La Maestra
¡Hola! My name is Barb Iannazzo, and I am the K-5 Spanish teacher. This is my third year teaching Spanish at St. Mary’s. I have a B.S. degree in Elementary Education and a minor degree in Spanish. Last summer (thanks to a grant from the Vadnais Heights Community Fund) , I spent a week in Costa Rica living with a family and taking Spanish classes during the day. It was a wonderful experience, and I plan to do it again as soon as possible!

La clase de español
Our textbook series is ¡Viva el espanõl! The overall objective of this series is to develop, reinforce, and refine communicative competency in listening, speaking, reading, writing and culture. We will accomplish this by using two methodologies: The Natural Approach and Total Physical Response. Without getting too technical, these methods teach us Spanish the same way we learned our first language. The results are greater retention and a greater ability to create new and meaningful messages.

In my classroom there will be lots of listening, modeling, positive reinforcement, and meaningful and effective communication in a low-stress, non-threatening environment. There will be a lot of movement, singing, games, partner and group work.

The curriculum provides opportunities for you and your child to interact in Spanish through the Home Connection page I will be sending home periodically. Don’t throw it away! Have fun with the activities on it! It is usually attached to the weekly newsletter I send out to inform you about what is going on in each class. This comes home in the Thursday packets.

The Website
We are trying out a new website for K-5 Spanish this year. It is called “Quia” and you can access it at: www.quia.com/pages/senorai.html.

It has a calendar that shows the day your student has Spanish class and other events of the month. It has links to other Spanish websites that I have tried. There is a link to a website that shows lists of vocabulary we have covered in class and a pronunciation guide to help you at home. There are activities that come directly from our textbook series. You just need to click on the chapter that we are studying to get some extra practice!

¡Adiós
My phone is 429-7771 ext 274. Don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions or concerns.

Senõra Iannazzo