Spanish in the Classroom

Bridge the communication gap between you, your Spanish-speaking students and parents with essential Spanish for teachers. This course starts with Spanish basics and provides survival phrases for parent-teacher conferences so you can discuss progress, deal with academic and behavior problems, and provide grades and homework.

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Syllabus
Instructor
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Enrollment Options

$129.00 USD

Select a start date for the course below:

Instructor-Moderated

6 Weeks Access

Study online with Instructor moderated discussion boards.

April 15, 2026

May 13, 2026

June 17, 2026

July 15, 2026

Select a Start Date

$129.00 USD

Instructor-Moderated

Select a Start Date

Details

If you're struggling to communicate with your Spanish-speaking students and their families, and you don't know your cabeza from your codo (that's your head from your elbow), don't worry—help is here!

Whether you took a Spanish class 20 years ago and just want to brush up a bit, or you have never taken a Spanish class, you'll learn the essential Spanish for teachers and bridge the communication gap with your Spanish-speaking students and parents. Rest assured that this won't be anything like your typical high school Spanish course. We'll skip the frills and focus on "survival Spanish" you can put to work immediately. We've tossed out long vocabulary lists and complex grammar rules and replaced them with games and stories to make learning easy, painless, and even fun. You'll learn new words in easy-to-digest bites, and each lesson will include Supplementary Material to help you keep expanding your vocabulary.

We'll start with the basics of Spanish pronunciation, and then we'll move right into simple words for everyday things, such as colors, numbers, and question words. Then you'll learn more of the basics of conversational phrases, family names, and directions. Next, we'll get into what it's like on the first day of school as we go over words related to enrolling new students, conversing in the classroom, talking about rules and behavior, and basic vocabulary for various academic subjects. We'll also cover Spanish words and phrases to use in the cafeteria, on the playground, and even in the nurses office! Finally, we'll delve into some survival phrases for the parent-teacher conference as you learn to describe how a child is doing, talk about academic or behavior problems, and discuss grades and homework

By the end of this course, you'll be well on the path to being a Spanish speaker and communicating more effectively with the Spanish-speakers all around you. ¡Vamos! (Let's go!)

Note: To receive 25 hours of instruction in the State of Oregon, please ensure your school is eligible to issue professional development units, and that the course is approved by your professional learning coordinator.

Syllabus

Lesson 1 - Speaking, Spelling, and Counting in Spanish

In this lesson, you'll discover that mastering the Spanish alphabet is as easy as A-B-C! You'll also learn simple tricks for pronouncing Spanish words, and you'll start building your vocabulary by learning to count from zero to nine.

Lesson 2 - Colors, Gender in Spanish, and More Counting Words

Today you'll learn the Spanish words for a rainbow of colors, and find out how to count all the way up to 199—all while learning fun facts about the culture of Latin America.

Lesson 3 - Talking About People

Family is all-important in Latin culture, and in this lesson you'll find out how to say the names of all your student's relatives. Also, you'll start putting your words into conversational phrases and sentences.

Lesson 4 - Words for Talking About "Who" and "When"

Today we'll explore pronouns, an important building block of your Spanish vocabulary. In addition, you'll learn how to talk about the months of the year and the days of the week.

Lesson 5 - Directional Words, Questions, and Prepositions

Super-charge your Spanish sentences with new power words! In this lesson, you'll learn prepositions, words for directions, and three new words for asking questions.

Lesson 6 - Verbs, Verbs, Verbs!

If you think Spanish verbs are a big headache, you're in for a pleasant surprise today as we explore "easy" verb tenses. In addition, we'll delve into the difference between the "to be" verbs ser and estar.

Lesson 7 - Off to School! Survival Phrases for the First Day

You'll add to your repertoire of Spanish survival phrases in this lesson and discover a simple way to ask key questions when enrolling new students. You'll also master an important new skill: telling time in Spanish.

Lesson 8 - Conversing in the Classroom

Today we're off to school, to learn the Spanish words for common classroom objects and activities. We'll also beef up your communication skills with a host of new adjectives that'll come in handy both in and out of the classroom.

Lesson 9 - Words for Talking About School Rules and Feelings

How are you feeling today? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to answer that question in Spanish! You'll also know how to explain classroom rules, regulations, and instructions to students en español.

Lesson 10 - Vocabulary for Teaching and Learning

Words for teaching, learning, and doing are at the top of our agenda today. In addition, we'll look at vocabulary builders you can use to explain concepts in English, math, science, and history.

Lesson 11 - Visiting the Cafeteria, Playground, and Nurse's Office

If you need to assist a student in the cafeteria or on the playground, you'll have lots of helpful words at your fingertips after this lesson. You'll also learn key vocabulary words for talking about those medical emergencies that sometimes happen on campus.

Lesson 12 - Making the Parent-Teacher Conference a Success

Parent-teacher conferences go much more smoothly when you can share information directly with Spanish-speaking moms and dads. Today, you'll learn lots of new words for describing your students' strengths, pointing out areas where they can improve, and praising their achievements

Instructor

Tara Bradley Williams has authored several Spanish textbooks and occupational Spanish reference guides, including the "¡A Conversar!" and "¡A Trabajar!" series. She taught Spanish and English as a Second Language at the high school and community college levels for over 10 years. She has also operated a Spanish language school and served as a medical interpreter. Tara has BA degrees in Spanish and Sociology from St. Norbert College and an MA in Higher Education and Adult Studies from the University of Denver. She has studied Spanish at the Universidad de Ortega y Gasset in Toledo, Spain and has lived and traveled extensively in Spain and Latin America.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Reviews

I enjoyed this course! I used a tremendous amount of the information in my class with my intermediate students and they loved it too! Thank you!

I really enjoyed this course and felt that it built a good foundation for Spanish within the classroom setting. I felt the matching games and links were particularly useful in helping to remember words. The scenarios with the ongoing characters throughout the course proved to be very helpful as well, providing real life situations to use Spanish.

This was my first online course and it was great! I really enjoyed this course and felt that it was set up in a way that was easy to navigate through and understand!

Excellent course! Informative and useful in my classroom. Thanks!

The instructor was very positive and upbeat. She presented our lessons with humor and good examples. Her illustrations and examples helped my language acquisition and desire to keep learning. Learning a new language is hard, but she was very positive and sympathetic and kept us going!

If high school Spanish was presented in this 'useful," user-friendly way, instead of the "verbs-rule" method, more students might stay involved! The lessons were easy to understand and very relevant to classroom use!

Thank you for offering this course. I was thrilled to find a beginning Spanish class tailored to the classroom. I really enjoyed the lessons. They were creative and engaging. The assignments were all very helpful, useful, and I very much appreciated that there was no "busy work" to be completed. The techniques you employ are great examples of best practices in teaching, very much a brain-based format for learning. I learned a great deal from this class and I am looking forward to trying out some of my newly acquired language skills. I plan to continue on with other Spanish classes. You are an excellent, organized, well-prepared teacher who is obviously passionate about the topic.

This course was great! Working with primary students whose native language is Spanish, I was able to communicate with my students. They were willing to assist me with my pronunciation and the fluency of the language. The information in the course wasn't overwhelming. The instructor also gives students feedback in the discussion area in a timely matter too!

This instructor did an excellent job selecting material that would be immediately useful to a classroom teacher. I thought it was an extremely beneficial course, taught in an easy to relate with manner.

For an old, retired teacher, determined to learn Spanish, this course was perfect! I am beginning to be able to converse with my Spanish students when I substitute and they appreciate the effort. Excelente!