World Language
- Overview
- Guiding Documents
- French Grades 7-12
- Latin Grades 9-12
- Mandarin Grades 9-12
- Spanish Grades K-6
- Spanish Grades 7-12
- Students in Action
- American Sign Language
Overview
Grades 4-8 Spanish units under revision to reflect the distribution of instruction as Brown and Polson were reconfigured in 2019.
WORLD LANGUAGE PHILOSOPHY
The World Language Program in Madison believes that all students have the potential to communicate effectively in another language, and to develop cultural understanding of that language and compare it to their own. The program will help each student attain his/her personal best proficiency level in at at least one other language besides their first language (modern or classical).
Through the study of another language and the communities that share a language, our students are encouraged to recognize that we live in a global society where an awareness of difference in attitudes and perspectives is a necessity for the success of humankind. We will educate students to be linguistically and culturally equipped to communicate successfully both home and abroad.
DELIVERY METHOD / VALUES
To teach World Language effectively, language educators and their students use the target language as exclusively as possible (90% plus at all levels). Teachers provide comprehensible input in the language that is directed toward communicative goals, make meaning clear through body language, gestures, and visual support, and check for understanding regularly. K-8 teachers provide compelling, comprehensible, and personalized input in the target language. TPRS™ (Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling) is one of the strategies that provides comprehensible input to support students as they acquire the language. Teachers also use strategies that encourage success and development in the five essential areas of world language learning: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities.
STANDARDS
The Madison district standards are based on the ACTFL World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages that define the central role of World Languages in the learning career of every student. The five goal areas of the Standards establish an inextricable link between communication and culture, which is applied in making connections and comparisons and in using this competence to be part of local and global communities (ACTFL 2016).
K-3 World Language Curriculum Overview
Communication
Communicate effectively in more than one language in order to function in a variety of situations and for multiple purposes.
Interpersonal Communication: Learners interact and negotiate meaning in spoken, signed, or written conversations to share information, reactions, feelings and opinions.
Interpretive Communication: Learners understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.
Presentational communication: Learners present information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media and adapting to various audiences of listeners, readers, or viewers.
Cultures
Interact with cultural competence and understanding
Practices to Perspectives: Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the cultures studied.
Products to Perspectives: Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on the relationship between the products and perspectives of the cultures studied.
Connections
Connect with other disciplines and acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career-related situations.
Making Connections: Learners build, reinforce, and expand their knowledge of other disciplines while using the language to develop critical thinking and to solve problems creatively.
Acquiring Information & Diverse Perspectives: Learners access and evaluate information and diverse perspectives that are available through the language and its cultures.
Comparisons
Develop insight into the nature of language and culture in order to interact with cultural competence.
Language Comparisons: Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own.
Cultural Comparisons: Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.
Communities
Communicate and interact with cultural competence in order to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world
School and Global Communities: Learners use the language both within and beyond the classroom to interact and collaborate in their community and the globalized world.
Lifelong Learning: Learners set goals and reflect on their progress in using languages for enjoyment, enrichment, and advancement.
21st Century Capacities
Guiding Documents
French Grades 7-12
French Grade 7
French Grade 8
Unit | Description |
Unit 1 |
Let's discover more about you and what makes you who you really are! Our personalities and identities depend a lot on the people and places around us! In this unit, we will share how we are similiar and different from our family members and friends. We'll make connections between our actions, belongings, hobbies, and so much more. All of this is in preparation for a trip abroad! In our PBA, Students will be traveling to a francophone city next summer with a youth travel program! The trip includes 4 weeks living with a French-speaking host family. The program requires participants to prepare an introduction of some sort so that they can place students with a family who matches their personality, likes/dislikes, interests, etc. This introduction will also be shared with host families so they can get to know students before their arrival. 21st Century Capacities: Perseverance, Product Creation |
Unit 2 |
Allons au marche!pushes students to step out of their comfort zone and into the complicated, fascinating, ever-changing world of marketplaces and meals! So much can be learned about a different culture by examining their food-related habits and customs. It is also a chance for students to learn about the similarities and differences that exist even in our town! Students will build up their knowledge of food and drinks as they tackle sophisticated concepts such as the partitif and the pronoun en. All our class discussions and activities will culminate in two hands-on experiences; first, the marketplace, where students will test their skills at understanding requests, finding the right market, and negotiating their purchases, and secondly, the in-class meal, where students show off their ability to offer and accept food, all while engaging in conversation with their tablemates. 21st Century Capacities: Synthesizing, Perseverance |
Unit 3 |
Throughout the span of this unit, students will delve into the world of the passé composé. As they advance their French skills, students will reflect on how they can improve their French through exposure to texts like song, film, and poetry. Students will examine and discuss stories, poems, videos, and films, as well as their own lives, which serve as meaningful context for the passé composé. The PBA will bring students into their 21st century world, giving them another opportunity to improve their French through something they do everyday, text messaging. Students will engage in a French texting task with a classmate as they chat about plans before and after they occur. 21st Century Capacities: Collective Intelligence, Imagining |
Unit 4 |
How you dress tells a lot about who you are, what you like to do, and where you live. Students will discuss what clothing they wear and why, and what that reflects about them (e.g. Are they athletic? artistic? crafty? etc!). They will compare that to what teens are wearing around the francophone world. As they dig deeper into the purpose/meaning of different articles of clothing, they will explore the cultural differences in how to give and accept compliments. Throughout the unit students will expand their knowledge of verb conjugations both in the past and present and grammatical concepts such as direct object pronouns. 21st Century Capacities:Presentation, Collective Intelligence |
Unit 5 |
This final unit of Grade 8 French will take students on an adventure as art and music transport them to new places and times. Students will learn to locate themselves and other people/things in many different contexts, including through art. Students will work together to discover the history and works of the French Impressionist painters and they will learn the vocabulary and grammar necessary to analyze these paintings objectively, but also by reflecting on how these paintings make them feel. The culminating task of this unit will be a virtual gallery walk in which students will present their in-depth analysis of a painting, supplemented by an original work such as a poem, story, song, or historical reflection. 21st Century Capacities:Analyzing, Collective Intelligence |
French 2
What has high school done to me? What is my life like after 2 pm? Students will delve deeper into their daily lives not only at school, but their schedules and activities after classes and on weekends. In addition to review, this unit goes into emotions, descriptions, and needs when it comes to a week in the life of a new high school student. Clubs, sports, movies, groups of friends, professors, and where events take place will be discussed. Students will be able to describe their likes and dislikes in more specific detail. They will ultimately create their own digital calendar for the next month in French and then analyze and speak about other students' calendars and schedules in the World Language Lab.
Following the PBA, students will read their first short novel in the target language, Nuits mystérieuses à Lyon, about a boy who studies abroad in Lyon.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Design, Product creation
Unit 2 Allons cuisiner! (Let’s cook!)
Hungry? Watching the clock for your lunch to start? Anyone ever binge watch Chopped or Cupcake Wars on Netflix? Want to scream like Gordon Ramsay? Now it's time to cook....the French way! Students will be introduced to authentic French cuisine, exploring how even French snack foods can incorporate all aspects of a healthy diet. Students will review food vocabulary with the new grammar topics of imperative (commands) and direct object pronouns within the context of cooking. The unit will culminate in a PBA where students will work collaboratively as a team and use video editing skills to create their own instructional cooking videos in French to compete to host their own cooking show on the Food Network. After viewing the videos in class, students will vote on the dish they would most like to taste one day.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Product Creation
What does it mean to be a friend? We know lots of people, but who are our friends? Using adjectives, pronominal verbs, a wide variety of tenses, direct and indirect objects, and vocabulary regarding friendship, we will describe a friend and tell stories of what a friend means to us. Students will pull from a wide variety of media: movies, songs, poems, and short stories regarding the meaning of friendship. This unit will include a "Tribute to a Friend" poetry night where students will recite a personal poem of friendship. Students will also view a series about French friends in Rouen, France.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation, Alternate Perspectives
French 3
Welcome to the Amazing Race: Daniel Hand French Edition! In this first unit of French 3 students will become a part of the Amazing race France. Students will be divided into pairs and explore and present who they really are as a team. In previous years of French, students have explored their own identity, their identity as a student, and their family, but now they will explore who they are as a member of a team. The teams will participate in challenges/activities related to France and the Ivory Coast of Africa, ultimately culminating in creating their own Amazing Race: Daniel Hand French episode. Similar to the Amazing Race program, teams will also create a videobio of their Amazing Race team, showcasing who they are as a team. Throughout the course of the challenges, students will also be exposed to grammar topics relating to expressing themselves in the present that they can apply to their work. Let the games begin!
