It’s the start of a new school year, and you’re getting ready to teach Spanish 2 using the Somos Curriculum.
Before we get into the specifics of teaching Spanish 2, go to this blog post and bookmark it! It’s all about preparing for Day 1 with the Somos curriculum – whether that’s Day 1 of your first year or Day 1 of your 15th year, we’re sure you’ll find something helpful!
There are a couple of common situations that come up for teachers, even under the umbrella of “Teaching Spanish 2,” so let’s explore them and see which scenario fits you best.
Don’t see what you’re looking for? Check out this Support article, “Where do I start in Somos?”
You AND your Spanish 2 students are new to The Somos Curriculum and to Acquisition Driven Instruction
Did your district recently adopt the Somos curriculum? AWESOME! We’re SO glad you’re here. One of the best parts of using Somos is that everything is already prepared for you if you need it.
We have ready-to-go lesson plans and activities, complete units, and resources designed to get you through the year, all within each Somos unit.
That being said, we recommend starting your Spanish 2 class with Somos 1 Unit 1 as a way to ease everyone into this new approach. Even though your students have a year of Spanish under their belts, what they learned last year is different from what they’ll be building this year (we explain in this post it using the metaphor of The Attic). They need the foundational language from the early units of Somos 1 Novice in order to understand the resources in later units, so it’s best to just start from the beginning. You can do a few activities like Weekend Chat or La persona especial to differentiate up from your Level 1 classes, but you’ll probably find that the early units of Somos are an appropriate challenge for your Year 2 students.
Keep in mind that students who aren’t used to an ADI approach might think that language class should feel grueling, and that if they aren’t understanding anything, they’re making progress. With an acquisition-focused approach, you may start to hear complaints like, “I’m not learning anything!” or “This is too easy!”.
For this reason, you may find it helpful to explain to them a bit about language acquisition and that their brains are working and engaging in a totally different way from learning. The goal is not that they’re struggling, but that they understand. When they understand, their brains are working hard in the background to process language and build an internal linguistic system, even if they don’t feel it.
Every class, and every student, is different. That’s why we also provide additional resources and opportunities to connect with our Somos Mentors and Somos teaching community.
The Comprehensible Classroom hosts Mentor events and Fun Clubs throughout the year (and often once a month). These are designed to help you understand the tools and principles in the Somos curriculum more clearly. Even better, they’re FREE!
If you want to slow down and really understand the basics of Somos, consider joining one of our online options:
- Microcourses to help you focus on specific aspects of the basics of teaching for acquisition
- A 10-week self-directed Somos Bootcamp (runs twice a year) with videos, live webinars with guests, and community support
Your Spanish 2 students have been taught with ADI, but not Somos
Scenario 2: Your Spanish 2 students are coming from a class that was taught with an Acquisition Driven Approach, but the teacher used resources other than Somos.
As in the above scenario, you may want to start with Somos 1 to gauge where your students are at. Start with Somos 1 Unit 1 and then teach a few units sequentially. If students feel like it’s too easy, you can move onto the next unit.
Another option would be to start the year with some communicative activities that don’t target specific vocabulary, so that you can see what language your students understand (and what words are unfamiliar). Activities like Card Talk, Special Person Interviews, One’s Gotta Go, or Weekend Chat are great for this.
Alternatively, you could start with Somos 2 Unit 1, as this unit is very student-centered and fairly “free,” which allows you to really see what language your students have previously acquired. Once you’ve assessed where your students are at, based on their ability to communicate in those activities, you can backtrack to Somos 1 units.
Your Spanish 2 students are familiar with the Somos curriculum
Somos 1 Novice is a multi-year curriculum. You probably only got through a small number of units in Spanish 1! This year, you can pick up where you left off and continue forward. We find that most teachers like to teach straight through Unit 16, and then they pick and choose the units that they want to teach to fill out the second year.
Since it’s likely that many students had limited engagement with Spanish-language communication over the summer, consider starting the year with some open communication activities before jumping into the next unit of Somos 1 Novice. Again, some great activities for open-ended communication are:
Plus, while the majority of students might be familiar with Somos, there’s always a chance that you might have new students who didn’t spend last year with Somos. This open start will help ease them into class as well!
