About me |
I have been blessed to be teaching at St. Theresa Catholic School since 1989. In the first few years I taught Spanish only to the upper grade students, assisted individual students who needed English as a Second Language instruction, and did work with students who needed Speech Therapy. This year I am teaching only Spanish to every wonderful "angel" (student) from PreSchool through 8th Grade. With nearly 600 students to teach Spanish to, I am afraid that there is not room in my schedule any longer for the formal E.S.L. or Speech Therapy classes.
We have been blessed this year with help from Mrs. Corona, one of our wonderful teacher aides. She is fluent in Spanish and has been helping for a few hours in the morning with the question and answer sessions, assisting students with story translations, helping to grade some of the papers, and being a marvelous resource for the children!
I received my Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education from the University of Arizona. I have teaching credentials for both Secondary and Elementary Education. I have additional specialist endorsements in Bilingual Education and English as a Second Language. I have since continued to add over 125 post-graduate units from Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, University of Phoenix, Ottawa University, and several other colleges and universities.
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Message |
Our Spanish Program at St. Theresa Catholic School both meets, and often exceeds the Diocesan, State and National Standards for Foreign Language Instruction. We offer lessons in Spanish once a week for students in PreSchool through 4th Grade. We offer two classes a week for 45 minutes each to the students in grades five and six. We offer 50 minute classes five days a week for one semester to the students in grades seven and eight.
Most of the students in the Lower Grade levels are like fabulous "sponges". They are able to soak up the new vocabulary and dive head-first right into the language classes without any difficulty.
However, as the children progress into the 5th through 8th Grade levels, the challenges of the language classes do increase. Therefore, we offer a special opportunity to students who are new to St. Theresa Catholic School and especially to students who have not had previous exposure to the Spanish language. We call it "Spanish Weekend Warriors". Students are invited to come in on Sunday afternoons from 3:30 - 5:30 for the first month or so of the new school year. I cook, bake, and prepare many yummy treats which we enjoy munching while learning the basics of the target language. We do this through the use of many fun and entertaining activities. Usually after four or five weekends the children feel comfortable in their classes with their peers. For those students in the upper grades who might need additional support throughout the year, I provide Thursday morning study sessions from 7:30 - 7:55. We meet in my classroom, Room 15 to provide that little extra help with some of the more difficult topics.
I also offer a make-up session every week. I stay after school every Thursday after school until 4:00 for students who might have missed a test, a flashcard game or a difficult assignment due to illness.
Some children do have a harder time mastering a new language. To that end I do provide many opportunities for extra credit each quarter. If the children go onto the St. Theresa Catholic School Website, they will find the Staff page. On the Staff Page, they will find my sub-site, Mrs. Sotelo. Room 15. Once there, the students will find lots of Quia games which they can play to increase their fluency and improve their general knowledge of Spanish. In addition, each student may play up to eight different Quia game topics per grading quarter for bonus points. Each of the eight Quia games can count for up to 25 bonus points. I also, periodically throughout the quarter, assign extra homework assignments, memorization of Spanish prayers or special projects which can be completed for extra credit.
In the springtime, our Eighth Grade students are preparing for the regular high school entrance exams. Some of our students also like to try to prepare for the Spanish proficiency tests. I try to reserve the Tuesday morning study sessions to bolster the many and varied skills which are needed for each of the specific high schools language exams. Some of the high schools are more focused on the oral aspects of the language. Other high schools are much more focused on the spelling, grammatical and written aspects of the language. I work very hard to provide a balanced program which will give them a solid background in the language prior to moving up to the more concentrated high school level programs. |
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