Spanish Language Proficiency (SLP) Exam For Teachers

		English Language Acquisition

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Please contact the Department of Human Resources.

Spanish Language Proficiency (SLP) Exam For Teachers

The Spanish Language Proficiency Exam for teachers consists of three components (oral, written, and reading) and is administered by a SLP Exam Specialist from the Department of English Language Acquisition. Applicants new to Denver Public Schools must pass all portions of the SLP Exam to be considered by the Department of Human Resources as a Spanish qualified applicant. Exams are given throughout the school year during normal business hours.

The three components of the Spanish Language Proficiency Exam are the oral interview, the written exam and the reading exam. All three components are scored separately. The SLP is equivelent to one to two years of college level Spanish.

Oral Interview:

The oral interview consists of a 20 minute taped conversation and simulations of situations that exist between the teacher and the students, or the teacher and the parents. The candidate must demonstrate language proficiency. The candidate must address the specific situations. A candidate's responses will be evaluated in six areas: communicative competence, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension and accent. There are five situation, and each one is graded from 1 (fail) to 5 (excellent). The grading is based on a rubric for each of the situations. Click here to see the rubric that is used to score the oral component of the SLP.

Written Component:

There are two topics to choose from. All the topics are related to school situations. The grading is the same as the oral, and is based on another rubric. Click here to see the rubric that is used to score the written component of the SLP.

Reading Component:

The reading test consists of five paragraphs with 25 questions. The candidate must have 15 correct answers in order to pass.

If a you should fail the written and/or reading portions of the exam you are allowed to retake that portion of the test two more times only. You must wait 30 days between test administrations.

In order to take any portion of the exam a fourth time, you must send a written appeal to the director of the ELA Department. In certain instances, proof of extensive study of Spanish may be considered as grounds for an additional retest. Examples may include extended study in a Spanish speaking country or completion of Spanish language college credits.

If you believe your score on any portion of the test is inaccurate, a written appeal can be submitted to Mary Ann Baca, the Director of the ELA Department.

To schedule an SLP Exam contact Luis Diaz in the ELA Department at 720.423.8158.

Spanish Language Proficiency Exam for Paraprofessionals

The SLP Exam for Paraprofessionals consists of four components (oral, written, reading and grammar) and is administered by an SLP Exam Specialist from the Department of English Language Acquisition. Exams are given throughout the school year during normal business hours.

1. Text Components:

A. Written description in English and Spanish of candidates interest in the job (approximately 50 words)

B. Grammar (100 questions)

C. Spanish Conversation (10 minutes on several topics).

D. Reading and Written (Read a short story aloud) and Comprehension of the text which was read.

(Based on short written essay)

2. Grading:

Each component is graded from 1 (Fail) to

5 (Excellent). An average grade of 3 is require to

Before scheduling an Exam, you must have gone through the hiring process with Human Resources and be eligible for employment in Denver Public Schools. Once you have passed the hiring process you can schedule a time to take the exam by contacting Luis Diaz in the ELA Department at 720-423-8158.

This page was last updated: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 at 3:43:05 PM

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