The ability to speak multiple languages and demonstrate cross-cultural competence is highly sought capability for an increasingly globalised world. Studying an additional language provides students the opportunities to develop these skills and support their articulation to further study with improved success. Spanish is one of the three most widely spoken languages in the world. Students who learn Spanish have enhanced opportunities for study, employment and travel including multiple countries listing Spanish as their national language. Through studying this subject, students will gain an understanding of the Spanish language and the communities that use it, while also developing the ability to negotiate experiences and meaning across cultures and languages. Entry into this course is merit-based selection and requires a personal reflection and specialist interview.
Yeronga State High School has continued to broaden the student experience through language acquisition and allow for students to excel in multiple language pathways including specialised vocational education and training. Many of our students have multiple language experiences and Yeronga aims to provide an additional accelerated language learning pathway to students within Spanish.
Students are beginning their study of Spanish and typically no or very little exposure to the language and associated cultures. Students will take part in an engaging, immersive language experience, learning vocabulary, phrases and sentence structures while exploring the sociocultural aspects of the Spanish-speaking world. This will be a very tailored immersive Spanish language experience, confidence and skills with language articulation to eventually excel in an accelerated senior pathway in Spanish.
Students who commence in the Spanish Academy will extend language learning with extended opportunities to engage with Spanish in History, Health and Physical Education and Science as a more immersive experience. Students will receive an extended Spanish language development commencing in Years 7, 8, 9 with the benefit of a compressed curriculum offering. As an immersive language course students will progressively develop the skills required with little to no previous experience studying Spanish.
Yeronga's Spanish Academy offers our graduates the benefits of a tailored academic pathway using Spanish in multiple subjects commencing from Year 7 with the opportunity to be accelerated earlier in senior. The students who are part of this program will be a journey group and access a series of enrichment programs to expand the student's global competence and experience. This immersive Spanish experience will provide students with language fluency and progression to succeed at a high level in the senior years commencing QCAA Senior Spanish in Year 10.
Spanish Academy Commencing 2024
Yeronga State High School will be launching into a Spanish Academy for Year 7 students in 2024. This will be a very unique course support students to be globally engaged and fluent in the use of Spanish language. The Spanish Academy is a pathway with students' progression through the course together who are academic and accelerated in Spanish. Students will have the option to articulate into QCAA Senior Spanish at the start of Year 10 allowing them to complete all QCAA Senior Spanish requirements by the end of Year 11. As journey group, students will commence this course starting in Year 7 and be immersed in 50% of their curriculum together in Spanish.
Integral to the course, is the additional opportunity for these students when they are in Year 10 to engage in a Spanish home stay exchange program to Spanish. This will provide these students with a greater cultural and language development as they continue on with this language learning pathway. It is a privilege to offer this tailored immersion experience to our incoming Year 7 students for 2024. We understand that popularity of this program will be far reaching, and we wanted to offer our current parents who have expressed interest in an enrolment the opportunity to be considered for this program. The school has been working with the Spanish Embassy in Canberra and will continue to forge our partnership with this embassy to be an International Spanish Academy. It is hoped that this will strengthen our partnership and enable the school to collaborate with other sister schools in Spain for further student experiences.
Entry to this program is via an expression of interest.
Spanish Academy Entry requirements:
- EOI – Enrolment From, include Spanish Academy
- Students complete a 100-word reflection, why do they enjoy language learning? To support staff interviews to consider your engagement with language learning
- Complete a Spanish Academy Interview (review of learning style, commitment to program and extra-curricular commitments) with a staff member at beginning of Term 3.
- If successful for Academy, pay a confirmation of enrolment fee $100 to secure your enrolment in the Spanish Academy.
Communication of offers to the Spanish Academy will be offered in conjunction with each of the other Academy programs. Students will be invited to select their preferences for each of the Academy Programs in order.
As the Spanish Academy is an academic program that is immersive in nature, students will be in a journey group for this course. They will complete all of their core subjects together and change with elective subjects. This will be the case from Year 7 through to Year 9. Those students engaged in the STEM Academy or the Athletes Academy are not able to also complete the Spanish Academy. This is due to the structure of the course, organisation of the immersion subjects and offering Science, History, Geography and Health and Physical Education in Spanish. Further details will be referenced at our next upcoming Y Tour. Details provided.