About me |
Although I started my teaching career in public schools back in 1971, 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 and assisted individual students who needed English as a Second Language instruction. I also worked with students who needed Speech Therapy. This year I am teaching only Spanish to every wonderful "angel" (student) from Kindergarten through Fourth Grade, both Sixth Grade Classes and one section of 7th and 8th Grade Spanish Elective. Starting in mid-October, I am hoping to invite any of the students in Fifth Grade who would like to continue practicing their Spanish to bring in a lunch on Wednesdays and join me for a Munch Bunch during the eating portion of their lunch hour. Sadly, with all of these sweet 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.
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 135 post-graduate units from Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, University of Phoenix, Ottawa University, and several other colleges and universities.
|
Message |
Our Spanish Program at St. Theresa Catholic School both meets, and often exceeds the Diocesan, State and National Standards for Foreign Language Instruction. Due to recent changes in those guidelines, more emphasis will be placed on building the listening and speaking skills of our students, with a slight decrease in the emphasis on the reading and writing skills.
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 6th 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. For these students, I offer to have those students bring their lunches with them on Tuesdays and work with me during the eating time portion of their lunch hour. We do this through the use of many fun and entertaining activities. Usually after a few weeks the children feel comfortable in their classes with their peers.
I also offer a make-up session/ and or help session every week. I stay after school every Tuesday after school until 4:00 for students who might have missed a test, a flashcard game, an oral day scoring session, or a difficult assignment due to illness. Please send a note to your child's homeroom teacher on Tuesday morning if you are wishing them to stay after school to get caught up with their work or get some extra help.
They must have a note from you to be able to stay.
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 Faculty page. On the Faculty Page, they will find my sub-site, Mrs. Sotelo Room 15. At the bottom of the first page of my web page, they will find a note which asks them to "Click here" to be able to get to my second page where the students will find several Quia games which they can play to increase their fluency and improve their general knowledge of Spanish. The second page has over 50 Quia games to play. 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 a Tuesday morning study session 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.
I do ask that the children try very hard to attend all of the regular class sessions for their Spanish classes. Try not to schedule doctor appointments, orthodontist appointments, etc. during Spanish class time in that it is very hard for the students to get caught up. I further ask that the children truly focus on their classwork while in class, write down their assignments in their agendas at the end of the class session and turn in their assignments on time. A 15% penalty and a C.P.N. (Class Preparation Notice) will be assessed for any assignments which are not turned in on time. The C.P.N. and the late assignment must be turned in during the next class session or no credit will be issued. If your child is absent from school due to an illness, please have them call a friend from their class ( be sure to have them call one who is very responsible) to find out, not only what the homework will be, but also what they might have missed during the class session which they missed that day in school. By finding out what they missed and getting a head start on those assignments, they will not have a hard time in catching up on their missed work.
With all of us working together, we hope to expand their linguistic abilities as well as their appreciation of other cultures. |
|
