Welcome to the 2014-15 School Ye

Dear parents and students,
¡Hola! Me llamo Amie Chamberlain y soy la nueva maestra de español de Parkview Center. Hello! My name is Amie Chamberlain and I am the new Spanish teacher at Parkview Center. I am excited to work with all of you as your student learns Spanish!

First, I wanted to tell you a little about me. This is my 5th year teaching. I taught one year at a charter school, one year in White Bear Lake and two years in Richfield, and am hoping to finally make Parkview my permanent home as we’ve finally settled into a new home in the Como Park area. I studied at St. Olaf College, majored in Spanish, and have both a Spanish and ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching licenses. During college, I spent a semester living and taking classes in Seville, Spain, and have also traveled to Mexico and Costa Rica. Some of my hobbies are running, pole vaulting, reading, spending time with my family, writing and, of course, speaking Spanish! I am married to a wonderful husband and have a great son, Samuel, who was born this past January.

Second, I wanted to write about how students learn language the best. They will learn Spanish most efficiently when they hear it often and have many opportunities to practice it at their level. Because of this, I use a communicative approach to language learning – students use what they know and apply it to communicate in authentic and active classroom activities.

Studies show that it takes 3-5 years, immersed fully in the language, to become conversationally proficient. This year, your child will have Spanish for forty-five minutes per week. The goals of Parkview elementary Spanish classes are for students to become interested in learning another language and to prepare them for more intense study in middle school and high school. Because we meet for such a short time, that they will need to study and use their Spanish outside of the classroom to work toward Spanish proficiency. I will offer many extra learning activities throughout the year, which you can follow on this blog. I will also keep you updated on what your child is learning in class.

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to email or call me. Email is the most efficient way to contact me as I check it often: amie.chamberlain@isd623.org. You can also call me via the office at 651-487-4360.

I’m looking forward to this year! Here we go!