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective intelligence, Product Creation
How do heroes and villains shape our world? Students will drive the work in this unit, jigsawing a variety of texts about King Henry XIV and exploring him as a multifaceted figure with both heroic and villainous traits. Students will also reflect on their own personal heroes, and what makes someone heroic or villainous. This unit will culminate in a PBA in which students investigate several "ambiguous" historical figures from the francophone world, and present them virtually using infographics. The use of the past tenses is emphasized throughout the work, as well as emerging use of pronouns in context as students strive to communicate with more sophisticated syntax. The presentations will portray both the heroic and villainous characteristics/actions of these figures, and the student audience will individually have to choose and defend a position, dubbing each figure either hero or villain.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Product Creation
Unit 3 Les contes, les histoires courtes
French 3 students will explore francophone fables, particularly those written be Jean de la Fontaine. The class will explore the morals that are communicated by the different fables and examine how fables reflect the values of a people. Students will see how the past tenses are used together for different reasons in the authentic context of fables. Students will ultimately use their imaginations as they create an original fable, including a moral that relates to life at Daniel Hand High School, which will be shared with 8th grade students in Madison.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Product Creation
In this final unit of French 3, students will explore the difficulties of the lives of refugees, as well as gain some understanding of the situations that cause people to flee their native countries. Students will read Les Migrants, about refugees in France, legends from Haiti and francophone Africa, and view the award-winning film Hotel Rwanda in order to develop insight into themes relating to refugees/immigration. After examining these texts, students will open up their investigation to the entire francophone community. Students will find an actual charitable organization anywhere in the francophone world to which they will apply for an internship, showcasing their new knowledge of the future and conditional tenses (will and would) as they explain how the experience will help them to realize their own hopes for the future, how their efforts will help to improve the situation in the community in which they will work, and to explain in which area of the internship program they would like to participate. If we work together, there is hope for the future!
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Citizenship
French 4 Honors
Unit 1 Families and Communities
In this first unit of French 4 Honors, students will explore relationships with their families and seek connections with, and contrasts between, the French-speaking world. While exploring these relationships, students will recall their study and use of the present indicative as a springboard into their introduction to the subjunctive mood and present subjunctive. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. As a culminating demonstration of what they have studied and learned during this unit, students will identify and elaborate upon a specific problem within their surrounding community and propose ways to help rectify the issue.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation, Citizenship, Alternate Perspectives
In this second unit of French IV Honors, students will examine more closely their travel and educational pursuits. What do they do in their free time? Are they interested in travel? What are their career aspirations? These are just a few of the questions that students will be asked to consider as they continue to hone their understanding and application of the subjunctive mood. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. To bring closure to this unit, students will investigate and analyze the tourist attractions in one French-speaking country of the world and create a tourist brochure to promote travel to that country.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Product Creation
In this third unit of French IV Honors, students will delve into their thoughts about beauty and aesthetics as they relate to self-concept, other people, fashion, arts, film, literature, and wonders around the globe. Students will watch the film Coco Before Chanel and read an excerpt from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables as they consider how to define beauty, and who has the power to define what is beautiful and fashionable. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. Students will use their creativity as they work in small groups to present a new line of clothing to their classmates that will shake up the fashion industry.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Idea Generation, Collective Intelligence
