You can also go to our class webpage http://laspanteras.weebly.com/  and learn along with your student whether is a song, or play a game.

~ The 15 quizzes!!...These are weekly quizzes and they are short.  Mostly vocabulary or 5 or 10 short questions.  It help the students who forget to review material to actually put the time reviewing what they have learned in class.  This of course, if the student cares about his/her grade, which most of the times the students do.  The good news is that students can retake quizzes or tests as long as the student hand in the "Retake" form and shows me that they went over the material by doing an extra practice or something that shows that they reviewed the material.  I am here to help them.  They just need to set an appt. during SET or
after school by appointment.

~ I am concerned about written assignments...  Tell me more...   I don't see this being a problem because the assignments are practices of what the student has learned in class.  We also have a website where the student can find resources to guide them.   I am available via e-mail at anytime.  Please feel free of sending me questions or concerns.  Your student can also send me an e-mail.  I will be happy to help.

~ Oral instruction given in Spanish?... Since most of the students in class do not have additional practice outside the classroom, it is important that they hear the target language 90% of the time while in class.  Please don't worry, when I am talking to the students in Spanish, I am using basic Spanish, a lot of cognates, and a lot of TPR (Total Physical Response), this method is pretty much acting what I am trying to say.   The more the students hear the language, the more their listening skills will improve.  I do give instructions in Spanish however, I repeat them in English when needed.  You will be surprised how much the students understand if they pay attention.  I don't mind if I have to repeat instructions several times.

~ Are deadlines listed for the students to see?...The answer is no.  However, you raise an excellent point.  The problem that I see is that I used to have a monthly calendar with due dates, but sometimes due to snow days, and other last minute changes in the calendar, it can be confusing for certain students.  To be honest, I don't find the time to update it right away.  We do have a section in our class webpage where you can see what is the due during the current week.

~ Will you notifiy parents if students are struggling?... At first, I try to work with the student since they are in High School.  This approach had helped many, it also helped them to be independent.  However, when the student is not cooperating after trying to help him/her, I contact the parents right away.  I believe in two things.  One that Parent, Teacher and Student are a team and we need to work together and I also believe in Six Sigma in education.  I like to prevent a struggle for a student before is too late.  If for some reason, there are personal problems in the students lives, it is important for the teacher to know, this way, I can work with the student accordingly.

~ I am concern that my student will not use time effectively?... I follow up during SET with students who are not focus in class, however, if I have too many students in this situation, I also call them during lunch time.  They can have lunch with me while we talk about how we can help him/her to be more effective with their time.

-What kind of Spanish will my child learn?... Spanish is only one language when it comes to grammar, just like English is.  For example, we have English from England, the US and Australia.  The same language with different pronunciation in some words, and the use of words such as flat in England and Apartment in the US.  If your child is in my class, he will learn the "neutral" Spanish, the one where is just basic Spanish used in most of the countries, mainly Latin America, the one that 21 countries will understand.  Regarding pronunciation, most of the time, they will sound Peruvian being that I am from Peru.... and I love it!  The good news is that Peruvians do not have any accent in Spanish so anyone will understand them.

~ My child does not have access to a computer....If this is the case. please let me know.  A couple of solutions, I can request for your student to go to the Media Center once or twice a week.  Also, I reserved one our labs for our classes.  Every Thursday, the students have access to laptops in class.   If your student has a phone, then, s/he can also have access to our online assignments.

~ Speaking and pronouncing words correctly....  Please don't worry about pronouncing correctly.  This is just the beginning of learning a language, as long as the student can be understood, is all that matters.  pronouncing correctly comes with effort, time and practice.  This is why the students will use their headphones on Thursdays.  During Spanish Lab, they will hear native people speaking and they will have to repeat after them in few exercises.

~ What if the lack of interest in learning will affect my child's performance?....

Typical in many students, I always tell them in class, that when they get to Corporate America, they will not pick what work they want to do or not, they will not be able to choose who their co-workers are.  Therefore, HS is a way to practice how to complete their obligations and commitments.  They will not like every single class but they have to graduate from HS in order to buy all the fun stuff they like to get...     Also, that is why Student Led Conferences are valuable,  there must be a way that I can help these students.  Here is where differentiated instruction comes handy.

~ Is the pace going to be manageable? ...  I believe so.  If not, please let me know.  The pace goes along with the type of learners in each class.  Some  Spanish 2 classes as a whole can learn few more concepts  than others and that is fine.  If some classes need more time to assimilate the information so we do take the time.  It is better that the students learn the material than go through and they didn't learn anything.  The only thing is that anyway, I have to motivate them to think out of the box and I push them to exercise their Carpe Diem.

~ My child does not well talking in front of the class.... The students do skits, and talk in small groups.  In groups of 4 they practice and I stop by each group and listen their speaking practice.  I think it is more comfortable to talk to a smaller group than having everyone staring you!  However, if we have volunteers who likes the attention and like to perform skits for the class, they are more than welcome to do so.  As long as we are on target.