“Fourth Grade is the heart of childhood.”
Don Basmajian
A child in the fourth grade is between nine and ten years old. They have gone through the important nine-year change, and thus they are now “Citizens of the Earth.” They challenge authority, they are playful, fully present, eager to play and discover their individual strengths. They love challenges. They like experimenting with language.
Individuality is an important matter at this age. They are strong and eager to work and learn. The fourth grade main lesson curriculum is designed to address this joy and healthy fire.
It is very useful to know what they are working on in their Main Lesson, as this will also create even more interest in the content of the foreign language lesson. However, this is not always possible, and that is fine too. I also introduce Hispanic culture, topics from their Main Lesson, festivals of the year, or just whatever choice I have made for a main story (see ahead).
Some of the techniques and areas we cover in the foreign language lesson are the following:
Drama
The use of drama and less so, the technique of role playing, is recommended by Johannes Kiersch as an excellent way to raise language acquisition and performance as the students get so involved in the situation, that they forget they are actually speaking a foreign language.
Literacy
The usual practice is to introduce writing and reading in the later part of third grade. Steiner mentioned, “In the teaching of foreign languages, turn to writing as late as possible.” I have personally found this time to be rather the middle of third grade. At this age their imitation capabilities are almost completely gone and they are thirsty for learning the alphabet and discovering how familiar words are written in Spanish.
I begin by introducing the alphabet, and we have fun with the consonants that have a different pronunciation. Then we play a lot with the vowels, for they definitely have a different sound in Spanish than in English. By April we make drawings and begin writing of simple, well known vocabulary, such as casa, first with easily recognizable phonemes and later on with the ones that are more
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characteristic to the Spanish language, such as j, rr, ll, ch, que, and of course, ñ, as in Español. Every letter is an amazing discovery, and they immediately want to start writing their names “in Spanish”, such as Pétalo for Petal, Sofía for Sophia, Juan for John, etc. It is a great moment of discovery because they realize and observe the differences and peculiarities of each language. They are intrigued by the sounds of vowels and have the overall feeling that writing is enjoyable and easy. Beginning this way sets the stage for later writing and reading in fourth grade.
In traditional teaching in Waldorf schools, it is also in fourth grade when children write in their books what they have learned so far, as well as the new material. Usually this is the time when the first grammar rules are observed and recorded in their Spanish books, although some teachers prefer to start with explicit grammar instruction and awareness in the sixth grade.
Singing and Recitation
Singing and recitation still play an important part in the fourth grade curriculum. The educational benefit of combining music and poetry has been well described by Steiner, in the book Balance in Teaching, with the description of the Dyonisian and the Appollonian elements in language and music.
Tongue-twisters, riddles, limericks, are excellent speech exercises. The use of poetry is always of great benefit, and as stated by Kato Lomb, polyglot and teacher of foreign languages:
“Do not be shy of learning poems or songs by heart. Good diction plays a more significant role in speech performance than the mere articulation of individual sounds. Verses and melodies impose certain constraints. They set what sounds must be long and which ones must be short in duration.
They rhythm inherent in them guides speakers and helps them avoid the intonation traps of their native language.”16
Every time we teach children something to be learned by heart, they need to understand its meaning fully and have a precise feeling for what they are saying.
Our characterization of the poem should be full of pictorial images so that they can be part of the scene and feel what the author is conveying.
16 Kató Lomb´s strategies for language learning and SLA theory, by Scott Alkire, San Jose State University http://www.tprstories.com/ijflt/IJFLTFall05.pdf
Vocabulary
Their passive vocabulary is usually broad by fourth grade. Vocabulary is not taught as isolated, thematic lists, out of context. We usually try to link new words to real objects, new verbs to a gesture.
“Word and object become linked through an activity.”
An example of the vocabulary and grammatical expectations for this grade is beautifully described by Christof Jaffke as follows:
“She has a command of the important phonemes of the new language and has a sound feeling for its patterns of intonation. She understands appropriately told stories and is capable of coping with a part in a small play. She can take part in simple conversations about the weather, family and school and has a store of rhymes, poems, songs, and games of various kinds. She has an elementary active vocabulary, covering, as a rule, the following areas: parts of the body, objects in the classroom, spatial directions, prepositions, colors, numbers, time, plants and animals, weather, days of the week, seasons and festivals, crafts and professions. Grammar structures of varying complexity underlie all her spoken language. Of these, a certain number are laid down through practice; the children use them, but they are no more consciously aware of the existence of grammar than they were while learning their mother tongue. Among the most important elements of grammar in the first years of school are: present, some past tense, singular and plural forms of nouns, personal and demonstrative pronouns.”17
Work on their Spanish Books
The Spanish Main Lesson book may usually include beautifully written and illustrated poems, riddles, songs, etc.
In our Student Practice Book we will have the stories we made up in class, any drawings related to them, our vocabulary and structure lists, etc. We will use them also to do some free-writing of original or reviewed stories and for spelling practice.
Simple grammar notes are made in the simplest way possible, including only the rule.
How to put all these together?
In Waldorf schools we follow the human being’s development in order to answer all questions regarding methods.
17 Jaffke, C., Zur Begründung und Durchführung des Fremdsprachenunterrichts in den ersten drei Schuljahren, Stuttgart, 1984
When we engage in learning, we need to first go through a threshold that gets us ready for the subject matter; once we are “warmed-up,” there is an openness to receive the new, in a more or less conscious manner. Then we need to integrate the newly acquired into our being, a process that should happen in a conscious/unconscious way when learning a foreign language. This can also be translated as
1. working with the feeling/rhythmical,
2. the thinking/conscious,
3. and the willing/unconscious qualities of our souls.
In a foreign language lesson, this can take the following form, including one or some, or all of the following:
Rhythmical section:
• Greeting
• Speech with movement
• Opening verse
• Tongue twister, speech exercise, song
Thinking section:
• Opening (some conversation about weather, latest affairs, etc.) • Review of the last structures, items, etc.
• Introduction of new material
Willing section:
• Practice: reading, writing or oral re-telling
• Games (optional); some kind of unwinding, out-breath activity • Good-bye verse, song, movement
These need not be strictly separated; for example, the “Thinking” section may contain several elements of rhythm and movement, while the “Willing” section may also contain a strong “thinking” component.
It is very important to maintain a rhythm and order in our activities, always beginning and ending the lesson in the same way, as a ritual.
At the end of this work I have included a guide to plan a lesson in this way. (See Appendix 1)