When you are ready to start implementing the Esperanza curriculum it is a good idea to review the different curriculum components.
Esperanza is composed of 130 multisensory lessons each consisting of 10-11 sections. A full lesson is completed in one session of intervention (45-60 minutes). The Esperanza program is designed for 4-5 weekly sessions in a group of a maximum of 5 students.
You'll start with the three-part screener exam to determine which lesson the student will start with.
The sections targeted in each lesson are shown below. Select each title for more details:
Section One - Repasamos (Let's Review) The lesson begins with a review of the previous day’s learning. In this section the instructor uses the appropriate concept card or reading deck car to review sounds, letters, and keywords. (1 minute)
Section Two - El Lenguaje (The Language) The focus of this section is on communication, oral language, and reading. The section targets phonological awareness and Latin and Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes. These word parts are transferable to the English language, helping with the transition to English proficiency. Multisensory activities include the use of mirrors to see mouth movements, counters for visual representation of sounds or syllables as well as kinesthetic movements such as clapping and air writing with their fingers. Pictures are also used when teaching the meaning of affixes. These newly learned vocabulary words are kept in the “cuaderno de vocabulario”, a vocabulary notebook that the students refer to in all classes. (5 minutes)
Section Three - El Abecedario (The Alphabet) In this section the students learn and practice using the alphabet. They learn it with the use of several materials including an alphabet strip, the alphabet mat, plastic letters, and mirror. (5-8 minutes)
Section Four - Tarjetas de Lectura (Reading Deck) In Reading Deck the students review the letter name, keyword, and sound with the use of reading deck cards. (3 minutes)
Section Five - Repaso de Ortografía (Spelling Deck) In this section students practice writing 8-10 sounds that they have previously learned as the teacher dictates them. This is done by following the same structured process for each sound; first, the teacher dictates the sound, the students will repeat the sound, name the letter, and finally write the letter. (3 minutes)
Section Six - Información Nueva (New Information) In this section, students learn a new concept or letter using auditory, visual, tactile and kinesthetic activities. Stroke descriptors are used to learn how to write the letters in cursive. This section ends with a final review, using the reading deck card. (5 minutes)
Section Seven - Práctica de Lectura (Reading Practice) In this part of the lesson the students decode and read words and sentences. The teacher has the option of doing choral reading or calling on individual students to participate. Words and sentences are read several times to improve fluency and comprehension. (8 minutes)
Section Eight - Práctica de Escritura (Writing Practice) During this activity students can practice writing individual and connected letters, by both copying from the board and from dictation. In this section a structure sequence is followed which starts by the teacher dictating the sentence, the students repeat the sentence and then write the sentence. (5 minutes)
Section Nine - Práctica de Ortografía (Spelling Practice) During this section, the students practice the spelling of sounds and words using grapho-phonemic knowledge or sound/letter recognition. (5 minutes)
Section Ten - Expresión (Expression) This section of the lesson focuses on oral language development which is crucial for achieving academic language skills. Expressive communication is targeted through activities which include convergent and divergent naming, analogies, antonyms, synonyms, vocabulary, rapid automatic naming, and describing activities related to the story chosen by the teacher. The story is related to the theme of the lesson. (5 minutes)
Section Eleven - Compresión (Read Aloud) The focus of the final section of the lesson is to target reading comprehension. In this section, the teacher reads the story chosen related to the theme of the week and the students answer questions related to the story. (5 minutes)
The curriculum also includes Extended Reading Lessons which are administered after every 5 lessons. A full session is dedicated to these Extended Reading Lessons is dedicated to reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Progress in the Esperanza curriculum is monitored by the administration of Progress Monitoring Exams. These exams are completed after every 10 lessons. They measure phonological awareness, reading accuracy, comprehension and fluency, spelling and affix knowledge.