Based on the practical and excellent recommendations given by Christoff Yaffke, by the fourth grade I expect my students to have a more or less elementary active vocabulary relative to the following aspects of Spanish:
• basic phonemes (pronunciation) and patterns of intonation • can hold a simple conversation regarding her name, age, family members, pets, school, food, etc.
• expressing feelings, likes and dislikes, aches and pains, hunger, etc. • weather conditions
• describe a simple nature scene
• spatial directions and prepositions
• basic food, likes and dislikes
• colors, numbers up to 100
• clothes, parts of the body
• objects in the classroom
• time, days of the week, months of the year, seasons and festivals • animals
Regarding grammatical structures, the beginning fourth grade student might also be familiar with a few basic verb combinations, such as I want to.., I like to …., can I…? etc., plus basic understanding about the use of gender and number as well as the most basic “movement” verbs.
In order to start the design of the fourth grade Storytelling curriculum, it is useful to know the list of desired structures to be taught throughout the year. We extract our curriculum from the children’s everyday lives. We look at what matters to them and we go from there. We form a list of most commonly used vocabulary and phrases, joining both general practical phrases and their age appropriate vocabulary. As we mentioned before, this is commonly called the Small Circle. In the Stories section I added two examples of how my choice of curriculum words matches what they need to express. Here are two examples of Small Circles.
Sample 1 was offered by a colleague and Sample 2 was my actual list for my students in the 2011-2012 school year. These are not recipes, only guidelines; I offer both so that you may compare and come up with your own idea of what you want or need to teach.
SMALL CIRCLE, Sample 1
hay there is, there are
está is (location, emotions)
es is (qualities)
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le gusta he/she likes
tiene he/she has
no tiene he/she does not have se llama he/she is called quiere he/she wants
necesita he/she needs
le gusta + infinitivo he/she likes to (verb)
se levanta he/she gets up
se sienta he/she sits down se lava he/she washes himself se duerme he/she falls asleep se pone he/she puts on
se quita he/she takes off se mira he/she looks at him or herself
rápido quickly
despacio slowly
camina he/she walks
salta he/she jumps
para he/she stops
sube he/she goes up baja he/she goes down da una vuelta he/she turns around grita he/she yells
corre he/she runs
mira he/she looks
toca he/she touches señala he/she points
come he/she eats
la mano the hand
la pierna the leg
la cabeza the head
los ojos the eyes
la nariz the nose
las orejas the ears
la boca the mouth
la chica the girl
el chico the boy
el piso, suelo the floor
el techo the ceiling
escribe he/she writes
dibuja he/she draws
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tira la pelota he/she throws the ball
atrapa, agarra, coge he/she grabs
corta con tijeras he/she cuts with scissors toma he/she takes
pone he/she puts
le dice he/she says to him/her
sabe he/she knows
habla he/she
necesita he/she needs
llora he/she cries
escapa he/she escapes
escucha he/she listens
puede he/she can
va he/she goes (adding the I and you forms) sabe he/she knows
llegar he/she arrives
pensar he/she thinks
pasar he/she passes
vive he/she lives
trabaja he/she works
entra he/she enters
sale he/she goes out
contar he/she counts or tells
dormir he/she sleeps
el pelo the hair
a la izquierda to the left
a la derecha to the right
el pie the foot
el reloj the watch
el brazo the arm
el hombro the shoulder
el lápiz the pencil
la pluma the pen
la cara the face
arriba up, on top
abajo down
debajo below
el papel the paper
el libro the book
vaso de agua glass of water
jugo de naranja orange juice
día day
noche night
tarde afternoon
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hombre man
mujer woman
familia: hermano, family: brother, hijo, abuela, etc. son, grandma, etc. nuevo new
viejo old
entonces then
pero but
ahora now
ya already
después afterwards
antes before
cerca nearby, close
lejos far
temprano early
tarde late
siempre always
nunca never
cuándo when
dónde where
quién who
qué what
por qué why
adónde where to
animals animals
SMALL CIRCLE, Sample 2
hay there is
un chico a boy
una chica a girl
un gato a cat
un ratón a mouse
un problema a problem
se llama is called, calls him or herself corre he/she runs
llora he/she cries
grita he/she yells
se ríe he/she laughs escucha he/she listens
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piensa he/she thinks
habla he/she speaks
le dice he/she says to him or to her vive en he/she lives in
tiene una idea he/she has an idea
tiene miedo he/she is afraid
tiene hambre he/she is hungry
está contento (contenta) he/she is happy
está enojado (enojada) he/she is mad
a …….. le gusta he/she likes
dice he/she says
debajo de la mesa under the table
la silla the chair
la puerta the door
la ventana the window
se pone he/she puts on
se quita he/she takes off
se levanta he/she gets up
se acuesta he/she lays down
se sienta he/she sits
mira he/she looks
se mira en el espejo he/she looks at him or herself in the mirror
salta he/she jumps
escribe una nota he/she writes a note
lee un libro he/she reads a book
abre la puerta he/she opens the door
cierra la ventana he/she closes the window camina he/she walks
para he/she stops
come he/she eats
le gusta comer he/she likes to eat
canta he/she sings
le duele it hurts him or her
pinta he/she paints
corta he/she cuts
señala he/she points at
rápido fast
despacio slow
regresa he/she comes back
quiere comprar he/she wants to buy
compra he/she buys
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la tienda the store
la vieja the old lady
nuevo new
pobre poor
rico rich
el campo the countryside la ciudad the city
el hombre the man
va a he/she goes to
entra a he/she enters into ve he/she sees
un papel a paper
los lentes the eyeglasses sabe he/she knows sabe leer he/she knows how to read puede leer he/she can read puedo leer I can read
sabe escribir he/she knows how to write por fin finally
siempre always
nadie nobody, no one nunca never
pronombres: yo, tú, él, ella pronouns: I, you, he, she se va he/she leaves le pregunta he/she asks him/her le contesta he/she answers por eso that’s why
necesita he/she needs la pelota the ball
el espejo the mirror
el reloj the clock, the watch