Middle School Spanish for Heritage Speakers

Needs Assessment
Spring 2016
Tom Ford & Chandra Rapley

Introduction
Teachers of K-12 Spanish in Monterey County face an interesting challenge in the
classroom, namely, that for many of their students Spanish is spoken to some degree in the home,
and cant truly be considered a foreign language. For these students, who generally have a
stronger connection to the language and tend toward greater oral proficiency, traditional Spanish
as a Foreign Language courses may not meet their specific needs and often lead to boredom and
disengagement. In order to better meet the needs of these students, some schools offer Spanish
for Heritage Learners, which is targeted directly at those students who have Spanish spoken in
the home and have some level of oral proficiency or at least a moderately high level of listening
comprehension (Valdes, 2000). The diversity of this group can make it quite challenging to plan
curriculum that is culturally relevant and that engages both the highest and lowest-level learners.
However, despite the many challenges inherent in this context, we chose to develop a curriculum
for a heritage language classroom because we felt that it would be a unique and rewarding
opportunity in helping students connect to their families and culture through language. In
designing this curriculum, we will incorporate commonly-accepted elements of a strong Heritage
Language classroom, including: plentiful opportunities for students to learn about Spanish
language and culture with a sense of pride, efforts to increase awareness of the different varieties
of Spanish (while not valuing one variety over another), and empowering students by
highlighting the career and social benefits of being bilingual in the United States (Said-Mohand,
2011).
Context
Kristal Gaskell, a MIIS alumni and teacher of a Spanish for Heritage Speakers class at
Bolsa Knolls Middle School in Salinas, contacted us to help design a project-based curriculum

for her class. The class meets from 2:25-3:10 PM daily, and is comprised of 29 seventh and
eighth grade students. The class is an exploratory, elective class, which means that students
choose it from a list of classes, and may take it each year if they wish. Kristal indicated that she
has multiple students who have taken her class since the 6th grade. This obviously presents a bit
of a challenge with curriculum design, as projects cant be repeated from year-to-year. Kristal has
taught the class for three years, and has taken a different approach to its overall structure and
design each year. The first year, she centered the class around the theme of translation and
interpretation, with units on criminal justice, health care, and other settings in which
translation/interpretation is commonly utilized. The following year, the focus was literature, and
the class was essentially an overview of classical Spanish and Latin American literature. This
year, the class themes and projects have been a bit more diverse, ranging from comic books to
news articles to cultural celebrations and holidays, aimed more at developing a broad
understanding of many different topics, and overall growth in Spanish proficiency. She has very
limited material and budgetary resources, and so has had to be quite creative and inventive with
the course design. She utilizes several educational sites and apps on a regular basis, primarily
Newsela, Quizlet, EdMoto, and Duolingo.
Procedures:
The needs assessment our group conducted consists of an in-person interview with
Kristal, an online questionnaire for current students in Kristals class (Appendix A), and a
classroom observation report completed by Chandra last semester for Intro to Classroom
Observation (Appendix B). Our theory for using these three methods, as well as through
supplemental online research regarding Spanish classes for Heritage Speakers, was to gain a

broad understanding of the current situation of Kristals class from all appropriate and realistic
perspectives.
The first step in our needs assessment was our in-person interview with Kristal. We met
her in her classroom at Bolsa Knolls so that we could get a feel for the environment of her
classroom, and to be able to connect the dots between what she was telling us, and seeing how
that could play out in her classroom. We used a team semi-structured interview format, whereby
using our pre-written guided questions, we alternated in one teammate asking questions, and the
other being largely responsible for taking notes on the information. We began with a few broad,
overview questions, and allowing the conversation to flow from one topic to another, mostly
according to what themes Kristal brought up in our conversation.
We brought with us an example of a student questionnaire we would like to conduct with
her students so that we could understand their perspectives regarding their class. Kristal read
through the sample questionnaire and made suggestions, which we used to revise and create the
final version. Kristal also suggested that we conduct the student questionnaire by means of using
Google Forms, since all of the students have easy access to the Google platform on their schoolprovided tablets. We sent her the questionnaire and Kristal was very helpful in administering the
questionnaire promptly, producing a rich variety of results.
The questions we used in our survey were a combination of short answer, open ended,
Lichert-scale questions, as well as multiple-choice. Our 14-question survey yielded excellent
results regarding students interests, tendencies, dislikes, and suggestions regarding the course
format, topics, and presentation. Our effort in providing students with a variety of question types
was multifaceted. One of the elements of our multi-variety approach was to triangulate as best
we could students perspectives on important components of the class. We sometimes asked

