Matryoshka or other WTM parents fluent in Spanish - Want to teach a class?

[RootAnn]

There are a few WTM kids who would like to continue with Spanish next year and are coming up a bit short on (secular, not super-expensive) options.

 

Any fluent-in-Spanish WTM parents want to design & conduct a secular Spanish Literature class next school year, perhaps? 

 

It could be a Spanish spin-off version of the WTM "Clover" Valley/Creek science classes - like "El Trébol Café"    :w00t:

[Matryoshka]

LOL, I've actually been thinking about it a bit since it was mentioned in the other thread.  My older dd used a book called Abriendo Puertas in her AP Spanish Language class that I thought was good - that was taught as a Spanish Lit class, honestly - their teacher was a huge Lit fan.  I looked it up, and Abriendo Puertas is actually Holt McDougal's text for the AP Spanish Lit exam (not Language).  As I remember, it was short stories, which makes it a lot easier to get through.  The level of Spanish was quite high, especially as much Spanish-language lit taught is either older (might be archaic language) or kind of trippy (magical realism).   

 

Abriendo Puertas used to have two volumes, one for Latin American lit (the one my dd had) and one for Spanish from Spain lit, but they appear to have been combined in one volume as a worktext.  There is also now an online component; I'm having Holt McDougal send me a sample of the online materials to see if I think I could use them.  My dd's class consisted of reading the stories, discussing and writing 1-2 page literary analysis essays, and that was pretty much it.  Would something like that sound good? There are other materials available with the text, once I get the samples I can take a look and see what they are and if they're useful.

 

How many kids are interested, what level is their Spanish, and how would you envision this working (group Skype??).

[chiguirre]

LOL, I've actually been thinking about it a bit since it was mentioned in the other thread.  My older dd used a book called Abriendo Puertas in her AP Spanish Language class that I thought was good - that was taught as a Spanish Lit class, honestly - their teacher was a huge Lit fan.  I looked it up, and Abriendo Puertas is actually Holt McDougal's text for the AP Spanish Lit exam (not Language).  As I remember, it was short stories, which makes it a lot easier to get through.  The level of Spanish was quite high, especially as much Spanish-language lit taught is either older (might be archaic language) or kind of trippy (magical realism).   

 

Abriendo Puertas used to have two volumes, one for Latin American lit (the one my dd had) and one for Spanish from Spain lit, but they appear to have been combined in one volume as a worktext.  There is also now an online component; I'm having Holt McDougal send me a sample of the online materials to see if I think I could use them.  My dd's class consisted of reading the stories, discussing and writing 1-2 page literary analysis essays, and that was pretty much it.  Would something like that sound good? There are other materials available with the text, once I get the samples I can take a look and see what they are and if they're useful.

 

How many kids are interested, what level is their Spanish, and how would you envision this working (group Skype??).

 

Trinqueta would be interested. She's done a Spanish 4 high school class that included reading articles and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe in translation. I have Abriendo Puertas on my Amazon wish list because it's the text my CC uses for Spanish 4. I'm fine with group Skype. Homeschool Spanish Academy recently switched to Google Hangouts so that's another possibility.

 

[crazyforlatin]

Same here, we're with WHA Spanish 4 which is conversation, writing and reading articles. I don't need an AP class but would really like what RootAnn suggested.

[OnMyOwn]

Sounds wonderful! I think my dd would be interested as well. She’s taking AP Spanish Lang this year, but I think she’d like to do more reading in Spanish.

[Kassia]

We would be interested, too.  Dd has completed four semesters of college Spanish, but there are no other classes for her to take locally.  She knows all the grammar, but really loves reading, listening, and learning new vocabulary.  

[AFwife Claire]

I don't have kids at that level of Spanish yet, but I just wanted to chime in with another class option.  In our small high school co-op, we had a family who was first in Hawaii and now is over in Germany, so we always had to have an online option.  We did skype/google hangouts for a while, but we ended up using "zoom".  It was $9.95 a month, which we all split, for one account, and then we set up recurring classes using the same sign-in IDs.  It ended up working really well, with more options for muting, etc. than skype (although now skype may have improved services!). 

 

Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there as another possible option.  And maybe in a few years, my next 2 boys will be ready for this class! :)

[RootAnn]

:thumbup: Obviously, I have one interested.

 

DD#1 doesn't need an AP class, either, but I don't see any problem with a class that is aligned with the AP Spanish Lit exam.

 

Ideally, the homework load would be around five hours a week plus or minus class time. She's currently in the WHA Spanish 4 class crazyforlatin mentioned. 

 

I figured group skype (or Google Hangouts, although I don't know how that works), but Zoom seems to be a good option, too.

 

Figured I should ask early.  :w00t:

[Matryoshka]

Hey guys, haven't forgotten you. :)

 

If we do this, I'm very happy not officially calling it an AP class.  I've never even seen the AP Lit exam.  The anthology I'm talking about I think is useful because it has a nice selection of Spanish Lit and poetry, and support materials that will help me round things out, give me ideas for discussion and essay topics, etc.  I was thinking read, discuss, write some essays, much like my dd's class was (which was very much not teaching to any test, most especially not the one they took).  There are associated vocab and lit analysis multiple choice quizzes included in the materials, but I'd be happy to take or leave them as people found them useful or not.  The anthology is also reasonably priced, I think - about $30 for a worktext (real book, so there'll probably also be some shipping cost) and also one-year access to additional online materials.

 

That said, if anyone wanted to get an AP prep book from Barron or someplace and see if they do well on sample tests, they could always give it a go on their own.  There are some questions in the support materials that are designed to be in the format for the test.  I could share them with anyone interested without using those for the general class.

 

I'm ordering myself a copy of the book so I can read the selections.  I don't think the plan would be to read every single one.

 

I'll also check out those other online formats like Zoom and Google Hangouts (had never even heard of these!).  You guys are wanting this for the fall, right?  We'd also have to figure out a time that works for everyone.  Once a week?  Twice?  I am working part-time and tutoring in my IRL life (Spanish, but not this high a level - this could be fun!) - hopefully we could find a time that works.  Looks like it could be up to 5 kids? 

[OnMyOwn]

Sounds wonderful for next fall! Thanks, Matryoshka! I'll jump in and say I think, ideally, my dd would want a once a week class but we could possibly do more if that's what everyone else wanted.😊