Meet the teachers!!! 

 

Welcome Parents!

At CCCS, our Spanish class this year  looks a little different than other typical language classes. This year Lorudes Hernandez, Belem Valdez, and Zulma de los Santos, will be working  as a team to meet the needs of all students when it comes to learning/reinforcing a second language, in this case Spanish. We will be using Hola Ninos y Cuentame, a TPRS curriculum from Fluency Matters. I will attach more information about the curriculum and the strategies that we will use in our website/weekly newsletter.  

Let us introduce ourselves! 

Luz Belem Valdez

My name is Luz Belem Valdez (Belem) and I am a new Spanish Teacher here at CCCS. I graduated from Hope College this past May and this year will be my first year officially teaching! During my time at Hope I had the opportunity to learn skills that will allow me to lead an engaging literacy rich Spanish Classroom at our school. For those who may not know me, I am parishioner at St. Francis the Sales, as well as a CCCS parent. Ricardo, my husband, and I have five wonderful children, and we had lived in Holland, MI for the last five years. Previously, we live in Frederick, MD for six years, but as we wanted to be closer to family we move back to MI. My husband is originally from MI, but I am originally from Mexico. As a language teacher I have the opportunity to live by God’s vision of the world; where we all celebrate our uniqueness and accept our differences.  In my classroom: I want my students to feel validated for learning a second language, and to become global citizens that value the richness of other people’s culture.

 

Lourdes Hernandez

My name is Lourdes Hernandez and I was born in Mexico. I am married to Efrain; we have two kids, Efrain who is 32 years old and Maria, who is 20 years old. We are parishioners of St Francis de Sales. I have a Title of Professor of Primary Education in Mexico and a Bachelor of Primary Education in Mexico. In this country I got a Preschool Bilingual CDA (Child Development Associate). I worked sixteen years in Mexico as a Kindergarten Teacher. We moved to the United States at the end of 2000. In this country I have worked during the last ten years teaching Spanish mostly with preschool age. This is my third year teaching in this school. I am very thankful with Corpus Christi Catholic School for giving me the opportunity to contribute in the children’s journey in acquiring a second language in a Catholic environment.

 

Zulma De los Santos

I am Zulma De los Santos and I was born in Mexico. I am married to Alan; we have two sons, Ian in 7th grade and Aziel in 5rd grade, proud students of our school. We moved here since 2011. We are parishioners of St. Francis de Sales. I  have a bachelor in Industrial Engineer in Mexico. Bilingual since high school. I earned a CDA (Child Development Associate) credential in order to work with young children. I’ve been working in the Spanish Immersion program for 6 years. Also I worked with Amy Plackowski on the Great Start Readiness Program in preschool, and I worked with 2-5 grades in Science and Religion.  I am very grateful to the school for the opportunity to contribute in the children’s life, in a second language and in a Catholic environment. 

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact any of us:

Lourdes Hernandez : lourdeshernandez@dogrschools.org (616) 796- 2326.

Luz Belem Valdez : belemvaldez@dogrschools.org 

Zulma de los Santos : zulmadelossantos@dogrschools.org 

 

SPANISH ENRICHMENT CLASSROOM :  

Most likely, if you took a second language in school, you were in a traditional class: you memorized vocabulary lists and dialogues, filled in grammar worksheets and practiced your verb conjugations. And if you are like most parents I talk to, you’ll say, “I took high school French/ Spanish/ German/ etc. and I don’t remember any of it.” That’s because humans don’t learn language by memorizing vocabulary lists and filling out grammar worksheets! Your own children acquired their first language because they received “abundant, comprehensible input” (according to Dr. Krashen, linguist and researcher). Essentially, you spoke to them, read to them, and sang to them in their first language, and that is how they learned to speak. 

Here at CCCS, we will do things differently. I strongly  believe that students can acquire a second language the same way they acquired their first language.  That means that my job as their teacher is to load them full of abundant, personalized, comprehensible input, or in other words, Spanish that they can understand. This looks vastly different than a traditional Spanish classroom. In our class, we will create stories, sing songs, discuss culture and current events, talk about our lives and play games, all as vehicles to deliver Spanish that they understand.  If this sparks your curiosity, I invite you to observe a lesson or two to see what Comprehensible Input Teaching looks like. Please send me an email and we’ll set it up!

Since this isn’t your typical class, it makes sense than our grading philosophy looks different than other classes. Rather than basing your student’s grade on categories like Quizzes and Homework, your student will be evaluated in the four language skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing, and so every grade in the gradebook will measure your student’s progress in a specific skill. 

Please feel free to email me throughout the year with questions or comments. I value parent communication and I will do my best to respond promptly. 

Looking forward to a great school year!

Dear Parents, 

 To ensure our students’ success, we will be using a method called TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling). 

Research shows that we acquire a foreign language most easily through activities that simulate the way we learned our native language.  Using “comprehensible input” We will try to re-create as much as possible the way students acquired their first language by doing the following:

1.     Exposing students to as much comprehensible input in the target language as possible through listening and reading activities, tailored to their level of understanding.
2.     Relying on repetition of language structure and vocabulary so that it will be stored in students’ long-term memory so that they can use it easily in new linguistic situations.
3.     Using vocabulary and grammar in context in stories and conversations so that students do not need to memorize vocabulary lists or do repetitive grammar exercises.
4.     Using gestures, pantomime, and role-playing which mimic real situations and which connect action with meaning in the students’ brains.
5.     Having students read as much in the target language as possible, both in class and at home as a way of providing them with more comprehensible input.

 

            For best success in Spanish class, students must:

• BE IN CLASS!   It is impossible to recreate the classroom learning experience at home.  If absent, students should review the current Quizlet vocab list (always linked on my Google Doc Moodle page) but it will not be the same as being in class. You can also contact me through email and I will work with you. 
• PAY ATTENTION!   Students should listen, focus and contribute to class stories since participation is worth 20% of their grade.

 

 If you want to help your student, you can:

• Ask your child to tell you the current story in Spanish (even though you may not understand it).
• Encourage him/her to complete homework, usually once a week. This will not apply for all students, mostly just middle schoolers. 
• Check his/her grades on a regular basis on Infinite Campus.