Welcome to Spanish
My name is Teresa Franco and I teach Spanish to pupils in the primary and secondary phases at Maharishi School. I am also the PSHE teacher for Key Stage 3 pupils from year 7 to year 9. I am a native Spanish speaker and I come from the capital of Galicia called Santiagode Compostela in Spain. I came to Liverpool in March 2015 and since then, I have been teaching Spanish in schools. I am passionate about learning and teaching languages to students. Motivating and engaging them is essential in order to progress. I teach Spanish phonics, vocabulary and grammar through the four skills (reading, listening, speaking and writing).
Games, songs, worksheets and IT tools are key to help pupils to be prepared for the GCSE exams at the end of Key Stage 4. I also love talking about my culture and other Spanish-speaking cultures, artists, and festivals to help the pupils understand the importance of learning a new language. Learning a 2nd language has been shown to greatly enhance student performance across the curriculum. Language learning has also been shown to improve a student’s cognitive function, including, but not limited to:
- enhanced problem solving skills;
- improved verbal and spatial abilities;
- improved memory function (long and short term);
- enhanced creative thinking capacity;
- better memory;
- more flexible and creative thinking;
and improved attitude toward the target language and its culture. These cognitive benefits of language learning have been shown to enhance student performance; producing higher standardised test scores; higher reading achievement; expanded student vocabulary in the native language (English) and higher academic performance at college level. What the Research Shows | ACTFL
