How to Squeeze a Year of Spanish Content into Summer School

Ah, summer school.

Some teachers love it, some teachers hate it, some teachers avoided like the plague, while other teachers (like you) have picked up summer school for some extra cash.

I’ve been in your shoes. I know it’s tough. Let’s talk about how to squeeze a year of Spanish content into the summer.

A year of content? In three weeks? A month? What!?

I used to write summer school curriculum for a big national program; in fact it was one of my first curriculum or leadership roles.  I know it’s so tough to squeeze in all of the content you need to cover, but there are some easy ways to make it happen.

How to Squeeze it All in:

Rapid Fire

Make a list of the content and skills your students need for the upcoming year. For Spanish 1, skills might be putting sentences together in present tense and present continuous using the Super 7 or Sweet 16 verbs. Content might include numbers, time, and all the other concepts your students need for the next level. 

Need a full list and a calendar to get this done? Check out this Spanish 1 portfolio project!  This three-week or month-long project is the perfect review for your Spanish 1 students, or students getting ready for Spanish 2.

 

Combine Concepts

Time is of the essence, so you want to squeeze in as much content as possible. Combine concepts by telling stories, encouraging students to brainstorm related vocabulary before starting work, and looking for opportunities to build in other content as you teach.  For example, if you’re teaching clothing you can also include weather, color, and numbers for sizes.  If you’re looking at routines, you can build in days of the week, times, and locations.  When talking about places around town, you can include directions and habits.

In short, look for opportunities to connect smaller concepts to bigger concepts in order to cover as much as possible.

Build in Review

Remember, most of the students have already sat through the class, so everything is technically review.  What I mean here is to connect the ideas from week to week so students are using the skills that you taught them.  We don’t want everything to go in one ear and out the other, and practice is a great way to do this.

Not sure if you should review or reteach?  Check out this blog post.

Check for Understanding ALL the Time

Since we’re moving so quickly during summer school, it’s essential to check for understanding before you move on.  Some quick ways to check for understanding include:

• Thumb’s up for understanding
• Post-it check-in at the end of class
• Plickers responses or polls
• White board responses
• Games that track accuracy (check out this post for my favorites)

 

Remember to support all students by offering choice and options.  Need help differentiating?  Download this FREE checklist to easily support all of your students this summer.

Are you teaching summer school?  What questions do you have?  Comment below!