Shorecrest Preparatory School offers Spanish at all grade levels in the Lower Division. The curriculum is designed specifically for young students and aims to develop listening, speaking, reading, writing, and the cultural awareness that leads to communicative competency. Language acquisition is approached in a gradual and linguistically appropriate manner, which is enjoyable and non-threatening, similar to the way children learn their native language.

Kindergarten: Beginning with vowel recognition and pronunciation, the alphabet is introduced, as are the differences between English and Spanish alphabets. Vocabulary is introduced by themes such as: colors, numbers, classroom objects, shapes, farm animals, parts of the body, and clothing. Students receive an introduction to following basic commands and classroom instructions in Spanish, and are introduced to Spanish-speaking culture through holidays.

First: Review and extension of Kindergarten vocabulary presented by theme continues. Students are introduced to modes of transportation, places of recreation, and sea animals. They describe weather and clothing that is appropriate for each season, the day of the week, and month of the year. Students begin reading and writing simple words and two to three word sentences, and continue their study of Spanish speaking culture.

Second: Role-playing activties are used to create a realistic context that naturally encourages speaking skills. Students are introduced to vocabulary for common foods, basic meals, household appliances, school subjects, and sports activities. They continue vocabulary development with verbs and adjectives and begin reading and writing simple sentences about friends and family members.

Third: Students participate in role-playing and games, respond verbally to prompts, and interact with Spanish speaking puppet. They extend knowledge of meal times vocabulary, learn new verbs in the first person, and use them routinely in speaking and writing. Students are introduced to math terminology, learn to express preferences, and create a class story using newly acquired vocabulary.

Fourth: Using a Spanish textbook for the first time, students are eased into the target language through situational practice, high-frequency vocabulary, and language learning strategies. Practice with basic communication using greetings, counting, and identification of classroom objects continues. Learning basic facts about Spain and various Latin American countries is extended. Students are introduced to the rules of adjectival agreement, pertaining to shapes and colors, describe objects in singular and plural, and increase their skills of conversation.