World Languages
Week of October 5, 2026
Spanish Language and Culture (Mr. Fontalvo, Ms. Gonzalez)
Last week, students learned vocabulary related to personality adjectives, school subjects, and classroom objects. They also practiced using this new vocabulary to describe their teachers and classes in Spanish.
Next week, students will complete a formative assessment as well as a listening summative assessment. To prepare, students should review school subjects, ordinal numbers, and classroom object vocabulary. We encourage students to spend a few minutes each day reviewing their notes and vocabulary rather than waiting until the night before the assessment. Practicing a little each day is a great way to build confidence and strengthen retention.
Thank you for your continued support at home!
Spanish I (Mr. Donaldson, Ms. Cuffee)
Spanish II (Ms. Wooten, Ms. Henderson, Mr. Almanza)
We have read chapters 1 and 2 of the book Esperanza, practicing vocabulary and analyzing the song “A las 3” to support the vocabulary and context of the book. Today in class, students will be completing a listening/ drawing/ speaking activity to review the main characters and events as well as practice their vocabulary. Tomorrow we will begin their first writing summative, in which they need to summarize the 2 chapters (using the drawings they created in class) and write a reaction and prediction (using the vocab we have been practicing: “me imagino que/ me pregunto si/ __ va a ___.” To prepare for the writing, students should student 20 vocab terms in their dictionary pages. That vocabulary (plus additional vocabulary for the context of the book) is also available as a list on quizlet and in this gimkit review game. If your student is missing work, it is always available on canvas to download and complete, and they can see me for assistance in advisory study hall.
Next week, after completing the writing summative, we will continue with the book Esperanza, reading chapters 3 and 4. We will practice different styles of reading, using audio to support independent reading and also taking on the role of characters as we read in reader's theater style.
World Language Trip Interest Meeting - October 15th
Our second 8th grade world language trip meeting will take place at 6:30 pm on Thursday, October 15th in the Deal auditorium (the first meeting was late in 7th grade). All families of students interested in the Deal trips to Costa Rica, France, and China should plan to attend this meeting.
Our Deal team continues to make progress with the DCPS approval process for this year's world language trips. As soon as we receive final approval, we will open up trip registrations to families. When registration becomes available, families will need to act fast to register and submit the required paperwork before late fees are applied and the registration process closes.
The number one thing families can do to prepare for their trip at this moment is ensure their student has a current passport (valid through November of 2027). If your student does not yet have a passport, we strongly recommend your family move quickly to obtain one.
Dates for the trip will not be finalized until the trips receive their final approval and our travel partners confirm flights. The following tentative dates are subject to change, but are being shared for planning purposes. These dates are likely to shift a few days in either direction:
- Costa Rica - February 4-13, 2027
- Costa Rica (Humanities) - February 4-14, 2027
- France - March 20- 30, 2027
- China - March 20–31, 2027
We look forward to seeing our families at 6:30 pm on October 15th to learn more about these trips.
Spanish Humanities, grade 6 (Ms. Balestra)
This past week students read "Once," by Sandra Cisneros, watched a short news clip on child labor in the United States, and read three short texts on coming-of-age rituals. We expanded our vocabulary and students took a vocabulary quiz on Friday.
Next week we will focus on grammar. Many students will be out on different days of the week due to the 6th grade field trips. All work will be available to them upon their return and also on Canvas. Students will not be required to complete the work from the day they are on the field trip. However, if they would like to reinforce what we are focusing on, they are welcome to complete the work and I will provide feedback. We will be focusing on past tenses in Spanish.
French Language & Culture (Ms. Bullock, Mr. Almanza)
This week, students will continue to learn how to talk about their school life. We will be learning vocabulary to talk about our school likes and dislikes. Students will also learn to support their opinions! We've learned a lot in six weeks. Students will also be preparing for our upcoming listening and writing summatives. To help your student prepare, encourage them to review their vocabulary.
The easiest way to learn French is to practice a little every day. Encourage your student to review regularly! Madame Bullock's students can use Match or online flashcards to review. (For data privacy, students do NOT need a quizlet account to practice!)
French I (Ms. Balestra, Mr. Osei)
This past week students showed their mastery of vocabulary, contractions, and the verbs aller and venir, on a Summative. The Summative counts as two grades: one for Listening Comprehension and one for Writing.
After Monday's Summative, we began work on vocabulary 2, focusing on the house. We continued to work with prepositions to indicate "to/at the" and "from the."
Next week, students will focus on writing. We will use city maps and house layouts as prompts.
All students in Ms. Balestra's classes worked on flash cards in class that they should have taken home. We are building a master set for the whole unit so that reviewing vocabulary words is easy and does not require any technology. If you have time, please review these words with your student!
French II (Dr. Mbayu & Mr. Osei)
French II – Unit 1: Qui suis-je ?Students explored personality traits and strengthened their adjective agreement skills. They learned descriptive adjectives, listened to interviews about friends, and wrote paragraphs describing their best friend. Roleplay games encouraged guessing personalities, while reflections centered on choosing the correct adjective forms.
Chinese (Ms. Liang)
Grade 6
Last week our students learned about introducing themselves. Students had a formative written and speaking assessment last Tuesday and Wednesday on numbers and common greetings. Next week we will start learning unit three school supplies. We are excited to see their progress as they build their foundational communication skills in Chinese.
Grade 7
Last week our students learned about telling time and daily activities. We had a formative speaking assessment on daily activities last Wednesday. Next week we will have summative assessments. Students will have a written summative assessment on Lesson II Time and Activities next Thursday. We are excited to see their progress as they build their speaking and writing skills in Chinese.
Grade 8
Last week our students learned about how to navigate unfamiliar places, giving directions, and how to describe the time it takes between two locations. We had a formative assessment on transportation last Friday. Next week we will continue exploring how to describe popular cities in China, plan vacation itineraries, decide activities for summer breaks and explain why. Students will prepare for the speaking summative assessment on Dream China Trip project next week and one written summative assessment the following week. We are excited to see their progress as they build their presentational speaking skills in Chinese.