World Languages
Week of September 15th
Spanish Language and Culture (Mr. Fontalvo, Ms. Gonzalez)
Last week, our students learned about Spanish-speaking countries, their capitals, and nationalities. They had a great time exploring the diversity of the Spanish-speaking world! 🌎✨
This upcoming week, we’ll be moving on to greetings, basic questions, and farewells. Students will also take their first Criterion D formative assessment, where they will put into practice everything they’ve learned about greetings, goodbyes, and simple questions. We’re excited to see how they apply their new skills! 🎉
Spanish I (Mr. Donaldson, Ms. Cuffee)
It’s been a great week with Spanish I scholars! Most student scholars successfully accessed SpanishDict.com and completed their first three homework tasks on that platform. Student scholars also completed their first listening assessment. Way to go!
Next week, we are extremely excited to celebrate and kickoff Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15th to October 15th. Scholars will continue using the unit’s new vocabulary while learning about and delving into possessive adjectives, the verb “estar”, and prepositions to express where items are located in a house/home and where items are located in reference to other items. Students will complete new SpanishDict.com assignments due on Friday based on the topics learned this week. The late/retake deadline for the first half of Term 1 is Thursday, September 25. No work from that date or before will be accepted.
Spanish II (Ms. Wooten, Ms. Henderson, Mr. Almanza)
This week in Spanish 2:
This week in Spanish 2 we finished up our review of Spanish 1 vocabulary. We reviewed classroom “survival phrases” that we commit to using ONLY in Spanish, in order to help us meet our goal of 90% Spanish use in the classroom. We practiced the core present tense verbs in a variety of contexts, describing short videos and stories. We learned about our class organization systems- setting up our personal dictionaries and binders.
Next week:
Next week, we will start our first unit, called “inmigración y derechos humanos,” in which we will read the book Esperanza (not Esperanza Rising- that’s a different book!). We will start by pre-teaching some of the vocabulary and practicing it through the analysis of the song “A las tres” by los Enanitos Verdes. Students will learn one of our speaking practice routines and have a series of conversations in Spanish in their groups about the song.
Spanish Humanities, grade 6 (Ms. Balestra)
We will begin the week with a short reading by Sandra Cisneros, Once. We will explore similarities and difference of our childhood to the childhood of children in other parts of the world. Students will be presented with new vocabulary that they need to master and practice using, both in spoken and in written Spanish. There will be a vocabulary Formative, as well as Reading Comprehension questions specific to Once.
French Language & Culture (Ms. Bullock, Mr. Almanza)
This week in introduction to French, students will continue to say how they're doing. Since our current unit is about meeting new people, students will also be learning how to talk about where they're from. We will be having our first listening formative, too. The best way to review for this is to be well rested! Many students are reporting 4-5 hours of sleep! Getting that recommended 8-10 hours will help students be their best-your support is so valuable.
Homework for French includes studying our vocabulary every night—a little study every day makes students stronger language learners! Students can access study materials on Canvas, using their reference sheet or with Match review.
French I (Ms. Balestra, Mr. Osei)
We had a successful start to Unit 1: La Ville et la Maison. Students learned new vocabulary and brainstormed verbs that work with the vocabulary. Next week we will continue working with the vocabulary words, the verbs, and introduce prepositions. Students will practice listening to directions in French to get from one place to another.
Every Friday in French One there will be a Friday Formative. We will alternate this term between Writing and Listening, the two criteria that we are specifically working on this term. Students will take a total of 2 Formatives for each criterion and two formatives that combine the criteria. The Unit 1 Summatives will be on October 15 (Listening) and October 17 (Writing).
French II (Dr. Mbayu & Mr. Osei)
This week focused on describing family and relationships. Students learned family vocabulary and possessive adjectives (mon, ma, mes) and practiced adjective agreement. They listened to French teens describing their families, created family trees, wrote descriptive paragraphs, and worked in pairs to roleplay family introductions. Reflections highlighted strategies for remembering possessive forms.
Chinese (Ms. Liang)
Grade 6
Grade 6 Chinese class this week focused on learning high-frequency words through their etymology. We completed our oral and written assessments last Friday. Students were given Textbook Volume I in class. We will start learning lesson two - pinyin, numbers, and greetings - next week.
Grade 7
Grade 7 Chinese classes last week worked on mastering vocabulary related to daily schedules and key grammar concepts with focus on expressing their routines. Grade 7 Chinese classes will work on two summative assessments about expressing their routines next week. We will also start learning Lesson 2 - time and activities next week.
Grade 8
Grade 8 Chinese class last week explored vocabulary related to daily school life, focusing on language application in listening, speaking, reading, and writing—to ensure a well-rounded understanding in class. Grade 8 Chinese classes will work on two summative assessments related to daily school life next week. We will start learning Lesson 2 - transportation and traveling next week.