Spanish
Spanish was established as our school language program in 2017 and has been successful and popular from the outset. Our school community is formed from families who in most cases, already speak a language other than English at home, so Spanish is the third language they engage with actively. We view this as something to be celebrated and embraced. Spanish is spoken in 21 countries around the world and is the second most commonly spoken language in the world.
Language learning has been proven by research to be beneficial in a myriad of ways.
Some of these are:
1) Promotes brain growth
2) Improves listening skill
3) Boosts memory
4) Improves multi-tasking ability
5) Increases attention
6) Improves your first language
7) Expands your perception of the world around you
At Crestmead, Spanish instruction is targeted to the year 5 and 6 students who have 1 hour of Spanish per week. The upper school also recites the school pledge in Spanish at fortnightly parades. In addition, all teachers have access to a Spanish handbook in order to aid in embedding Spanish into the regular classroom. Lastly, Spanish is also sometimes taught to earlier grades in order for them to gain exposure to the language and to make them feel comfortable with the language learning process.
Apart from regular Spanish language instruction, Crestmead hosts a special Spanish Day in which Spanish speakers from the community are welcomed into the school to make the language come alive through a range of activities, songs and games taught to years 5 and 6. The teachers also enjoy some delicious paella on the day. Lastly, Crestmead is also proud of it’s participation in the annual Modern Language Teachers Association Speech Contest where Crestmead students have excelled and won gold, silver and bronze medals!
In summation, I would like to leave you with this famous quote on language learning by Nelson Mandela
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart”