Foreign Language Magnet: Spanish

Audition/Assessment Guidelines

Students in the Spanish Magnet Program will study the target language daily during their three years at Deer Park. This intensive study requires a great amount of interest in the pursuit of language study and a great commitment on the part of the student to the daily practice required for successful language learning. Home study is a vital component of learning a language and is imperative for success in this program. Magnet students are also involved in in-depth exploration of the geography, culture, and history of the countries in which the target language is spoken. Students who have strong ability and interest in Language Arts and Social Studies are good candidates for our program.

On Assessment Day, a rubric will be used to score performances in the following areas.

Part I – Essay
Please bring – Two #2 pencils and an eraser.

All students applying to Deer Park Middle Magnet School will complete a written essay on Assessment Day. Please do not prepare an essay before the Assessment Day. The essay will be scored using a standard rubric and will be factored into the selection process.

Part II – Magnet Assessment Process
No additional items needed

Assessment Process Students will be evaluated using a Language Aptitude Task, which assesses the four essential skills for success in language study: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students must employ all of these skills on a daily basis in our Spanish classes. On Assessment Day, a rubric will be used to score student assessments. An assessor will introduce new vocabulary words Spanish.

The assessor will introduce new vocabulary and assess students entirely in Spanish. Using techniques that are part of our daily magnet instruction, mnemonic devices, or clues will be integrated into the introduction to help students learn the new vocabulary. Students will then be asked to recall, pronounce, identify, and utilize new vocabulary in four tasks that involve listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.