World Language Department
Spring 2017
The Department
LOLHS visits Cuba!
¡Que deliciosas las bebidas!
Todo el grupo
Comiendo en un restaurante
Spanish 1 students find amigos in Kentucky
Espanol 2 - Grade 8
¡Los superheroes están trabajando!
¿Qué vamos a dibujar?
Tengo una idea. En mi opinion….
Espanol 1
Spanish - Grade 6 Senora Carrion
Elementary Spanish with Senora Tackett
It has been a busy spring in elementary Spanish. Third graders enjoyed chips in class as they learned about the importance of Cinco de Mayo in the USA and Mexico. The children recently finished learning vocabulary related to school. They enjoyed games using whiteboards and music, did a cut and paste activity, practiced writing vocabulary in cursive and played Old Maid with vocabulary cards. They are gaining confidence in conversation with basic questions to begin 4th grade.
The fourth graders celebrated Cinco de Mayo with their own fiestas and gained a greater understanding of the holiday historically. They practiced vocabulary by playing cards and Go Fish to ask for items needed. They also asked each other about what items friends needed for class and wrote the responses in sentences. 4th graders have been practicing many questions for dialogue, such as “What is your favorite color?” Tossing the ball amongst each other always provides motivation! They are getting ready to start the fifth grade year by making a recording using questions they have learned so far.
Fifth graders have been extremely busy this spring. With many thanks to our PTOs’ support, the Taquería Cinco taco truck visited our schools so that 5th graders could use their Spanish skills in an authentic way to order their tacos. The students took this task quite seriously and all pleasantly surprised themselves with their success! They enjoyed street tacos outdoors on a beautiful sunny day, with their grade level classmates as a culminating activity. It was a special way to commemorate our three years together. Many thanks to our parents who were able to support this activity through items donated and/or assisting me at school.
The fifth graders have also demonstrated their proficiency in speaking and writing. First, they recorded a final conversation asking and answering general questions of each other in an impromptu fashion. Additionally, they practiced their presentational skills by visiting the younger students to put on a mini fashion show, which gave the little ones “a taste” of Spanish. Students expressed in complete sentences what they were wearing. A subsequent fashion show at the Town Meeting in full attire with a full house displayed their confidence and skills to all. The students have worked all year to improve their writing proficiency as well, by working in small groups, having mini competitions and playing games to reinforce important high frequency words for writing. They have diligently completed homework and shared results on the SmartBoard in Spanish class. All students completed a Family Project demonstrating their ability to write about family members in journals, family trees, or Powerpoint presentations, which were very impressive! They also completed an illustrated dialogue strip in class while listening to Spanish guitar. The results of all their efforts are reflected in their final writing sample they recently completed. As I told the kids, “They knocked my socks off” -- or my “calcetines” as they reminded me! The fifth graders have strong skills and are well prepared for middle school. I am so pleased and happy for their success. Special recognition and awards were given to students who diligently studied and achieved 100% for spelling tests all year! Check your 5th grader’s Spanish folder that came home, as this was quite a noteworthy accomplishment. All students were entered in a raffle for token prizes to acknowledge their efforts, with a special token of success for top achievers.¡Felicidades! to all on three years of elementary Spanish!
Grade 7
French - grade 8
Le français au lycée
Chinese
This year Mr. Wang has embraced Canvas as a tool of information management, test taking, and group interactions. We have also selected a few students from each level to run a trial AAPPL test to see where our students are so that we could align our curriculum. In addition to academics, students in Chinese classes have visited NYC Chinatown, performed a dance at our annual Lip Sync contest, skyped and talked with students from China, and engaged in ping pong sport.This year Mr. Wang has embraced Canvas as a tool of information management, test taking, and group interactions. We have also selected a few students from each level to run a trial AAPPL test to see where our students are so that we could align our curriculum. In addition to academics, students in Chinese classes have visited NYC Chinatown, performed a dance at our annual Lip Sync contest, skyped and talked with students from China, and engaged in ping pong sport.
Chinese 1
The students have just finished learning about family and professions. Presently we are studying Chinese cuisines. Students will learn basic phrases and sentences, and build a vocabulary regarding foods, as well as doing a hands-on project of making a typical Chinese dish based on their assigned cuisines. I hope parents have found this hands-on project to be an interesting one and have enjoyed your children’s cooking.
Chinese 2
Chinese II students have just finished a food unit and is now learning about traveling. They are learning travel vocabulary and expressions in Chinese and researching the new development of various transportation systems in China today, as well as UNESCO designated cultural heritage sites in China. Throughout the year Chinese II students have expanded to more topics including residence, phone conversation, travel, food, school and family, etc.
Chinese 3 and 4
Chinese III and IV students are studying all about themselves and by the end of the year they will be able to fully present themselves in Chinese at a much higher level and with much more in depth details. There is also a considerable amount of grammatical and lexical complexity and sophistications that they have acquired in their language productions. In addition, they are also learning more Chinese characters and can read and write some basic Chinese in characters.
AP Chinese
The AP Chinese students have just completed their AP test. As hard as they have studied, the AP course has posted a considerable level of challenge in terms of cultural sophistication and linguistic complexity. Good luck on the test.
T
Chinese students skyping with Serene Wan from China.
Chinese club doing Lip Sync to popular Little Apple song.
Visit to Buddist Temple in NYC
Latin
On April 29th, Mr. Motes led 17 enthusiastic Latin students to the annual Connecticut State Latin Day in Cheshire, CT. Students participated in various academic, athletic, and artistic events, earning the first place medals for Costume Couple (Aoife Hufford and Kathryn Atkinson) and Best in Show for all art projects (Emily Archer).
26 students were inducted into the National Junior Classical League Latin Honor Society this spring. In order to be eligible for induction, students must maintain a 90 average for a year and be good citizens within the classroom. Students inducted in 2017 are: Emily Archer, Kathryn Atkinson, Avery Bikerman, Cara Cahill, Anna Catlett, Adam Drummond, Cole Dushin, Sophie Edson, Alex Edwards, David Foster, Olin Frederiks, Audrey Gavin, Kate Hickie, Aoife Hufford, Keelin Hurtt, Callie Kotzan, Thomas McCarthy, Chandler Munson, Allison Murphy, Amanda Murphy, Natalie Rugg, Anna Sather, Reed Spitzer, Bianca Tinnerello, Kiera Ulmer, and Trevor Wells.