Unit 6 — ¿Cómo es tu escuela? (Tell me about your school)
Description
Students develop the ability to describe their school, classes, teachers, and daily schedules while comparing educational systems in Spanish-speaking countries with the United States. The unit addresses curriculum differences, schedules, class length, and cultural attitudes toward education and language learning. Students learn time-telling, ordinal numbers, and vocabulary related to school subjects and classroom objects. Activities include schedule comparison, research on foreign schools, and descriptive presentations about their educational experiences.
Essential Questions
- Do Spanish-speaking students learn the same information as I do? What's different, and what's the same? Why?
- How does their school day differ from mine? Schedule? Courses? Meals?
- How is a course in a 'second language' treated in an elementary, middle, or high school schedule in other countries? How is English (as a second language) treated in a typical schedule in other parts of the world?
- What supplies are needed to be successful in school? Are they different between countries?
Learning Objectives
- Describe their school, classes, and teachers using basic vocabulary and simple sentences
- State the time and identify class schedules using ordinal numbers and time expressions
- Express preferences for school subjects and classes
- Ask and answer questions about school day structure and class content
- Read and interpret school schedules and classroom information
- Recognize cultural differences in educational practices and school structures
- Compare and contrast school systems in Spanish-speaking countries with their own school
Supplemental Resources
- Printed copies of school schedules from Spanish-speaking countries for comparison
- Index cards with school subject vocabulary
- Chart paper for creating comparison charts or Venn diagrams
- Markers and colored pencils for schedule presentations
Interpersonal Mode
Interpretive Mode
Presentational Mode
Students engage in speaking, listening, reading, and writing activities that develop communication skills. Through interpersonal dialogues, students practice oral expression. In interpretive tasks, students read and analyze authentic Spanish texts. In presentational modes, students write descriptions, create narratives, and present information orally, developing both language production and comprehension skills aligned with English Language Arts standards.
Students investigate cultural practices, traditions, and perspectives of Spanish-speaking countries through primary and secondary sources. Units incorporate geography, history, and civic understanding of diverse communities. Students analyze how cultural values influence daily life, family structures, and social customs, developing global citizenship and cross-cultural competency.
Students develop digital literacy and online safety skills through the use of digital tools and applications. They practice problem-solving and critical thinking when evaluating solutions to real-world problems such as climate change. Students engage in research and information gathering from reliable sources, managing digital identity appropriately while creating and sharing presentations and multimedia content.
Students create visual presentations, design posters, and develop multimedia projects that integrate Spanish language content with artistic expression. Through dramatization, skits, and performance-based assessments, students communicate cultural narratives and personal information using artistic mediums alongside language skills.
Students explore climate change and environmental awareness through Spanish-language contexts, connecting scientific concepts to cultural practices in Spanish-speaking regions. Units include vocabulary related to weather, seasons, and geographic features that influence climate and human activity in target language communities.
Formative Assessments
- Vocabulary activities related to school subjects, classroom objects, and people
- Time-telling and ordinal number practice activities
- Listening comprehension with descriptions of school schedules and classes
- Partner interviews about class preferences and school day structure
- Schedule interpretation and creation activities
Summative Assessment
Students present their daily schedule to the class describing which classes they have and expressing preferences; research a typical school day in a Spanish-speaking country and compare it to their own schedule using a Venn diagram; create a school supply list with descriptions and quantities; and write or present about their school, teachers, and classes
Benchmark Assessment
A short speaking or writing task in which students describe their school schedule using time expressions and ordinal numbers, identify at least three classes with simple descriptive sentences, and state one preference for a school subject. This assesses listening, speaking, vocabulary, and time-telling skills from Unit 6.
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through oral responses or teacher-led conversation in place of written or presentational tasks. Visual supports such as labeled images of school subjects, classroom objects, and time visuals may be provided, along with sentence frames to structure descriptions of their school and schedule.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
For this unit's focus on vocabulary acquisition, time-telling, and descriptive language, students may benefit from graphic organizers that visually map school vocabulary by category (subjects, people, objects) to reduce cognitive load during production tasks. Sentence frames and word banks should be available to support both oral and written output, particularly when students are forming descriptions and comparisons. Extended time and the option to respond orally rather than in writing will help ensure that language knowledge is accurately demonstrated rather than masked by output challenges. Break multi-step tasks such as schedule comparison into smaller, clearly sequenced components with checkpoints for feedback.
Section 504
Students in this unit benefit from extended time on vocabulary and schedule-based tasks, as interpreting and producing time expressions and ordinal numbers requires processing accuracy. Preferential seating near the teacher during listening comprehension activities supports focus, and a reduced-distraction environment is especially helpful when students are asked to interpret or produce schedule information. Providing printed copies of any board or projected schedule content removes the need to copy under time pressure.
ELL / MLL
Because this unit bridges students' home school experiences with those of Spanish-speaking countries, teachers should invite students to draw on their own educational backgrounds as meaningful entry points into the cultural comparison content. Visual supports such as labeled schedule templates, picture-supported vocabulary for classroom objects and subjects, and side-by-side schedule formats will make the unit's content more accessible. Simplified oral directions for activities, paired with visual models, help clarify expectations, and allowing students to use their home language during initial brainstorming or planning supports deeper conceptual engagement before producing in Spanish.
At Risk (RTI)
Students who need additional support in this unit can be anchored to familiar content — their own school day — as a concrete and personally relevant starting point before expanding to compare with schools in Spanish-speaking countries. Reducing the scope of vocabulary introduced at one time, while reinforcing high-priority words through repeated, multimodal encounters, helps build a functional base for participation. Providing partially completed graphic organizers or schedule templates lowers the initial barrier to entry and allows students to focus their effort on demonstrating language understanding rather than navigating open-ended formats.
Gifted & Talented
Students who have mastered the unit's core vocabulary and descriptive structures can pursue deeper investigation into how educational policy, language of instruction, or regional variation shapes school culture across different Spanish-speaking countries, moving beyond surface-level schedule comparison. They may examine authentic materials such as real school timetables, enrollment statistics, or student testimonials to analyze systemic differences rather than simply listing them. Encouraging students to consider the social and historical factors that have shaped educational systems — including the role of Spanish as a language of instruction in formerly colonized regions — pushes thinking into analysis and evaluation rather than description alone.