Spanish & Computer Class

Alicia Maria Behnken

(801) 392-2912

HOLA! My name is Alicia Behnken. I teach Spanish and Computer Classes for various
grades at St. Paul.

SOMETHING ABOUT ME

I am a native of Nicaragua and I have been in the United States for 25 years. I am married to Bill Behnken and we have three children. I have 19 years of professional experience and held high level management positions. My decision to pursue a career in education is a result of my desire to bring positive energy, motivate students to go beyond the normal expectations, and most important bring practical learning into the classroom.


DEGREES

• Associates with minor in Math - Cypress College, CA
• Bachelor of Science (major - Operations Management) - California State Fullerton
• Masters of Business Administration, University of Phoenix
• Teaching Licensure, State of Utah (Elementary, Computer, Spanish license)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Hewlett-Packard Company- 10 years as Director of Procurement
• Iomega Corporation- 9 years as Director of Latin America and US Sales

INSTRUCTIONAL HISTORY

• Hewlett-Packard- Taught Project Management and Business Processes to entry level employees

MISSION STATEMENT & TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

1.	Encourage risk taking where students feel free to speak out and take guesses. We all learn from our mistakes.
2.	Provide an exciting, comfortable, and non-threatening environment in which students are encouraged to learn through taking risks.
3.	Promote a classroom community in which students encourage and aid one another in their study of Spanish language. Share what you know and ask questions about what you don't!
4.	Incorporate authentic material and resources to make Hispanic culture come alive in the classroom.
5.	Stay abreast of events within the Hispanic Community in order to aid my students in making connections between the cultures
6.	Be a readily available resource for my students
7.	Always exceed expectations!

EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS IN SPANISH CLASS

1.	Spanish the only language spoken, and make evident that this process is about trial and error
2.	Use each other as a learning tool and sources of knowledge (team approach)
3.	Feel free to speak out at any time and even converse with each other on the simple condition that it be done in Spanish
4.	Venture out using whatever means they can to make themselves understood
5.	Realize that this is their class, their language experience and they will gain

SPANISH CURRICULUM

Preschool-Kindergarten

1. Colors
2. Vowels
3. Numbers and their recognition in Spanish from 1-30
4. Animals (Introduction to Gender & Singular vs Plural)
5. Opposites
6. Members of the family
7. Basic body parts
8. Names of the fruits
9. Spanish Alphabet

First Grade

1. Back to school vocabulary (la mesa, la silla, el libro, etc)
2. Recognizing the vowels in Spanish and its sounds
3. Implementing spelling in Spanish
4. Vocabulary of clothes (la falda, el pantalon, los calcetines)
5. Seasons/weather
6. Introduction to writting in Spanish (dictation)
7. Reading simple books in Spanish
8. Introduction to the most frequent verbs in Spanish
   

2nd Grade

1. Review
2. Personal introductions
3. Days of the week/months of the year
4. Continue numbers/adding/substraction in Spanish
5. Use of different adjectives
6. More use of verbs (ir, pintar, patinar, nadar, jugar)
7. Food
8. Introduction to short dialogues
9. Use of pronouns in Spanish
10. Use of grammatical gender in Spanish
11. Singulars and plurals

3rd Grade

1. Daily routines/Reflexive verbs (banarse, peinarse, lavarse, etc.)
2. My Community (Vocabulary in town)
3. Introductions to verb "to be" in Spanish
4. Instruction of the division of the verbs in Spanish/verbs with "ar", "er" and "ir"
5. Conjugations and use of the regular "ar" verbs
6. Vocabulary of food
7. Use of the Spanish-English Dictionary
8. Reading short stories and answer questions (Reading/Comprehension)
9. Introduction of the words use on the construction of questions (Cuando, como, donde, etc)

4th Grade

1. Common phrases (No se, no entiendo, repita for favor)
2. Introduction to the use of the "er" verbs in Spanish
3. Introduction to the use of the "ir" verbs and its conjugation
4. Numbers to 500
5. Vocabulary of food and use of most complicated verbs that can be use with ordering food (pedir, querer, etc)
6. Introduction of math in Spanish
7. Use of Spanish-English Dictionary
8. Learn about Hispanic Culture

5th Grade

1. Metric System
2. People/Roles in Life
3. Everyday Objects
4. Calendar
5. Time
6. Formal vs. Informal
7. Irregular-AR Verbs

6th & 7th Grade

1. Places and locations, Prepositions
2. Home
3. Feelings/Emotions
4. Expressions of Time
5. Family
6. Pets
7. Sports
8. Affirmative and Negative Words
9. Regular-ER-IR Verbs
10. Stem-Changing verbs

8th Grade

1. Students will begin using a Spanish Text, "Expresate"
1. Build on previous knowledge, encourage practice of vocabulary and pronunciation through homework and daily use of the language
2. Use of different irregular and regular verbs
1. To be (ser y estar)
2. To go (ir)
3. To see (ver)
4. To do/make (hacer)
5. To tell/say (decir)
6. To give (dar)
2. Present Progressive Tense
3. Near Future tense
4. Adverbs
5. Contractions

COMPUTER CURRICULUM

Curriculum will be Grade based; just like Spanish

1. Keyboarding is a key foundation
2. Accuracy and speed

Lower Grades (PS-3rd Grade) will focus on keyboarding, understanding of computers and uses, and some introduction to internet with a combination of some projects

Upper Grades (4th-8th Grade) will focus on keyboarding, understanding of computers and uses, introduction to internet, research, projects, presentations, and learning basic Microsoft Applications (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).