questions in different ways and at different point in the questionnaire, in order to support the
results of a different, but similar question. We also wanted to provide students the opportunity for
their own thoughts to arise without our prompting, through various open ended questions which
carried a guided theme. Finally, we wanted specific answers to specific questions (i.e. Why did
you take this class? and How difficult is this class for you?).
In order to supplement this information, we utilized Chandras classroom observation to
compare, contrast, and provide an alternate perspective to the unseen or unspoken elements of
the class that were revealed through our first two methods.
The following are questions we asked Kristal in our in-person interview:

What are the strengths you see in the class right now?

Walk us through a typical class

What is the intention of this course in bringing students of multiple levels in one class?

Have you done any kind of needs assessment to figure out what the student needs are,
and what they are interested in learning? Results? What have you done with that?

What are the learning objectives of this class?

What is the most challenging aspect of the class?

What changes do you want to/plan to make?

What is your vision for this class in the future?

The following are the 14 questions we included in our online questionnaire we gave to students
in the Spanish for Heritage Speakers class:

The classroom observation report was completed by Chandra during the Fall 2015 semester in
Peter Shaws course, Introduction to Classroom Observation. It is included at the end of this
report as Appendix B. We reviewed the observation report in light of our findings from the

interview and survey, in order to validate what we had learned and develop a more complete
understanding of the strengths and challenges in this context.
Findings and Discussion
Interview with Kristal Gaskell
One of the greatest benefits of working with this class is the freedom and flexibility
inherent in a class in which the school has not mandated specific learning objectives; rather, it is
up to the teacher's discretion to determine the goals. Since the nature of this course is constantly
changing and is multidirectional, that opens up a lot of possibilities for us to be able to try new
ideas and approaches consistent with that the teacher and students express interest in trying. Our
interview with Kristal revealed a lot of important insights into the way the classroom is currently
run, the strengths and challenges of this specific context, and the resources that are available.
Currently, the class is structured with Mondays as input days, in which Kristal
introduces the general topic and assignment, followed by 2-3 days (or sometimes more,
depending on the size and scale of the project) of in-class work either individually or in groups,
and Fridays as presentation or project wrap-up days. As we mentioned previously, the course has
developed and evolved over the past three years, and does not currently have a running theme or
ongoing project. Instead, Kristal works tirelessly on a weekly basis to find new material and
resources and integrate these into the class, trying to come up with projects that will engage her
students. She does not have a set curriculum, and her only stated learning objectives are that the
students develop a breadth of knowledge around the Spanish-speaking world, and that they
improve in their proficiency level.
One of the biggest challenges that Kristal mentioned is the lack of resources. The class
does not have any textbooks, and the lack of funding from the school administration means that

materials are scarce. The students do each have access to a Chromebook, which is an excellent
resource; however, the extremely restrictive internet filters limit students abilities to do research,
view videos, and visit even educational websites like Khan Academy. Kristal does utilize this
resource to the greatest extent that she can, and has students read articles at their level on
Newsela, take quizzes on Edmoto and Quizlet, and create presentations using Google Slides. The
other resource that is greatly limited in this context is time. Kristal told us about the incredible
time crunch she faces each day, with only one prep period and several classes to prepare for. This
lack of time for preparation obviously limits the amount that can reasonably be accomplished,
and also contributes to the stress and pressure faced by so many teachers in US classrooms today.
Another big challenge in this context is that, as an exploratory class, students have the
opportunity to take this class multiple times. Kristal indicated that she currently has students that
have taken her class each year from sixth-eighth grade. While this does seem to show that
students enjoy taking this class, it can be problematic for Kristal because she cant repeat
projects and assignments from year to year, as several of her students will already have
completed them the prior year (and would be sure to let her know that they had done so). This
signifies that she has to reinvent the wheel each year, so to speak, further adding to her workload.
Kristal had a very open mind when it came to discussing the future of the course, and
what she would like to see happen with this project. One idea that she proposed, as a possible
vision for the future, is a system with a menu of options for students that would include various
activities and presentations, structured around a specific theme, with each option having a point
value. Students would be asked to complete a certain amount of points for each unit, but could
choose do so in whatever way worked best for them, i.e., one or two big presentations, or reading

