World Languages
Week of March 29, 2026
Spanish Language and Culture (Mr. Fontalvo, Ms. Gonzalez)
Last week, students practiced pet vocabulary and descriptions by working on fun and engaging projects that allowed them to be creative while using Spanish in meaningful ways.
Next week, students will focus on reviewing key topics from the unit, completing retakes as needed, and continuing to build their vocabulary through activities and videos.
Spanish I (Mr. Donaldson, Ms. Cuffee)
Spanish II (Ms. Wooten, Ms. Henderson, Mr. Almanza)
This week, we wrapped up Chapter 9 of our second novel of the year—an exciting milestone for the class! At the end of the week, students were introduced to their final project for the unit. Because we’ve been focusing heavily on speaking and listening skills (thank you so much to the parents who supported our recorded conversations!), the final project will ask students to record themselves responding to the novel in a format of their choice. You can explore the project options here.
Final projects are due on March 30th, and we will celebrate students’ hard work with a class party on March 26th. These projects are always a highlight, and students are encouraged to be as creative as possible—without the use of online translators.
As we approach the end of the advisory, please continue to check Aspen regularly for any missing assignments. Let’s finish Term 3 strong!
Spanish Humanities, grade 6 (Ms. Balestra)
Last week students took a Summative to show their understanding of mythology, monsters and heroes, and different perspectives in writing.
Next week we will create clay figures to depict a scene from our original mythological stories!
Thank you to everyone who has donated supplies. I will send out an email if I am in need of more.
Tissues are always helpful! Especially with allergy season upon us!
French Language & Culture (Ms. Bullock, Mr. Almanza)
Last week, we reviewed question words and our major topics that we learned throughout the school year.
This week we will be learning vocab to talk about animals! After all, we just learned family vocab and animals are often beloved family members.
Students and families are reminded that with the end of the term coming, this is the final opportunity to make up missed work or complete any missing assessments!
What can we do at home?
Vocabulary is KEY to language learning. Students should be reviewing their vocabulary for at least 5 minutes every night. They are welcome to use this resource to support their learning. It is updated every time we learn something new! Students have been commenting about how much they've learned so far. It's great to see their confidence grow.
French I (Ms. Balestra, Mr. Osei)
French One: Last week we took a Speaking Summative to show our mastery of Unit 3 materials. Students were able to describe their daily routines and also speak about what they have done in the past.
Next week we will do some wrap up review activities before we move on to Unit 4!
A reminder that students in Ms. Balestra's class should use the "Unit Activities" link on Canvas to do practice.
French II (Dr. Mbayu & Mr. Osei)
🎯 Focus: metacognition and goal-setting.
💡 Ask at home: What is one goal for the next unit?
Chinese (Ms. Liang)
G6
Last week, our Grade 6 students continued their unit on sports and physical activities. They are learning how to talk about different sports, express who they play with, and share their preferences using key sentence structures and vocabulary in Chinese.
Through fun conversations, partner work, and written practice, students are gaining confidence in expressing their interests in sports and understanding how to ask others about theirs.
Students will have a formative quiz next week to assess their understanding of vocabulary and sentence patterns from this unit.
G7
Last week, students continued their work on the food unit. We introduced specific measure words used for different places and explored a few iconic Chinese dishes, such as Peking duck and fried rice, while also discussing the importance of staple foods in Chinese cuisine. This unit offers a fun and meaningful way for students to expand their language skills while deepening their understanding of Chinese culture.
G8
In 8th grade, students wrote reflective essays about their China trip - Chengdu, Xi'an, Beijing, capturing their memorable experiences and personal highlights. After completing their writing, we shared these reflections in class, giving students the opportunity to practice their language skills and learn from one another’s experiences.
As part of this activity, we introduced the STAMP writing rubric, which provided clear criteria for success and helped students understand what is required to achieve a level 4 in their writing. We discussed specific elements such as organization, vocabulary range, sentence complexity, and accuracy, giving students actionable goals for improvement. After spring break, we will continue our focused review sessions to prepare for the upcoming STAMP exam, reinforcing listening and reading strategies and building students' confidence for the assessment.