About Señora Saladin

​I was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and grew up here, graduating from Forest Hills Northern.  I obtained my bachelor's degree in Spanish from Western Michigan University and later received my teacher certification from Aquinas College.  I have a master's degree in teaching from WMU.  I lived in Mexico City for many years, where I taught third grade in a bilingual-bicultural school.  I love teaching Spanish to your children and consider it a privilege to spend time with them every day.  I do my best to treat them as I treat my own children, with understanding and respect.  Every child is unique and deserves the best I have to offer. I hope they find joy in learning Spanish, and I look forward to guiding them on that journey.

The Individual Grade Pages

The vocabulary found on the individual grade pages is vocabulary that we will be working on for the next couple of months.  Students are not expected to know all of these words now.    Also some pages may have other links or files that you can review with your student if you wish or if he/she needs more practice. 

Fluency

"We consider our children 'fluent' in English or their native languages at about age 5. If they are awake about 14 hours a day, 365 days a year,  hearing, speaking, and seeing that first language, they have received  about 25,000 hours of exposure to the language by the time they are 5.  If your child attends our school from (Kindergarten through 4th grade), does not miss a single day, has no snow days, does not have any field trips on Spanish days, and I am never sick or at a conference, your child will have only 180 hours of Spanish class.  I cannot bring your child to fluency in (180) hours. However, I can and do target high-frequency language, use engaging activities, very controlled pace, and loads of repetition to maximize the language that your child does acquire in those (180) hours.  As your child progresses through middle and high school, with more time each week spent on Spanish, he or she will build on what we have begun and continue to progress toward fluency.