World Languages

Week of September 23-27

This week in our classes!

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

Last week, our students practiced asking and answering personal information questions in Spanish, building confidence in basic conversational skills. They also completed two formative assessments to track their progress.

Next week, we will begin learning vocabulary related to adjectives for describing people, school subjects and class descriptions. Students will start to expand their language skills to talk about the different classes they like and why.

Stay tuned for more updates on their learning journey!

Sra. Gonzalez y Sr. Fontalvo.

Spanish I (Mr. Donaldson, Ms. Cuffee)

It was so great to see so many parents, guardians, and student scholars at Back to School Night! Your presence and support means so much. We hope you found our presentations engaging and informative. Spanish I scholars have been busy this week! In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, each scholar completed part of a collaborative poster. The posters have been laminated and placed in the hallway in lower Reno. They look amazing!

This week we explored the use of the verb “estar” and prepositions in order to identify and describe the location of various items, objects, and people in relation to other items, object, and people. Scholars have been putting this vocabulary and new knowledge to use by writing complete and grammatically accurate sentences in Spanish! We are so proud!

Next week students will put all that we have studied into practice. Students will complete three open-notes Practice & Application (PA) assignments to determine where different people and objects are located in the home and classroom. Students will end the week with both an IB listening formative and an IB writing formative to show mastery (without their notes). The first listening summative assessment for this advisory will be on Monday, September 30th.

En unidad,

Sra. Cuffee & Profe. Donaldson

Spanish II (Ms. Wooten, Ms. Henderson)

This past week students worked with three new dictionary structures, using them to describe the song "A las tres" as well as in other contexts. Students did their first structured peer conversations, and were introduced to the challenge of staying in the target language (Spanish) to hold at least 2 minute conversations with a peer. Next week, we will read our first and second chapters of the book Esperanza, and use a variety of different review techniques to show their understanding, summarize, and reac to the text. Students should continue to use canvas to keep up with assignments and review vocab on quizlet. All students are invited to the World Language Trip meeting this upcoming Wednesday September 25th at 6:30pm at Deal and should plan to attend if interested in the trip.

Spanish Humanities, grade 6 (Ms. Balestra)

This week we have learned about Sonia Sotomayor, in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. We have also begun our study of how different texts are presented.

Next week we will talk about our childhood and how it's similar or different from the childhood of children around the world and in different socio-economic classes.

All work can be found on our Canvas page!

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

Spanish Humanities, grade 7 (Ms. Henderson)

We have just completed a unit in our 7th Grade Spanish Humanities class, where we explored the biographies of six prominent figures from Latin America through the lens of "The Hero's Journey." This week, we will shift our focus inward, encouraging students to reflect on their own lives and aspirations. They will draw comparisons with the journeys of the figures we studied, helping them connect their own hopes for the future with the themes of growth and resilience. Thank you for your continued support in fostering your child's learning!

Spanish Humanities, grade 8 (Ms. Wooten)

This week in Humanidades students read and analyzed 2 model poems using a “yo soy de” structure, then brainstormed a variety of things that are important to them (including places, foods, smells, people, activities, memories, etc) and wrote their first identity poem using a similar structure as the model poems. These completed poems are due on Monday on canvas. We also had a group of wonderful volunteers help translate at Back to School Night, and students began making buttons to school their Hispanic heritage month pride. Next week students will begin to study figurative language in Spanish and will work towards writing a poem (for a summative grade) using various figurative language devices and explaining their use. All students are invited to the World Language Trip meeting this upcoming Wednesday September 25th at 6:30pm at Deal and should plan to attend if interested in the trip.

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

Last week in Introduction to French, students learned how to talk about where they live and their nationality. This week, students will continue by learning how to say their birthday and their age...en français bien sûr! All of this is preparing for our first writing formative on September 30th. We learn best by reviewing a little every day, so encourage your student to use our interactive flashcards (https://bit.ly/madamevocab1) or our study sheet to review. These are updated as we learn new vocab. Students are amazed by how much better they do with a little review. When students are ready to level up, they can brave: https://bit.ly/madamevocab1LU Here we grow!

French I (Ms. Balestra, Mr. Osei)

This week we have been reviewing the present tense of regular -ER verbs and are using new vocabulary that focuses on places found in a city. Students are showing mastery of verb conjugations and are working on proper sentence structure.

Next week we will focus on the two irregular verbs ALLER and VENIR, review other irregular verbs, and grow our vocabulary. We will begin learning how to give directions in French.

Students (and parents) can stay up to date with our assignments in Canvas.

If you'd like to purchase anything for our classroom, please click here for Ms. Balestra's wish list.

And here for Mr. Osei's wish list.

French II (Dr. Mbayu)

Last week our students learned about annotation in reading. We explored classified ads from French newspapers and a documentary on gold mining. Next week, we will begin Unit 1 : Qui suis-je? Students will also take a reading comprehension formative assessment.

Merci.

Chinese (Mr. Zhi, Ms. Liang)

Grade 6

Last week our students learned about numbers and high frequency words through etymology. Next week students will learn about pinyin Chinese sound system and greetings. Students will have a formative assessment next week Friday on numbers and common greetings. 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 assessment on daily activities last Friday. Next week we will continue exploring how to learn more about daily activities and focus on reading comprehension. Students will take a formative assessment on Friday covering telling time and describing daily activities. 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 transportation and how to describe the distance between two locations. We had a formative assessment on daily activities last Friday. Next week we will continue exploring how to ask and answer the distance between two places. Students will take a formative assessment on Friday covering transportation and asking directions. We are excited to see their progress as they build their presentational speaking skills in Chinese.