and responding to several articles, making a diorama, etc. This is a vision that we will be sure to
take into account as we begin to design the curriculum.
Student Questionnaire
The student questionnaire we gave to the students of Kristals class shed important light
on the wants and likes of the students, much of which will be considered in the formation stage
of the syllabus components we will produce. The following are the pertinent findings as a result
of the information we gathered from the questionnaire:

50% of students said they chose the class because it is interesting to them, or because of
the real-life application of the material. This is important to us because we know the
students want to be there. So often with middle schoolers, we cannot count on that fact.

Though this information will not have direct implications in our syllabus, it will have
indirect implications; this statistic validates the data that the students gave in respect to what they
want to learn and how they want to learn it, which we will incorporate into the syllabus
components we produce.

When asked what is currently their least favorite part of the class
o 35% (10/29 respondents) said presentations
o 14 % (4/29) said newsela
o 10% (3/29) said annotating texts
This is an important statistic for us because we found that such a large share of the

students have differing opinions regarding which is their least favorite part of the class.
Especially regarding the presentations factor, time and time again, not only in this question but in

open ended questions, students responded regarding their dislike and discomfort of giving
presentations.
The implications for our syllabus could be giving students the option to choose the format
of their work, with some options being non-presentational or in video/virtual format, without
penalizing students for opting out of presenting in class.
Although the chart below is a self-evaluation of students own Spanish level, it is helpful
to know that almost 75% of the students rate themselves within 2 levels of our pre-determined 5level chart. On the other hand, the fact that almost 1/5 of the class identifies themselves as being
on the complete opposite ends of the Beginner/Fluent scale supports the difficulty that Kristal
had suggested during our interview regarding teaching of students who have vastly different
levels.

This chart highlights the importance of the implementation of a system in which all
students share a common theme, yet students are given the option to select a text correlating to
their individual level.

The above two charts are important to keep in mind because they inform us that not only
do students (almost half) identify that conversing better in Spanish with their family is what they
would most like to be able to do with their Spanish, but that over 96% of students talk most
always, or often, with their family. This informs us that there is a high possibility of the

immediate use of the Spanish lessons they are receiving, particularly if the lessons the students
are engaging in are challenging and expanding on their current language level.

The above chart shows the students high level of interest in integrating sports and music
topics into their class, which when combined, total over 80% of the topics selected. Of the 52%
(15/29 respondents) of students who chose Sports:

5 chose baseball

5 chose soccer

3 chose Any Sport

2 chose volleyball

2 chose football

The sports and music themes selected by the students is a rather obvious example of what
topics students say they would like to have integrated into their curriculum, however their actual
integration will largely depend on the extent to which information, articles, and resources are

available to students, as they are very limited by the strict internet filter on their Chromebooks.
However, these interests could be taken into consideration when planning a larger, more longterm project, as we would have more time to pull from outside sources to provide the resources
and create materials relevant to these subjects.

Though the above pie-chart represents a fairly simple question, it does have fairly large
implications because it demonstrates that almost half of the students purposefully chose their
Spanish class in order to improve their Spanish. Students interest in a subject and the relevance
that they find use of in regard to languages often is a contributing factor to the successful
learning outcomes of students.

