Learning Spanish in Kindergarten at GEMS

Back by popular demand is the GEMS kindergarten Spanish program.  Each Wednesday morning, a group of 7/8 Spanish students are spending a half hour teaching the kindergartens a lesson. Not only is this an learning opportunity for our kindergarten students, it is a also a learning opportunity for our middle school students as well. Students who believe that they will have to teach material to others remember more information than students who are told that their learning will be measured by a test, according to research in the journal Memory & Cognitionpublished by the Psychonomic Society (http://www.uft.org/research-shows/benefits-students-teaching-students)

Two sessions began this week, and two more will begin in a few weeks.  The students must design a lesson appropriate to the age of the students, prepare the materials and teach. Themes include numbers, body parts, colors and animals. The National Network of Early Language Learning suggests that elementary school students have access to world language instruction because it is the best time to learn. Since that is currently not available to our students, having our middle school scholars available to reach out to younger students is a benefit.

Fun activities like songs, Simon says and personalized questions are being incorporated.  It is no easy task but the students are meeting the challenge and learning in the process!  We are all enjoying this authentic learning opportunity and hope to continue this now proud GEMS tradition.