Spanish/Español

RAZ-KIDS

As a part of our Spanish literacy program, we encourage students to read at least three times a week in Spanish.  All students have access to Raz- Kids, which is an award-winning teaching product that provides comprehensive levelled reading resources for students.

Students access their levelled text through an interactive learning portal designed to keep them motivated and engaged.  The levelled texts have been allocated to students based on their reading assessments.

Every eBook is available in online and mobile formats, and allows students to listen to, read at their own pace, and record themselves reading. Students then take a corresponding eQuiz complete with an extended answer response to test comprehension and determine future instruction needs.

Below are some tips and hint and how to help your child when reading in Spanish:            

• Listen to the audio book first and then encourage your child to repeat.
• Use a bilingual dictionary or Google translate. 

Spanish Sounds and Pronunciation: 

Use these tables of special sounds to help you become expert readers in Spanish at home with your child!

The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters; most of the consonants have the same sound as the English alphabet apart from the ones below. There are also some extra sounds, which are also included in the tables below.

Las Vocales/Vowels

Consonantes/ Consonants

• If ‘Y’ is at the end of a word as in ‘Ley’ sounds like the letter ‘I’ (/ee/): 

Below is a video of how to access to Raz-kids:

If you have any questions please contact your child’s teacher. 

We thank you all of your for the continue support of our Bilingual program.

SPANISH CULTURAL WEEK AT NEWLANDS

This year Newlands Primary School is very excited to introduce our Spanish/Cultural week which will take place during the last week of every term!

The last week of learning at Newlands will be 100% in Spanish. This will be led by Spanish teachers with full support of the English teachers.  

Every term will focus on a celebration of a Spanish speaking country. Students during that week will be learning about different aspects of the country/celebration, whereby they will be immersed in different cultures while continuing to develop their reading, writing , speaking and listening skills in Spanish. 

This term will take place between the 4th and 8th April with a focus on the ‘Carnival of Barranquilla”.  Below you can find a briefly explanation of the carnival.

The Carnival of Barranquilla  is one of Colombia's most important folkloric celebrations, and one of the biggest carnivals in the world. The carnival has traditions that date back to the 19th century. Four days before Holy Week, Barranquilla decks itself out to receive national and foreign tourists and joins together with the city's inhabitants to enjoy four days of intense festivities. During the carnival, Barranquilla's normal activities are put aside as the city gets busy with street dances, musical and masquerade parades. The Carnival Of Barranquilla includes dances such as the Spanish paloteo, African Congo, and indigenous mico y micas. Many styles of Colombian music are also performed, most prominently cumbia, and instruments include drums and wind ensembles. The Carnival of Barranquilla was proclaimed a Cultural Masterpiece of the Nation by Colombia's National Congress in 2002.  Also the UNESCO declared it one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

We will continue to post more information about this exciting week, in the next coming weeks.