This Spanish course ö high intensity language teaching (HILT) ö is designed to fulfill the foreign language requirement set by the state of California for the certificate in Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD). This Spanish I curriculum is for both early and advanced beginners and aims at meeting the CLAD foreign language requirement while:

This course represents a departure from the traditional, grammar-translation based foreign language approach. There will be no formal, explicit lessons in Spanish grammar. All lessons will be based on themes relevant to daily life, such as going shopping at a supermarket, or a relevant subject matter, such as the geography of South America or fiestas in Mexico. The approach used in this course will be totally inductive. If students feel that formal grammar would be helpful to them, we suggest the purchase of English Grammar for Students of Spanish (Spinelli), which is available in the Kiva bookstore.

This course follows the conceptual model proposed by Krashen and Terrell (1983) that acquisition of a second language should not be based on translation into the students' first language but on development of comprehension of the language itself. Language should be allowed to emerge in stages that are generally comparable to those of first language acquisition.

During this initial stage of basic language development, students will not be forced to speak, but be allowed a "silent period," during which comprehension, word recognition, and self confidence should be established. The two HILT teachers will speak only in Spanish; however, we will recognize and respect the beginning students' needs to use English (their first language) to ask questions and talk with their classmates. Feel free to ask or answer questions in English. Be prepared for the teachers to respond in Spanish. We will attempt to make our answers as simple, clear and comprehensible as possible using lots of non-verbal cues.

Stage one students will be permitted to remain in their "silent period" for as long as they require, and proceed into stage two ö early production ö at their own personal pace. Students will be asked to demonstrate their comprehension through activities such as pointing, touching, moving an object from point A to point B, drawing a picture, circling an item on a list, or following instructions given in Spanish. As the course progresses, one word answers, or short sentences in either spoken or written Spanish, will be expected.

During this second stage of basic language development, students will be expected to produce only single-word responses and short "formula" phrases. This stage is similar to that stage of first language acquisition in which children begin to speak relying on a kind of "telegraphic speech." At this level, speaking is very hesitant and errors are expected. The teachers accept as axiomatic that errors are healthy and essential elements in the process of students' hypothesis-testing.

By the end of HILT Spanish I, most students will be well into stage two and some well into stage three.

During this third stage of basic language development, students can be expected to begin to speak in phrases, sentence fragments and short sentences. Students in this stage make many grammatical errors but are able to function on a "survival level" with a limited vocabulary. Many of the Spanish I students will reach this level in both speaking and writing skills.

During this last stage of basic language development, students can speak using full sentences and generally demonstrate a command of correct grammar and the use of a broad vocabulary. It generally takes years for a student of a second language to reach this stage, especially if literacy skills are involved. Only those students with considerable exposure to Spanish in the past will approach this stage.

The principle objective of this course is to develop the two receptive skills of listening comprehension and reading comprehension. To achieve this goal, two teachers will team teach for a large part of each day. We will demonstrate and model all lessons, games, and activities in order to avoid the common anomaly of teachers asking the learners to be their own models in a language they do not yet speak or understand.

Thus, EXTENSIVE MODELING BY THE TEACHERS is an essential component of this curriculum. Expect the teachers to speak Spanish to each other 100% of the time. You are not expected to understand all of this conversation. It will be sufficient to simply get the gist of the conversations, including the contradictions, arguments, teasing, and bad jokes.

In this HILT program, some students will have had no formal Spanish study at all (i.e., start in stage one), others will have had some Spanish in high school or college and will begin HILT already in stage two. Our experience in HILT has indicated that students with varied levels of beginning proficiency can benefit by being mixed. In this way, those students who are somewhat more advanced can serve as both models and mentors for those who are at a lower level of proficiency. Please do not let the mixture of proficiencies represent a threat to you. We ask you to view those students who already have had experience in Spanish as "resources" for the class, not as competition. Since this class is not "graded" in terms of your proficiency at the end of the class, competition should not enter as a factor; cooperation is a key concept in this course.

In a HILT class, students are not formally tested or graded. We invite each of you to progress at a pace that is comfortable for you, not to feel compelled to reach some arbitrary goal set for the whole group. It is understood that language development varies enormously among any given population of students -- adults or children. Testing and evaluating of your progress will be accomplished indirectly and implicitly, not by formal testing procedures. Final grades in this program will be by "credit-no credit" rather than letter grades. The only requirement for the HILT Certificate is that you be present for class and to participate to the extent that you can. You will receive your extension credits and certificate of completion a few weeks after the course ends.

The development of speaking skills remains an important goal; however, it is understood that the development of speaking and writing proficiency must be based on initial comprehension of the spoken and written word. During the first few days you will not be required to speak or write very much. This will increase slowly over the course. The major speaking activity in the course will be performance of fairy tales in Spanish: one at the end of week one, and one at the end of week two. There will be no formal emphasis in this course on writing proficiency in Spanish; however, there will be activities requiring short written responses, such as responding to questions about our continuing soap-opera "Destinos," or a short paragraph describing a person or place ö and some ungraded "pop quizzes."

You will be invited to write a "dialog journal" to the teachers in this class. You may take this opportunity to write in Spanish if you desire. (See the handout on "dialog journal" following the introduction.)

Cultural topics will be built into the content of the course. These will include some of the following:

* a new song or two everyday (De Colores, Cielito Lindo, Guantanamera, etc.)

* demonstrations of Latin American dances (Cumbia, Cha-Cha, Merengue)

* video and slide presentations showing Spanish and Latin American life, art, architecture, and culture

* the video series Destinos, a soap opera for Spanish language learners ö we will see one episode each day

* discussions and samples of Latin American foods, including a field trip to a local Mexican restaurant.

* the study of commercials from Spanish language television, newspapers, and magazines

We will attempt at all times to provide comprehensible modeling of the language ö entirely in Spanish. All lessons will be based on clear and simple contexts. We will utilize realia (real objects), pictures, posters, maps, charts, flash cards, overhead transparencies, games, music, menus, airline and train schedules, T.V. guides, magazines, newspapers, and television advertisements.

Although you will be encouraged to express yourselves in Spanish, you will not be expected to speak until you feel ready to do so. In the understanding that language learning is a trial-and-error process, at no time will any student errors be corrected overtly. Correction will be achieved through restatement or remodeling. Any effort on your part to express yourself in Spanish will be acknowledged, appreciated, and reinforced. Our goal is to help every student to reach stage three (speech emergence) by the end of the course.

Since this course is designed, in part, to help you to be a better teacher of second or foreign language, we will encourage you to discuss the theory and method of our class in written journals, which you can write in English or Spanish. We will take a portion of the first day and the last day of class to reflect on the methods and philosophy of this class.

In sum, we believe that learning a second language should be a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience. We hope you will enjoy this experience as much as we will.

Steve (Esteban) Stryker