World Languages

Week of December 9th

This week in our classes!

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

Last week, students engaged in learning vocabulary related to food and beverages through fun games and collaborative activities. It was an exciting and interactive way to enhance their language skills!

Next week, students will take their second formative assessments of the term: one focused on reading and another on speaking.

We encourage parents to motivate their children to attend after-school tutoring sessions if they need to retake any assessments they missed or scored below 69 on. As we are now halfway through the term, please note that no assignments from the first half of the period will be accepted after December 9th.

Thank you for your continued support in your child’s learning journey!

Spanish I (Mr. Donaldson, Ms. Cuffee)

Unit 2: Week 6 Overview (Dec. 9-13, 2024)

This week, students will continue to deepen their understanding of clothing descriptions and related vocabulary. They will complete new SpanishDict.com homework assignments on describing clothing, which are due Friday, December 13.

The retake and makeup deadline for the first half of Term 2 is Monday, December 9. On that date, no makeups or retakes for work given on or prior to December 9 will be accepted. The week begins with a reading comprehension formative on Monday, December 9. On Tuesday and Wednesday, students will work on a close reading activity focused on clothing, enhancing their reading and analytical skills.

On Thursday, students will engage in a series of interactive activities, including a reading and drawing exercise and a video-based activity exploring clothing in different contexts.

The week concludes on Friday with the first speaking formative of the term. Students will practice their oral communication skills ahead of the speaking summative, which will take place after winter break.

Spanish II (Ms. Wooten, Ms. Henderson)

Spanish 2:

This week in Spanish 2, students started learning about the differences between the preterit and the imperfect through the context of 2 stories, "el regalo" and "igual." Next week we will continue to tell short stories in the past, gradually gaining confidence in when and how to use each past tense, and navigating the many irregular forms. Prior to the break, students will have a summative to assess their ability to distinguish between the preterit and imperfect and use them in context. Please don't forget that all missing work from the first half of the advisory is due MONDAY December 9- I showed students their grades and missing work in class, so they should know what they need to do if they are missing anything!

Spanish Humanities, grade 6 (Ms. Balestra)

Last week we learned vocabulary words related to immigration and, specifically, the book, Cajas de Carton.

This week we are completing the first few chapters of the book.

If your student does not complete the comprehension questions in class, they should complete them for homework. This will facilitate our conversation on the following day and help us to move forward. Additionally, students should review their vocabulary words nightly so that they can properly use them in context when writing and speaking.

Spanish Humanities, grade 7 (Ms. Henderson)

Esta semana, nuestros estudiantes de Humanidades están trabajando en el vocabulario clave para prepararse para la lectura del capítulo cuatro de Lazarillo de Tormes. En este capítulo, Lazarillo sigue encontrando maneras ingeniosas de engañar a su amo para sobrevivir en condiciones de gran pobreza, y nuestros estudiantes explorarán estas tácticas mientras profundizan en el contexto social de la obra.

Además, la próxima semana tendremos una visita especial: estudiantes de Español AP de Cardozo International Academy se unirán a nosotros en clase para participar en una discusión sobre la adversidad y cómo podemos desarrollar estrategias para superarla, ¡todo en español! Esta actividad ofrecerá a nuestros estudiantes una gran oportunidad para aplicar su vocabulario y habilidades lingüísticas en una conversación auténtica y significativa.

This week, our Humanities students are working on key vocabulary to prepare for reading chapter four of Lazarillo de Tormes. In this chapter, Lazarillo continues to find clever ways to trick his master to survive in conditions of extreme poverty, and our students will explore these tactics while deepening their understanding of the social context of the novel.

Next week, we will also have a special visit: AP Spanish students from Cardozo International Academy will join us in class to participate in a discussion on adversity and how we can develop strategies to overcome it—all in Spanish! This activity will provide our students with a great opportunity to apply their vocabulary and language skills in an authentic, meaningful conversation.

