Federico Aguilar-Sosa
Federico teaches high school AP and IB Spanish in the US Southwest. He is the son of Mexican-American educators and has been involved in both AP curriculum review and proficiency-based grading reform in his region. His writing focuses on the parts of AP and IB Spanish where students and teachers most consistently get stuck.
- AP Spanish Language and Culture
- IB Spanish B
- Standards-based grading
- Source-based and argumentative writing
4 pieces in the archive.
The AP Spanish 2027 redesign, explained without the marketing copy.
The first revised AP Spanish Language and Culture exam administers in May 2027. The framework shifts speaking from a quarter of the exam to roughly a third, introduces a project component, and moves delivery into Bluebook. Here is what changed, what did not, and how to prepare students who will not see the old format.
The five IB Spanish B themes, what each one is actually asking you to teach.
The International Baccalaureate Language B program runs on five prescribed themes. The handbook descriptions are bland. The themes themselves are not. Used well, they are a respectful framework for the heritage students who are increasingly your IB cohort.
Standards-based grading, what happens when you stop grading on points and start grading on proficiency.
Ken O'Connor and Rick Wormeli built the case against traditional point-based grading two decades ago. World language departments have been the slowest in education to apply the argument. The reason is fear, not pedagogy.
The AP Spanish argumentative essay, the hardest forty minutes of the test, broken down honestly.
Forty minutes. One question. Three sources. A printed article, an infographic, and a recorded interview. The student has to read, listen, integrate, and produce a coherent argument in academic Spanish. Here is the structure that works, the moves that score, and the moves that lose points.
Meet the rest of the team.
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