• Hello!

    My name is Jessica Berman, or as my students know me, Profe B. I am the new Spanish teacher at CVPA, and I am very excited to be here!

    A little bit about me: I am originally from Virginia, but I moved to Missouri to attend Webster University. In Spring 2024, I graduated with a bachelor's in World Language Education K-12 with an emphasis on Spanish and a double minor in Japanese and Film, Television, and Video Production. During my time there, I studied abroad at the University of Oviedo for a semester in Spain and had a wonderful time. I would highly recommend anyone considering going abroad to do it sooner rather than later!

    In Spanish 1, students can expect to learn some of the basics of several Spanish-speaking countries, learn some key vocabulary, practice reading, listening, and writing in Spanish daily; and even read 2 books written entirely in Spanish (these are called comprehensible readers and are written for students that are learning Spanish).

    In Spanish 2, students can expect to build on their current knowledge of Spanish-speaking countries, learn even more key vocabulary, practice reading, listening, and writing in Spanish daily; and read 3 books written entirely in Spanish.

    Both classes will also have units on grammar and participate in a national song bracket competition (Locotubre in October and Locura de Marzo in March).

    The main methodology being used in my classroom is called the comprehensible input (CI) method. Think of the student as a sponge. If you squeeze a dry sponge, nothing is going to come out; however, if you squeeze a wet sponge, water will come out. In this analogy, the sponge is the student and the water is the ability to communicate in Spanish. The idea behind it is for students (the sponge) to be exposed to a large variety of topics and media in Spanish (the water), and in their first few years of language learning, "soak up" the knowledge being given to them. Little by little, they will absorb the knowledge, and water will begin to trickle through. The true value of this method shows only after a few years, so patience is key. In my class, students are expected to "absorb" more Spanish than produce it; hence, only a small portion of their grade will be for speaking assessments.

    If you have any questions, please email me at jessica.berman@slps.org. I can't wait to meet you all!