The above pie chart is useful because it shows that the majority of the students are
interested in improving their speaking and writing skills. This lends support and credibility to
their other responses (for example, that they currently speak with their family in Spanish often
and want to improve their communication with their family), as well as many of the general
tenets of heritage language education, specifically that written language skills often lag behind
oral skills, and that these students tend to value and want to improve oral language skills. Each of
the four components (Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing) impact and are interrelated with
one another, therefore we will likely encourage a balance of the skills to be incorporated into the
syllabus, in accordance with the nature of the current assignments in Kristals class.
Classroom Observation
The classroom observation (Appendix B) was completed on an input day in which
Kristal was introducing the themes of Calacas Literarias and Dia de los Muertos. The specific
themes chosen reflect a high degree of cultural relevance, essential in the heritage language
classroom, and this is verified by the students engagement with the material and discussion of

personal connections with these, especially with Dia de los Muertos and the traditions that
accompany this celebration.
Implications for Syllabus
Looking at the data we have collected, we can see many possibilities for the development
of a relevant, engaging curriculum. Referring first to the limitations and challenges that were
discussed by Kristal in our interview, it is clear that we have to take into account the limited
resources in the classroom, specifically the extremely effective internet filter, which limits
some online research possibilities and many videos, and her extremely scarce time. We view
these challenges as lending support to the idea of a project-based curriculum, in which the class
will build up to one big project over the course of several weeks, rather than introducing brandnew projects every week or two, which can be quite time-, labor-, and resource-intensive.
Another resource-related implication is that all students have access to Chromebooks, which
could be a great tool in digital storytelling, blogging, etc. We plan to utilize this great resource in
building our curriculum and planning its central project.
In terms of the responses of the students in our questionnaire, it is important to take into
consideration that some of these students will no longer be in the class when this curriculum will
be implemented, so their specific interests may not be extremely relevant. However, many of
their interests seem to reflect general trends and topics that students of this age range seem to be
engaged by; more specifically, sports, music, and art. In planning our syllabus, incorporating one
or more of these topics would be a great way to keep students engaged and interested in the
material. It also seems that, while many of the students are quite interested in improving their
Spanish for the practical purpose of communicating with their families or in other social settings,
they are rather limited in their opportunities to gain authentic practice speaking with other

Spanish speakers (outside of the classroom) as a part of this class. Incorporating a servicelearning component will be a great opportunity for these students to gain more confidence and
further hone their communicative abilities.
Conclusion:
Thus far, the process of conducting the needs assessment and beginning the curriculum
design has been fairly smooth. The close proximity of our group to Bolsa Knolls Middle School,
as well as Kristals flexible approach and openness to new ideas, have made communication and
coordination simple and stress-free. We are hoping that the information that we have collected
and discussed in this analysis is enough to begin designing a curriculum that meets the needs of
this context; however, we also know that we will be able to obtain any additional information
rather easily, if needed. Creating a curriculum for a Spanish for Heritage Speakers class looks to
be a rewarding challenge, and we look forward to utilizing the information that we have gathered
from multiple sources, as well as our creativity and unique backgrounds to design something that
will meet the needs of these students.

References
Said-Mohand, A. (2011). The teaching of Spanish as a heritage language: Overview of what we
need to know as educators. Porta Linguarum, 16, 89104. Retrieved from
http://www.ugr.es/~portalin/articulos/PL_numero16/AIXA SAID-MOHAND.pdf
Valds, G. (2000). Introduction. In Spanish for native speakers. AATSP professional
development series handbook for teachers K-16, Volume 1 (pp. 1-20). New York:
Harcourt College.

