World Languages

Week of October 28 - November 1

This week in our classes!

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

Last week, students learned how to tell time in Spanish and practiced by describing their daily schedules.

Next week, we will be celebrating a cultural tradition from Mexico, El Día de los Muertos. In addition to this, students will work on interdisciplinary projects in collaboration with their art class, as they reinforce the content from Unit 1, which was completed successfully.

We encourage parents to review the grades from formative and summative assessments administered after September 26th. If you notice any missing assignments or grades below 70, please encourage your child to retake the exam before November 1st.

Spanish I (Mr. Donaldson, Ms. Cuffee)

We made it to Week 10, the last week of Term 1! Students will continue to focus on practicing directions through in-class activities.

To retake a summative in which a student scored 69% or below, they must complete a summative retake review. All retakes and makeup assignments must be scheduled in advance. Friday, November 1, the last day of the term, is the last day for retakes (only one retake per assignment up to 76%), makeup work (-10% if after excused absence deadline), or to turn in missing work not turned in on time (-10%) given between September 27 and November 1. For Profe. Donaldson, students can use the form at the top of his Canvas page. For Sra. Cuffee, students must use the format she provided to send her a message on Canvas.

Spanish II (Ms. Wooten, Ms. Henderson)

This week students read chapter 5 of Esperanza and practiced with new vocabulary llega a, se acostumbra, no puede dormir, busca trabajo. As the advisory ends next Friday, we are ending the advisory watching clips from the documentary Which Way Home (so remind your student to bring their own headphones next week if they do not want to use the class set). We are preparing to end our unit with an immigration panel at Deal and hosting students from Cardozo for small group conversations in Spanish about school life and their immigration experiences. If you know anyone who works in immigration or has family experience with immigration (and speaks Spanish), please share this link to sign up for our panel Fri Nov 15th or have them email kathryn.wooten@k12.dc.gov or anna.henderson@k12.dc.gov for more info.

Spanish Humanities, grade 6 (Ms. Balestra)

Students took a Summative last week that showed mastery of high frequency verbs and they took a second Summative to show their ability to analyze a text.

Next week we will work on an art project and an accompanying narrative.

If you'd like to purchase anything for our classroom, click here! Thank you!

Spanish Humanities, grade 7 (Ms. Henderson)

In 7th Grade Humanities, we’ve just finished reading the first two chapters of El Lazarillo de Tormes. We’ve been exploring how the events of Lazaro’s early years have influenced his perspective on life. Next week, we’ll continue to follow Lazaro’s journey under the care of his first master. Students will also have the opportunity to put their writing skills to the test by crafting responses to the text. We’re excited to see how they engage with this classic work!

Spanish Humanities, grade 8 (Ms. Wooten)

This week students learned about the cartonera publishing movement, designed a cover for their portfolio, and worked on finalizing their poems and putting together the final portfolio (due Friday Oct 25). Please remember that TUESDAY Oct 29, students should bring food (sign up here), wear shirts/ flags/ buttons/ etc to show their pride as Spanish speakers, and attend our celebration during 5th/ advisory. Students will bring home their portfolios Tuesday afternoon after the celebration, so ask for another poetry reading at home! Next week we will be reading short stories from the book Más Allá de la Frontera: crecer como mexicano en los EEUU before we start our next unit in advisory 2!

Students can sign up here to bring food to share on Oct 29.

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

We've learned so much in our first term of introduction to French. Last week students got the chance to show off all they have learned on their summative assessments. This week we will be wrapping up our final week of the first term by reviewing (for example why those accents like é, à, ô exist) and practicing French speaking skills to get ready for term 2! Challenge your student to teach you something in French!

If you would like to donate to our classroom needs, please use this Wish List! Merci, merci!

French I (Ms. Balestra, Mr. Osei)

We are wrapping up Unit 1, Our City and our Home! Students have also worked on regular and irregular verbs, contractions, and possessive adjectives.

Next week will continue working on art projects that tie everything together and give students an opportunity to shine in a different way!

French II (Dr. Mbayu)

Last week our students continued the use of realia by annotating authentic newspaper ads and responding to comprehension questions. Next week, we will take two summative assessments.

Merci.

Chinese (Ms. Liang)

Grade 6

Last week our students continued lesson 3 School supplies and learned new characters through etymology. We will finish learning Lesson 3 School Supplies next week and have a formative assessment next Monday. Next week we will have a summative speaking and Written assessment of lesson 3 on Wednesday and Friday. We are excited to see their progress as they build their foundational reading and writing skills in Chinese.

Grade 7

Last week our students continued learning Lesson 3 My house locality words about describing the house and how to say different rooms. We had a formative assessment last Friday. Next week we will continue to learn Lesson 3 and have a formative assessment on rooms and furniture on Friday. We are excited to see their progress as they build their reading and writing skills in Chinese.

Grade 8

Last week our students presented the speaking summative assessment on Dream Taiwan Trip project and had a written summative assessment on Friday. We practiced typing in class. Next week we will start learning Lesson 3 Extracurricular Activities. We are excited to see their progress as they build their presentational speaking and writing skills in Chinese.