When a student in Spanish four or five wants to test out,
meaning they will not have to take a language next year, they first have to take their Spanish Orals.

Spanish Teacher Mrs. Mariví Carrascosa believes that the Orals are an important part of determining what her students have learned. “It is the time that the student proves that they know how to communicate,” Carrascosa said. “When you are in a real interview, a conversation, we can see if you are able to produce all of the language that you have been working with and analyze and tell me how you react to a specific topic, and it shows if they are able to use the specific language or not.”

The actual “Internal Assessment” takes place in March, “But we do Orals throughout the year, as practice, and so that the students know what aspect of their language they need to practice more.” Carrascosa said “Since December I have been asking students to do a practice Oral at least once a month.”

The actual process of the Orals is that the student will get a picture to examine and fifteen minutes to think about what is going on in it “The student will have fifteen minutes to look at the picture, and they can bring a paper with at least ten words on it to remind them.” Carrascosa said “We mostly look for not that they can describe the picture, but that they can come up with a story and analyze to find some meaning in it. Then we have a back and forth conversation with them, so we know that they really understand the language.”

But after they do the practice, that is not it for the students. Even the practices get recorded so that they can listen to them later.

“The students can listen to their previous practice, and we can help them better understand what they need to work on for the future.”

All in all, the Orals and there practices are an important part of ensuring that the students who want to test out are prepared and really know the language well.
“The Orals truly let us see how far they have come and that they are ready to test out and go on into there future with language, to be fluent in there language.”