Appendix A: Student Questionnaire

Appendix B
Observation Number:1

Observation Date: 10/26/15

Site: MIIS

Teacher: Kristal Gaskell

Start Time: 2:25

End Time: 3:10

Description of Course: Spanish for Heritage Speakers

Description of Learners: There were 29 students in the class, 21 of whom were 7th graders and
8 of whom were 8th graders. According to my discussion with Mrs. Gaskell, the students have a
wide range of Spanish language ability and comprehension levels. From my observation, the
majority of students in the class had a fairly high level of conversational Spanish, and the
differences in reading and writing ability may reflect differences in general literacy levels. All
students were placed in this class because they have some degree of Spanish spoken in the home.
Method of Data Collection: I arrived during the passing period, and Mrs. Gaskell directed me
to sit at a desk/table area on the left side of the room. From that position, I could observe the
whole class and teacher without being in the way. Once students entered and class began, I took
notes on the Powerpoint presentation utilized by the teacher, as well as all class activities. I tried
to capture the flow of the class through stream-of-consciousness notes on all occurrences, and
also had a separate section where I noted my reflections on these occurrences. It was the last
period of the day, so I was able to debrief with Mrs. Gaskell after the class and get more
information about the learners, as well as her impressions of the lesson and class in general.
Description of Lesson: The students entered and sat at desks that were grouped in 4s. There was
a lot of chatter as they situated themselves, and Kristal used a pointer to indicate ruido elevado
on a warning chart on the wall. She then indicated to the other side of the scale, saying
necesitamos estar aqui. The class quieted down a little, and she began speaking in a low voice
until the noise level came down more. She asked the class to take out a piece of paper and pencil,
and began a Powerpoint presentation on Dia de Los Muertos. The presentation was a series of
images connected with Dia de los Muertos, with a few titles but no other text. Kristal asked the
students, Que se ve? (what do you see?) on the first slide, several photos of DDLM-related
celebrations, and encouraged them to share their own experiences with the holiday. Several
students raised their hands and contributed, and many of the other students began chatting
amongst themselves, in both Spanish and English. The next slide was of flowers, specifically
marigolds (la cempazuchil) and Kristal asked the students what the significance of the flowers
were. A few students responded, and then she asked them if they knew the meaning of
cempazuchil in English. A few students shouted out responses, different types of flowers, and she
told them that she didnt know either, so she had looked it up and found that it was marigolds,
and that they were used specifically because of the way they smell. A few students said I didnt

know that! The next slide was a picture of El Pan de los Muertos, and Kristal asked the class
if anyone knew anything about the pan. A lot of students wanted to contribute and raised their
hands, and it got pretty loud as other students began talking about how much they loved that
bread. After quieting the class down with a bell and allowing the students who were raising their
hands to speak, Kristal told the class that she never knew much about this holiday because its
not part of her culture and she doesnt celebrate it, but she did some reading and learned a lot,
including the significance of the gotas in the bread (they are supposed to represent tears). Again,
the class got loud as students exclaimed that they never knew that, and more side discussions
arose out of the bread topic. Kristal went quickly through the rest of the slides as the class
appeared to get restless, and then told them that she had a second Powerpoint to show them.
The second Powerpoint was short, starting with an image of the Calavera Catrina. She
asked the class what they knew about her, and then explained a little of her history on the next
slide. The next slide was titled Calaca Literaria and included a poem about the previous image.
She explained that a Calaca Literaria is a poem that starts with an image and tries to paint that
image with words, creating a story about it. She asked for volunteers to read the poem, and three
students raised their hands. She picked one, he read it aloud, and then she showed two more
slides with poems and picked two more volunteer readers. Finally, Kristal read the final poem,
which she told the students was written by her friend who had visited her class a few years
before. The poem made references to the classroom and Spanish class, and there were lots of
giggles and smiles among the students as she read it.
After the poem, Kristal explained that she would pass out a paper with instructions, but
that first they would write a poem collectively as a class. She did a Google Image search on the
overhead, and selected an image of Frida Kahlo with a skeleton behind her. She then asked
students to individually brainstorm lists of words that described what they saw in the picture. She
gave them two minutes, and walked around to help them with any questions (like how to say
some words in Spanish). After the time was up, she had each group of students report out a few
words that they had thought of, and wrote them on the board. She also asked them to think of a
few words that rhymed with those on the list, and added them to the board.
Kristal then asked the class if they thought the skeleton behind Frida was male or female,
and received a few interpretations from the class, who ended up concluding that it was most
likely her mother. She then said that they would write a poem together on the board, and asked
for someone to come up with the first line, second line, etc., using the list of words they had
created. The students contributed some ideas, and with a few minor edits from Kristal, the final
result was as follows:
Hay una mujer bien triste
Su corazn roto por depresin
Llor y llor cuando te fuiste
Y est vaco mi corazn.

