The language and culture basic pathway is designed for students who would like to learn a second language, but are not in a dual language program. It is designed to be a communicative beginning-level Spanish course, think of it as Spanish 101. Students in Kindergarten through 5th grade will build competency in the Spanish language in the areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing.  

Along with exploring the language, students will explore the traditions, customs, food and dances from Spanish speaking countries around the world.  

 The second part of the Language and Culture Pathway is the advanced pathway. The Language and Culture Advanced Pathway is designed for students in our dual language classes or students who are native Spanish speakers who are not in our dual language program. 

Because students in the advanced pathway have a foundation in the Spanish language, we will focus on expanding students’ language by studying complex structures of Spanish grammar, in both oral and written form.   

These students will also explore world cultures, to include traditions, customs, food, and dances through Project Based Learning.   

The advanced pathway students will begin to explore Latin-based languages. We will begin with basic French and Italian, with plans to expand to world languages in the future.  

Our Language and Culture pathways, both Basic and Advanced, support students to become bilingual and bi-literate by the end of 5th grade. 

Columbia’s Ballet Folklorico, Ballet Kalpana was specifically named for Kalpana Chawla, one of the seven astronauts who flew on the space shuttle Columbia mission.  Over the years, the Ballet went on to perform at the Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference, NABE, and various community events around the area.   

 Incorporated into their day, all students in the Language & Culture Pathway will have the opportunity to participate in Ballet Folklorico and learn dances from different regions in Mexico. We will focus on the regions of Jalisco, Sinaloa, Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Chihuahua, Baja California.