Cursos y La Hora en las clases de 1-2

Señorita Chen's Spanish 1-2 classes are learning to talk about different class subjects they are taking this year along with how to tell time in Spanish.  They practiced writing out sentences to say what time each of their class periods take place and they shared them out-loud in class by saying things like, “Mi clase de español es a las nueve y media de la mañana”.

In Honor of Anchorman 2

Students from Spanish 3-4 with Profe Bañuelos this week created in groups of six a broadcast sports report that reported the result of a sports competition that included side interviews with players from the competition.  2 students were anchormen, 2 were field reporters, and two were players.  The performance used the preterite (past) tense along with how to properly say who beat who with a score. 

ASL students gloss sentences with each other

Students in Mrs. Redelings's ASL 3-4 practiced their production and receptive skills by signing and glossing sentences with each other. Sentences included newly learned verb inflections of repeated action and continuous action.

Spanish 3-4 students tell each other stories with cartoons!

Students in Señor Lawhead's Spanish 3-4 class hold up a stick-figure cartoon to help each other tell the new TPR/S mini-story:  "¡Odio Acampar!".  Rather than reading it from a paper, students use visual clues only to help them tell the story.

For more information on TPR/S methods, check out these links:

 

www.blaineraytprs.com

www.tprstories.com

 

Busy week in Dr. Jacobson's Spanish classes!

Students in Dr. Jacobson's class have recently demonstrated grammatical competency of the present, past, future and imperfect tenses through an exam that also included questions regarding the vocabulary from their current unit of study.  Students in each class are currently working on a skit that each group will present the week before the holiday begins, some using phrases from Dr. Jacobson's book 'Spanish Across America: A Ready-To-Use-Resource.'  Spanish 7-8 and AP students are writing an argumentative essay.  Additionally, students are practicing holiday carols in Spanish they will sing to schoolmates as they visit classes around the campus in a few weeks.  On Friday, students enjoyed a traditional Mexican treat of 'buñuelos'. 

Profe Bañuelos visita Jerusalén, Israel!

 Over Thanksgiving break, Profe Bañuelos traveled to Israel.  He had a great time in the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, while taking a day trip to the ancient fort of Massada and floating in the Dead Sea.  Pictured is Profe in the Old City part of Jerusalem on Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock shrine in the background.

Japanese students complete performance assessment!

Mr. Blackwelder's (Blackwelder sensei) Japanese 3-4 classes have just completed a performance assessment that included 1) how to introduce yourself on the phone, 2) giving a formal invitation in Japanese that includes a date, place, time, and event type, and 3) effectively and politely declining or accepting a formal invitation. For many skits, students used the excuse of sickness to get out of unwanted invitations, including a description of at least three common symptoms. Excellent performances all around!

Students rewarded with video for high grades!

Señorita Chen has a test policy for her classes that states: if 80% of the class gets 80% or higher on the chapter test, the class gets to watch a Disney movie (in Spanish with English subtitles). Since most of her classes were so close to achieving that 80% she decided to bend the rules a little bit. On Tuesday all students made corrections to anything they missed on the test, even if they got an A or a B so that they would be worthy of watching “Buscando A Nemo” this week.

Pen-Pals in Señora Trott's Class!

In response to the message from Lawhead Richard, Wed 12/4

Trott Janice

Señora Trott's Spanish 1-2 students have just written letters to their pen pals describing their perfect date. Using these descriptions their pen pals will play matchmaker. This activity uses nouns, adjectives, verbs and descriptions learned so far this year.

Fri 12/6

Señora Trott's Spanish 1-2 students have just written letters to their pen-pals describing their perfect date.  Using these descriptions their pen-pals will play matchmaker. This activity uses nouns, adjectives, verbs and descriptions learned so far this year.  Spanish 3-4 students are preparing posters, written and oral presentations that describe a Spanish-speaking country they visited last year.  This will reinforce the use of the preterite tense.  For example:  I ate paella in Valencia last summer.

Happy St. Nicolas Day!

 Madame Leidhoff's students of French learned the Legend of St. Nicolas and received goodies in their shoes today.

Students of first year French practiced their numbers into thousands by playing French Monopoly entirely in French while students of second year French are gearing up for cultural projects of Food or Music from the French-speaking world.

Advanced French students read six different  short stories from Maupassant and did group presentations as well as assessments of them.