Kristal read the final poem, and the students seemed to enjoy it and clapped. Then the bell rang,
and class ended.
Observers Commentary: I decided not to come into this observation with a particular focus,
because I wanted to faithfully record as much of the activity in the classroom as possible, and
then notice what stood out, in the context of what we have been studying in this course. After
reflecting on my observations and my post-observation discussion with Kristal, I noted the
following key features of the lesson and her teaching methods.
First, the content of the lesson was culturally relevant and clearly engaged the students.
The first Powerpoint was essentially just pictures, with very few words, and it generated/inspired
a lot of spontaneous dialogue, both in the form of raising ones hand and participating formally,
and as numerous side conversations. To me, the side conversations are important to note because,
while their general noisiness clearly caused some issues with classroom management and
transition time, the vast majority were in Spanish and pertinent to the lesson. So, the content
inspired a lot of communication in the target language that was both relevant to the subject of the
lesson and to the students lives.
I also noticed that the lesson felt a little truncated, like there was more to do that they
werent able to get to. The class period is only 45 minutes, which is an incredibly short amount
of time to cover very much information and give students plenty of opportunities for independent
and communicative practice. However, after I was able to reflect on the lesson with Mrs.
Gaskell, I saw that it was the first day in a multi-day lesson, which I feel is a really smart
technique for creating meaningful and valuable lessons that arent hindered by the time
constraints. She explained to me that in the next class they would be individually searching for
pictures to write their own poems about, and that by the end of the week they would hopefully
each have written their own Calaca Literaria, and a few of them would read them aloud. I feel
that this is a good example of giving students affective support, not rushing them, and of giving
them the time and guidance they need to produce quality work.
Observers Reflection and Application Summary: Kristals attention to the cultural relevance
of the lesson, and the way in which she presented it, was significant in the context of a class for
heritage learners. I was inspired by the way that she presented a lesson based on a cultural
celebration that she doesnt celebrate, and mentioned multiple times that while she hadnt known
much about Dia de los Muertos before (because its not a part of her culture and she doesnt
celebrate it) she did do some research and reading and learned a lot about it. I think it is so
important to set an example of curiosity about other cultures, especially in a language classroom,
because it shows respect and demonstrates a love of learning. Some of the information she
shared (like the specific meaning of the flowers, or of elements in the bread) were previously
unknown to the students, stimulating spontaneous conversation amongst them about the new
information and the fact that the teacher had known that and they didnt. This demonstrated the
important concept that none of us, even teachers, are ever done learning, and that learning is an
active process. The other element of lesson that I found important and applicable to my own
teaching was the way in which the cultural relevance of the input inspired so much
communication in the target language. Various students participated in the official question and

answer structure of the Powerpoint, drawing on their own experiences with Dia de los Muertos
and expressing both simple and more complex concepts in the target language. Many students
also communicated (primarily in Spanish, although I did overhear some English) what they knew
about various elements of Dia de los Muertos in side conversations at their tables. These side
conversations became rather loud, disrupting the official flow of the lesson, and I could see
that they frustrated Kristal as she frequently used different methods (a bell, telling them they are
too loud and need to respect their classmates, indicating where they are on a noise-level chart,
etc.) to try to focus the classs attention on the Powerpoint and their fellow students who were
speaking. However, I would argue that these spontaneous side conversations, both on topic and
in the target language, are evidence of a lesson that successfully promoted meaningful
communication in the target language. While there were moments in the classroom that felt a bit
chaotic, the students were never out of control. They were excited and engaged and eager to
share their own connections and experiences with Dia de los Muertos, For me, this is an
important reminder that the main priority, the goal of the language education classroom isnt
control; its meaningful communication, learner engagement and relationship building. I feel that
this lesson definitely achieved those goals.