Spanish 1:
We continue to have lots of fun while learning in Spanish 1! Students recently completed their project entitled 驴Qui茅n so yo? (Who am I?), where they were able to show off all they have learned this year, using a slide presentation to talk about themselves and their families. It鈥檚 hard to believe they had little to no knowledge of Spanish just five months ago! We have now moved on to discussing students鈥 daily life at school, such as the classes they take and the things they need to get through the day and complete their assignments. We鈥檝e also begun reading the short novel Pobre Ana by Blaine Ray, which is helping students pick up lots of new vocabulary while improving their reading skills. 隆Qu茅 divertido!
Spanish 2:
The sophomores are currently working on a unit on sports. While students now have a very good understanding and command of reflexive and 鈥済ustar鈥-like verbs, this unit is a fun way to review the material and to prepare for verbs that take a direct object. The students are currently working in pairs, learning new vocabulary and verbs about the sports they practice in real life. They will soon present their projects to their peers and educate them in an interactive way, asking questions in Spanish that their classmates will need to answer using the new vocabulary terms that they just learned about the sport.聽 We will soon be moving on to the聽past tense and how to use its different forms (the preterite and imperfect) in context. Students will begin a project about taking a trip to a Spanish-speaking country, which they will present using pictures of themselves in different scenarios, such as at the airport, hotel and sightseeing.
Spanish 3:
We have read selections from many Latin American authors this year, including Eduardo Galeano, Enrique Anderson Imbert, Rub茅n Dar铆o, Jorge Lu铆s Borges and Marco Denev铆. The stories have all played on the themes of reality versus fantasy, and have led students to explore their own creativity, writing their own dialogues and short stories using characters from the stories they鈥檝e read. In addition, we have reviewed grammar topics and tenses such as the present, preterite and imperfect, and are now moving on to the future and conditional tenses.
AP:
The Spanish IV AP class has covered numerous topics this year. We began the year by learning about the chagim鈥擱osh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot鈥攊n 聽Spanish (隆claro!) using infographs from the website aishlatino.com. We also read an article, Jud铆os en la Espa帽a de hoy, (Jews in Spain today) by Juana Vera which talked about Spanish society鈥檚 views of the history of Jews in Spain. Then we moved into the topic of 鈥楲a identidad鈥, discussing how to define ourselves and our personal values and also how others define us. To see how one 19th century Spanish poet, Jose de Espronceda, defined himself, we read (and listened to contemporary musical versions of) his poem Canci贸n del pirata.
We moved on to the topic of food, during which students wrote, produced and starred in their own cooking shows. We also read several articles on the dangers of junk food. Currently, we are reading the short story Leyenda by Argentinian author Jorge Lu铆s Borges, in which Borges takes the story of Cain and Abel from Bereishit and writes about what it might be like if Cain and Abel were to meet up again after Abel鈥檚 death.
French:
The students in French 2, 3, and 4 are continuing to work on their speaking, reading and writing skills. By using online activities, the students have the opportunity to learn real-life dialogues, thus enhancing fluency and articulation.
Recently, French 2 students had the pleasure of singing Adele鈥檚 song Hello and Justin Bieber鈥檚 songs Love Yourself and Sorry. These songs were performed by French singer Sara鈥橦. The French version was shown and students sang along with the performer鈥攏o subtitles needed, since the students knew the English versions! A great experience to learn 鈥渓iving French!鈥
French 3 has had a busy semester. Each student wrote short stories (fairy tales) using the passe compose and the imparfait.聽 These tenses are important when discussing the past.聽 Some students chose to write original tales, while others used familiar fairy tales such as Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood.聽 They recently submitted essays on this topic: 鈥淚f I win the lottery.鈥 This activity allows the students to familiarize themselves with the use of the conditional tense. They also presented individual videos discussing what clothing was in their closets and when they wear this clothing, enhancing their usage of the necessary vocabulary.
French 4 also submitted individual videos in the form of a commercial. They used commercials that we read and heard in class and presented their own interpretations of this commercial.聽 Students used their own props鈥攕ome were quite original. Students are also preparing for the scavenger hunt to take place in the spring. They are preparing descriptions of objects to be found and where to find them.聽 The students in the level 2 class will be the participants.聽 This will help all levels comprehend the description of objects and how to follow directions.聽 Stay tuned for the results of this activity in the near future. Merci!