World Languages

Week of September 30 - October 4

This week in our classes!

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

Last week, our beginner students dove into the exciting world of adjectives! They explored how these descriptive words can add color and detail to their conversation. Next week, we'll shift our focus to the verb "ser," where students will learn to construct simple sentences to describe themselves and others. This will not only enhance their vocabulary but also boost their confidence in speaking Spanish. Stay tuned for more updates on our learning journey!

Spanish I (Mr. Donaldson, Ms. Cuffee)

It’s been a busy few weeks in Spanish I! As a reminder, the late/retake deadline for the first half of Term 1 was Thursday, September 26. No work from that date or before will be accepted. The next late/retake deadline is November 1. Looking ahead, our first listening summative assessment on rooms of the house, furniture, and prepositions will take place on Monday, September 30.

After the assessment, we’ll dive into vocabulary for different places around the city and grammar related to the verb IR. SpanishDict.com homework will resume next week, with three assignments opening on Monday and due by Friday at 3:15 PM.

Additionally, student-led conferences will be held on Thursday, October 10, only with the student, parent/guardian, and their advisory teacher. The advisory teacher should have sent a sign-up email.

Spanish II (Ms. Wooten, Ms. Henderson)

It’s been a fantastic week in Spanish 2! We’ve been building our vocabulary with key words and have just wrapped up the first chapter of our new novel. On Friday, we’ll have our first quiz on the chapter, and next week, we’ll dive into some of the historical context behind the story. Feel free to read along with your student—PDFs of the chapter are available on Canvas. A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to our classroom supplies; your support is truly appreciated!

This week we began reading the first and second chapters of the book Esperanza. Students took on roles to help bring the vocabulary to life, we played review games, we used graphic organizers, and we talked in groups to help understand the text. Next week we will add more vocabulary to help make predictions and react to a text and we will have our first summative, in which students will practice retelling (in writing) the main elements of the first 2 chapters, and write their own reaction. We will prepare in class by drawing and talking about the events again (in Spanish), but student can also study by using the vocab links on canvas.

Spanish Humanities, grade 6 (Ms. Balestra)

Last week we compared our childhoods to the childhood experiences of children working in factories in Minnesota and Nebraska (the news clip is a few years old) and to the childhood experience of a girl in India. Students wrote a Formative analyzing their lives and the lives of others.

This week we will be reading an excerpt from the Sandra Cisneros book, Once.

There will be a Formative on Thursday, October 3rd.

Summatives will be the week of October 7th and October 14th.

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

Spanish Humanities, grade 7 (Ms. Henderson)

Esta semana en la clase de humanidades seguimos profundizando en cómo se construye la identidad. Realizamos nuestra primera prueba, en la cual los estudiantes analizaron a figuras prominentes a través del patrón literario "El viaje del héroe". La próxima semana cambiaremos el enfoque hacia nosotros mismos y concluiremos esta unidad con una exploración de nuestros deseos para el futuro, los desafíos que enfrentaremos y los aliados que nos ayudarán a superarlos. Como siempre, muchas gracias por su apoyo de nuestra clase.

This week in Humanities, we have continued our exploration as to how one creates their identity. We took our first quiz this week, in which students analyzed the lives of prominent figures from Latin America through the lens of "The Hero's Journey." Next week we will shift focus towards ourselves and we will wrap this unit up with an exploration of our own desires for the future, the challenges that we will face and those that will help us overcome them. As always thank you for your support of our classroom.

Spanish Humanities, grade 8 (Ms. Wooten)

This week in 8th grade humanities, students have been practicing identifying examples of figurative language in a variety of poems and a short story. Next week we will read more poetry, exploring what it means to different people to identify as Latino and how language impacts how people identify. Students are building to the end of the advisory when they will have an opportunity to share a poem that have written or another skill/ talent that is an important part of their identity. So if they have a song or dance or other skill they want to share, you can help them start practicing at home!

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

Last week in Introduction to French, students learned how to say their birthday and their age...en français bien sûr! Next week, on Tuesday, students will be completing their first writing formative where they write all about themselves in French. We will then start to learn to talk about our classes at Deal. 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 will be 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!

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

French I (Ms. Balestra, Mr. Osei)

Last week worked a lot with irregular verbs ALLER and VENIR and we learned new vocabulary relating to places in a city. Students took a listening Formative on Wednesday.

This week we will be learning vocabulary related to the home, as well as how to form and use conjunctions and contractions.

Students will take a Listening Summative on Thursday and Friday.

Students will take a Writing Summative the week after the long weekend.

Students can expect to have a Formative once/week on material covered in the previous days.

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 we started Unit 1: Qui suis-je? Next week we will complete the Unit 1 diagnostic test and a formative assessment on giving directions.

Merci.

Chinese (Mr. Zhi, Ms. Liang)

Grade 6

Last week our students learned about pinyin (Chinese sound system), high frequency words through etymology, basic strokes, the stroke order and greetings. Next week students will learn about introducing ourselves. Students will have a formative assessment next week on Friday on 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 have two summative assessments. Students will have an oral presentation next Tuesday describing their daily schedules. 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.