Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world with more than 400 million native speakers. There are currently 41 million native Spanish speaker living in the United States today, according the a recent New York Post article. It is also the third most studied world language after French and English.
At Horizon West Middle School our Spanish Department is quite extensive. The courses offered are Beginning Spanish and Spanish for Spanish Speakers (M/J SSS), Spanish 1 & 2, and Spanish for Spanish Speakers (SSS) 1 & 2. The Beginning leveled courses introduce students to the Spanish Language and Spanish speaking cultures. Students will learn beginning skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Beginning Spanish is ideal for students who are new to the language with no previous exposure and it will prepare them for Spanish 1. The Spanish for Spanish Speakers for beginners is ideal for native Spanish speaking students who need to reinforce their Spanish language skills in order to continue their knowledge of the language and culture and prepare them for SSS 1.
There are four courses that are offered to help students advance and receive high school credit. Spanish 1 is a beginners course for students with some previous exposure to the language and Spanish 2 for those students who passed Spanish 1. Spanish for Speakers 1 focuses on the grammatical reading and writing skills and historical culture of the language to and prepares them for SSS 2. Both Spanish 2 and SSS 2 reinforce the skills students had in their level 1 courses and help them gain proficiency in the language.