World Languages

Week of March 17th

This week in our classes!

Spanish Language and Culture (Mr. Fontalvo, Ms. Gonzalez)

Last week, students practiced vocabulary related to family relationships and described several famous families. They also completed a speaking formative assessment to demonstrate their understanding.

Next week, students will take two summative assessments: one for reading and one for speaking. To prepare, students are encouraged to review the unit vocabulary, including family members, physical descriptions, and personality traits. The vocabulary list can be found in their Spanish class on Canvas.

Spanish I (Mr. Donaldson, Ms. Cuffee)

Building on prior work with the preterite tense, students will explore more irregular forms. They will receive three new SpanishDict.com homework assignments targeting preterite comprehension (3HW18.PrCo), irregular preterite verbs (3HW19.IrrP), and stem-changing preterite verbs (3HW20.StPr). The class will review these irregular preterite forms in notes, practice sessions, and interactive games and activities. Later in the week, students will complete an in-depth practice assignment (3PA5.VI) to apply these irregular verbs in context.

Spanish II (Ms. Wooten, Ms. Henderson)

In Spanish 2, many of our students are out this week in Costa Rica, hopefully USING their Spanish, having new cultural experiences, and expanding their vocabulary. Students who are on the trip should use the module in canvas called "missed work for Costa Rica students only!" to complete their missed work. The module includes 1 mandatory assignment (reading ch8), 1 option extra credit (reading: quieres comer el cuy, and a MANDATORY trip reflection in which they will respond to questions in Spanish about their experiences on the trip! Students who will be at school with me this week will have an opportunity to engage in games in activities in a smaller group, work on missed assignments, learn more about Peruvian foods, read chapter 8, and learn more about Andean communities in Perú. Please note, the week of March 24-28, Ms. Wooten will be out of the country with humanities students, but Spanish 2 students will still have work to complete in class.

Spanish Humanities, grade 6 (Ms. Balestra)

This week we will be working in small groups and creating a unique story from one of the following prompts: How did your mythological creature come into existence?, Choose a real-life situation and explain it through a mythological story, Create a mythological creature with magical powers and tell how it uses those powers, Write the story of how you discovered a mythological creature, Create a magical world from where your creature came.

Once the stories have been written, students will use art materials to create a scene from their story!

Spanish Humanities, grade 7 (Ms. Henderson)

I am excited to share that our 7th Grade Spanish Humanities class has begun a new unit centered around the book Los siete hábitos de los adolescentes altamente efectivos. Throughout this unit, students will engage in weekly journal entries to reflect on their behaviors, habits, and interactions with others.

This past week, we explored the paradigms we hold about ourselves and others, discussing how these perspectives influence our judgments and actions. We are also sharpening our grammar skills by focusing on the present tense, with special attention to reflexive verbs.

Looking ahead, next week we will delve into the second habit from the book, Comenzar con un fin en mente ("Begin with the End in Mind"). As part of this lesson, students will create vision boards to articulate their aspirations and dreams for the future.

Me emociona compartir que nuestra clase de Humanidades en Español de 7º grado ha comenzado una nueva unidad basada en el libro Los siete hábitos de los adolescentes altamente efectivos. Durante esta unidad, los estudiantes escribirán entradas semanales en un diario para reflexionar sobre sus comportamientos, hábitos e interacciones con los demás.

Esta semana, hemos explorado los paradigmas que tenemos sobre nosotros mismos y los demás, analizando cómo estas perspectivas influyen en nuestros juicios y acciones. También estamos perfeccionando nuestras habilidades gramaticales, centrándonos en el tiempo presente, con especial atención a los verbos reflexivos.

La próxima semana, nos enfocaremos en el segundo hábito del libro, Comenzar con un fin en mente. Como parte de esta lección, los estudiantes crearán tableros de visión para expresar sus aspiraciones y sueños para el futuro.

Spanish Humanities, grade 8 (Ms. Wooten)

This week, students started our new unit on Biodiversity and Environmental Justice in Latin America. Students shared their background knowledge and made predictions on things such as which 6 countries in Latin American are considered "mega-diverse" and completed a reading about biodiversity in Latin America. We then reflect on our own connection (or lack thereof) to the plants and animals in our own communities. Students broke intro groups and chose a region of Latin America or country and watched a short documentary clip in their groups. Next week, students will dive more deeply into research about the biodiversity of their assigned region and choose a few species to learn more about and profile. They will prepare a presentation and share their knowledge with the class next Thursday/ Friday. On Monday we will go over the presentation requirements, but students are working on how to engage their audience and communicate clearly in Spanish without directly reading from their slides. They will be required to create questions for the peers to listen for and then facilitate their peers sharing what they learned after each presentation. Please note that many humanities students will be traveling with me March 24-28. They will be required to complete a 4 paragraph written reflection after the trip. Students who are not traveling will have work to complete during the trip as well.

French Language and Culture (Ms. Bullock, Mr. Almanza)

Next week in introduction to French students will be flexing their French muscles and showing all that they have learned! We will be completing both our reading summative and speaking summative next week. In order to prepare, students should review our class resources (which may include their vocab sheet, Quizlet sets, class notes and resources Canvas resources).

French I (Ms. Balestra, Mr. Osei)

This week we will continue to work on past tense, transposing from present to past. We will also introduce the special rules for reflexive verbs in the past tense.

Please ask your student to explain to you what they learned about the past tense with DR. & MRS. VANDERTRAMP!

French II (Dr. Mbayu)

This week we started Unit 3: Le weekend, les loisirs, et les spectacles. We will complete a reading performance activity (criterion B): le metro et vive le jazz.

Next week we will delve into weekend activities in the city and the countryside from a comparative perspective.

Chinese (Ms. Liang)

G6

Last week, our G6 Chinese students have been actively engaged in learning how to express nationalities, languages, and their ability to speak different languages in Chinese. They have also practiced requesting to practice a language with someone and telling a story using a specific language. Last week Friday, students participated in an oral practice session to reinforce their speaking skills, applying their knowledge in meaningful conversations. Next week, we will continue exploring this unit, building on their vocabulary and sentence structures to enhance both oral and written communication.

G7

Last week, our G7 Chinese students focused on making phone calls in Chinese, handling wrong numbers, asking someone to hold on, and other essential phone call expressions. Through practice activities, they enhanced their ability to navigate real-life phone conversations in Chinese. Next week, we will continue with this unit, reinforcing key expressions and improving fluency. The following week, students will demonstrate their learning through two summative assessments.

G8

Last week, our G8 Chinese students explored the International Traveling unit, learning essential vocabulary and expressions related to travel. In addition, they began learning the Chinese song "Farewell" (送别) to enhance their listening and pronunciation skills through music. Next week, students will complete a summative assessment to demonstrate their understanding of this unit. Following the assessment, they will focus on Chinese Pinyin typing practice, developing their ability to type accurately and efficiently in Chinese.