A retrospective of over one hundred years reveals the evolution of different policies, approaches, and methodology for teaching foreign languages to young children and shows pivotal points in events and policies. Three periods are distinguished: 1898 to 1958; the growth period of 1958 to 1978; and development since 1978. Details concerning Spanish…

Examination of the cultural content in grammar exercises in recent college-level Spanish textbooks suggests a trend toward integration of cultural content with grammar, in accordance with recent research on form-based practice within a communicative context. Teachers can supplement their texts' offerings by creating form-focused activities with…

An oral testing method used in an intensive high school Spanish program is based on a model of communicative competence positing four forms of competence: strategic; sociolinguistic; discourse; and linguistic. All oral domains but linguistic are tested in the first and second years. In the first year, benchmark testing occurs. The rubric used has…

Study investigated whether/how teachers of a team-taught college introductory course in Portuguese met National Standards on teaching of culture. Teachers met many of the standards, but students had few opportunities to develop perspectives on cultural patterns and products. Use of the term "native culture" and the complexity of cultural education…

FLAME (Foreign Language Alternative Mastery Example) is a model for foreign language in the elementary school (FLES), conducted after school and focused on development of a broad vocabulary base, especially cognates and terms relevant to the student's everyday environment. In the program, FLES student teachers collaborate with a university-based…

Argues that communicative competence in Spanish as a second language can not be taught without giving attention to the grammatical component of language. Compares aspects of the traditional and communicative approaches to language teaching, refers to theory on grammar instruction, and offers examples of classroom activities supporting the learning…

Argues that where Spanish is in contact with Quechua, the Spanish present perfect, preterite, and pluperfect are in contrast on the basis of a spatio-temporal parameter derived from the notion of present relevance. These innovative uses come from interaction between semantic systems of Quechua and Spanish and are consistent with universals of the…

A simulation game for a Spanish classroom provided each team with a fictitious profile of a Spanish-speaking person. Students made decisions for the characters regarding school, career, leisure activities and family. Slides and films on Spanish-Americans were shown. (CHK)

Discusses the teaching of derivatives of irregular Spanish verbs in order to reinforce irregular patterns and increase the students' active vocabularies. (NCR)

Provides suggestions for the integration of literary analysis courses in college Spanish programs. Includes references for students and for teachers. (AM)

Integrating a foreign language culture into the teaching of the language is discussed, and a list of methods is provided.

Describes an inductive approach to teaching the general characteristics of a literary movement or period. Without prior discussion, students are asked to identify similarities among various art forms of a given period; this procedure stimulates further study, exploration, and disscussion of the subject. (EJS)

In New York State, the 24 brightest fifth and sixth graders from Avon, Caledonia, and York participated in a project funded by Title IV minigrants, distributed through BOCES. The children were bussed to a central point and permitted to study whatever they wished; Spanish was the first subject selected. (EJS)

Since it is assumed that students' classroom behaviors reflect learning modalities and attitudes, this investigation was undertaken to assist teachers in identifying their students' individual differences. (Author/NCR)

This paper suggests guidelines for poetry study. Studying unfamiliar vocabulary, allusions and surface and underlying meaning are the general steps, followed by specific questioning regarding poem genre, rhyme, meter, imagery and content, for an overall evaluation. (CHK)