World Language Program

The Chinese Language Program aims to spark students’ interests in becoming multilingual through learning another language--Mandarin Chinese. It also strives to continue growing students’ appreciation for cultural diversity and a sense of global citizenship. 

At the elementary level, Chinese class is designed to engage every student through high-quality, dynamic, and fun lessons. This includes topics of greetings, numbers, colors, body parts, animals, commonly used verbs, and descriptive phrases. Various cultural topics will also be intertwined into language learning. Students at this level will develop a foundation in the essentials of the Chinese language. This may embody tones, pinyin, strokes, and radical components of Chinese characters. 

As students progress in their language abilities, other comprehensible input strategies can be added and TPRS-style story-asking can be adjusted to match the students’ greater levels of proficiency. 

Combining TPR/TPRS (Total Physical Response/Storytelling) and our Descubre curriculum, kindergarteners are exposed to basic greetings, common and cognate animals, descriptive words, basic colors, numbers, simple body parts, and commonly used verbs through movement, stories, games, and multi-sensory activities.

Combining TPR/TPRS and our Descubre curriculum, first graders learn high-frequency vocabulary and are exposed to short written stories - two fairy tales, The Boy Who Cried Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood. Students also begin to navigate verbs in the third, first and second person.

Combining TPR/TPRS and our Descubres curriculum, second graders take a deeper look at vocabulary for emotions, animals, clothing, and body parts. They also continue practicing verbs in first, second, and third person through oral and written activities. Students work on reading and listening comprehension through art and short responses.

 

Third graders practice more complex verbal responses and learn expanded vocabulary through reading and storytelling. Texts are longer, and the instructor leads them through a guided reading of the book iCuéntame! along with pieces from Descubres. Students also continue to practice simple writing in the target language.

Fourth grade consists of more reading practice in the target language with the addition of their first Spanish novel, Brandon Brown quiere un Perro. Students also begin learning the past tense of previously acquired verbs, using the imperfect and preterit tenses in their narratives created with the teacher. Writing and reading comprehension are also focal points of this year.

In Spanish, fifth graders read stories and a short novel, Brandon Brown versus Yucatán. They respond to verbal and written questions in both present and past tense. Students move into the formal study of regular verb conjugations and participate in drama, technology, and group projects in the target language.