The first week of school has been amazing, and I can’t believe how much French the children can remember.

In Fourth and Fifth grades, we will be using the “Symtalk” method. Thanks to the pictureS in this book, the children are more focused on using their speaking skills while learning to write the language.  Conversations are encouraged during class, but it must always be in French!

In the coming weeks,  we will review basic vocabulary such as numbers, colors, dates, seasons, days of the weeks, months, time, greetings, food, family members, school subjects, house rooms and furniture, activities, weather, clothing and action verbs. We will also review basic grammar rules which can be incorporated into their writing skills.

In Sixth grade, the children will use a middle school level book, “Bon Voyage”. They have been using this book for the past year and are very familiar with this method. While learning new vocabulary and grammar skills, this book enforces listening comprehension and speaking skills. In the next few weeks, the children will move quickly in reviewing lessons from last year, such as friends, classes and schools in France, family and housing in France. After the students return from their class trip, we will start a unit on restaurants in France, and of course talk about French food.

Every month, a cultural lesson will be included in the classroom instruction. While usually the Sixth graders follow the cultural lessons from their book and dig deeper into it, the Fourth and Fifth graders choose from a variety of subjects, usually from the news. Next month, the Fourth and Fifth graders wll explore the French TV5 website and choose a subject. Sixth grade will go grocery shopping at French supermarkets and farmers’ markets.

Au revoir et à bientôt!

Madame Amice
French Specialist
 

Se Habla Español Aquí!

¡Bienvenidos!  We are excited for another year of Spanish at Rohan Woods and want to welcome the students in our Early Childhood Program to the RWS family.  Students in the EC program received an introduction to Spanish this week, which was met with smiles and warm greetings for our class helper, Dora!  EC through Junior Kindergarten will be introduced to the Sonrisas curriculum, which focuses on music, the reading of stories and the integration of art projects.  If Tuesday was any indication, we are definitely on track to achieve a multitude of sonrisas, which are smiles in Spanish.
Senior Kindergarten through Second Grade will spend the first few weeks of the school year reviewing greetings and other basic vocabulary as we also welcome our new classmates in the Lower School.  Students will have the opportunity to showcase their recall of numbers while jumping rope to the chant of “Osito, Osito.”
We are excited to incorporate the Teacher’s Discovery textbook Exploratory Spanish for the Upper School.  Third Grade through Sixth Grade will be taking an adventure with the primary character of the textbook, Capitan Español, who will guide students through their acquisition of not only vocabulary, but also foster a greater appreciation and understanding of the culture of México.  Students will also be utilizing a companion website for the textbook that provides extension activities and online homework, called “My Tareas.”