Spanish Humanities, grade 8 (Ms. Wooten)

Humanidades 8:

This week students read "Alicia la que ve ratones" "Darius y las nubes" "Y algunas más" and "familia de pies pequeños," short vignettes from the book Casa en Mango Street. We continue to track the 4 main themes of the book, adding quotes to our tracker and analyzing them as we go. This week we particularly discussed Esperanza's transition from youth to adolescence, and will continue to discuss how her perspective changes in the next few vignettes as she begins to experience her community more as a young women and less as a child. Students will complete a writing summative next week- more instructions to come in class! Please don't forget that all missing work from the first half of the advisory is due MONDAY December 9- I showed students their grades and missing work in class, so they should know what they need to do if they are missing anything!

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

Bienvenue au café! This week in introduction to French we are learning about foods and drinks. At the end of the week, students should be able to order in a café en français! We will also be taking a reading formative. The best way to review for formatives is to study our vocabulary. A fun review activity for students to use to review is match. All students are encouraged to review vocab for 5 minutes a night. After all, if you don't know the words in French, you wouldn't be able to communicate or understand. On y va!

French I (Ms. Balestra, Mr. Osei)

This week we expanded our vocabulary and verbs, all related to food. We are practicing different scenarios and practicing reading comprehension. We also revisited the grammatical concept of partitive articles and how they change with verbs of preference and negative sentences.

Next week we will be working on our projects that will count as a Summative grade. Students will have the option to choose between two types of projects to present after the winter break. Students will work in class and specific task deadlines.

Students should be reviewing their vocabulary nightly!

Chinese (Ms. Liang)

12/05

Grade 6

Last week in Lesson 4, we explored the topic of family members, grade levels, and schools in Chinese, helping students learn to describe their family structure, which grade they are in, what school they attend and we continued building on this theme by introducing extended family members. This week, students practiced asking and answering questions such as:

你家有几口人? (Nǐ jiā yǒu jǐ kǒu rén?) – How many people are there in your family?
你有几个兄弟姐妹? (Nǐ yǒu jǐ gè xiōngdì jiěmèi?) – How many siblings do you have?
他们几岁？(Tāmen jǐ suì?) – How old are they?
你上几年级？(nǐ shàng jǐ nián jí?) – Which grade do they attend?
你上哪个学校？（nǐ shàng nǎ ge xué xiào）-- Which school do you attend?

Through these questions, students learned vocabulary related to family members, grades, occupations, schools, and extended family members. We did two assessments this week. One written assessment on Lesson 4 this Thursday. The other is the oral family tree project starting this Friday. Next week, we will complete learning this lesson and start lesson 5 Chinese Zodiacs!

Grade 7

Last week, our Grade 7 Chinese class completed learning how to describe tops, pants, skirts, shoes and accessories. Students worked hard to describe their outfits in Chinese, focusing on details like colors, specific measures words, and specific verbs. In this lesson, students are learning essential vocabulary for diverse types of clothing, accessories, and colors. They’re also practicing how to describe clothing styles and appearances, focusing on measure words “件，” “条,” “双,” “戴,” and words like "长裙(long dress)," "短裤 (shorts)," and "穿了(wear)." They also learned how to comment on the outfit by using “肥,” “瘦,” “好看,” “合身.” This topic helps students apply descriptive language in fun and practical ways. We had a review session this week, a summative written test this Wednesday and will have a summative oral test on school uniforms project next Monday.

Grade 8

In Grade 8 Chinese class, we have been exploring the topics of extracurricular activities and different types of films. Students have learned vocabulary through etymology related to their hobbies outside school, such as sports, music, and clubs, and have been practicing how to discuss their interests. This week, we introduced various film genres, like "喜剧 (xǐjù - comedy)," "侦探片 (zhēn tàn piàn - detective)," and "科幻片 (kēhuàn piàn - sci-fi)," and sharing their opinions on each type. We had a review of the whole lesson 3 and the summative test of Lesson 1-3. We were working on a summative oral project on Lesson 3 this week. Students built up their sentences and wrote 400 – 600 words (600-800 characters) to describe their weekend and Thanksgiving by applying those key sentence structures we learned in L1-3. Next week we will start learning the new lesson Seeing Doctors!