In this fourth unit of French IV Honors, students will reflect upon their own identities and the importance of public, ethnic, and national identity. Students will consider their ideal mate, as well as driving laws and personal responsibility both at home and abroad. During this reflection, students will recall previous study of the future tense and of possessive adjectives, diving deeper into the intricacies of both. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. Having acquired a greater understanding of the power of identity, the unit will culminate with the design of a postage stamp that celebrates the national identity of a francophone country.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Design
In this fifth unit of French 4 Honors, students will probe the constantly-evolving world of science and technology. While investigating and discussing themes related to science and technology, students will be tasked with learning and putting to use the conditional tense to discuss hypothetical situations, as well as the passive voice. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. In a culminating activity, students will analyze the limitations of an existing product, imagine an innovation to it, and present their idea to the class.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Idea Generation, Design, Collective Intelligence
In this final unit of French IV Honors, students will look into the challenges we face in our global society, specifically those of global warming, global conflict, and terrorism. Students will be challenged to expand their repertoire of grammatical structures when offering ideas to address global issues, employing both commands and the conditional past. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. Ultimately, students will examine a global challenge not studied during the unit to promote action and further awareness related to the issue.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation, Citizenship, Alternate Perspectives
Latin Grades 9-12
Latin 1
The foundations Unit 1 is designed to acclimate the beginning Latin student to the new language before entering a thematic unit of study. Highlights of this unit include a pronunciation guide, a guide into English Grammar, Vocabulary and Derivatives, and teaching the students how to interact with "Cambridge" using some basic Comprehensive Input strategies.
Students will be taught to use roots to identify meaning, as well as how to understand the meaning of Latin without translating by using Context and the knowledge of the vocabulary already present.
The primary focus of this unit is showing how Latin can be taught to improve English and Latin skills concurrently. Primary Vocabulary comes from the Vocabulary Checklist 1 and 2 & Jenney Chapter 1.
The culminating activity will be the Student's first "CTE" Journal (Cite Translate Explain) using Latin and the roots to answer how is Roman Daily Life different from my own? or How can I use Latin to better understand English?
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing
Unit 2 Ars Longa, Vita Brevis! (Art lasts, life is but brief)
This unit is about the art and artifacts that remain at Pompeii. Students will use inquiry-based learning to determine the traits and characteristics that were important to the Pompeiian people, and by extension the Romans. During this unit, students will also be reading stories of business transactions and legal proceedings that would have happened in Pompeii. The main goal of the unit is to use the Art found in Pompeii to be a vehicle for students to create dialogues and stories about the business dealings in Pompeii.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Product Creation
Unit 3 Theatrum Mundi et Caeli (The theater of the world and the sky)
Theatrum mundi et caeli: The theater of the world and the sky. This is a unit introducing both Roman comedy (Miles Gloriosus) and the 12 Olympian gods and goddess. Students will collectively develop their own judgments as to the characteristics and traits of both the Roman gods and goddesses and Roman comedy. During this unit, students will be reading in English the Roman comedy Miles Gloriosus, and in Latin the story of Minerva et Arachne (Latin Via Ovid). The main goal of the unit is to use Roman Comedy as a vehicle for students to create stories about the gods and goddesses learned in class. Grammatically, students will learn how to form and translate the Imperfect tense.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Collective Intelligence
Unit 4 Morituri te salutant - We who are about to die salute you
The focus of this unit will be on the entertainment in Ancient Rome and Pompeii. As evidenced through what is left behind, we can see examples of Romans valuing story-telling, mythology, and athletic contests. Not the least of these are the circus maximus and the gladiatorial contests.
This unit will help students to become stronger readers of Latin by focusing on skills that will help them to read Latin better, quicker, and more fluently, especially when they do not know the words or constructions. This unit will teach basic reading strategies for the Latin (and English) student.
Students will focus on the difference between imperfect and perfect tense verbs, especially in "subito..." sentences, as well as sequence words. Students will also have their first exposure with 3rd Declension (M/F) Nouns.
The unit will culminate in a sight reading passage.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Self-Awareness
Unit 5 Ab Urbe Condita - From the founding of the City
Unit 4, Ab Urbe Condita, transitions the Latin student from studying Roman entertainment to studying Roman politics, especially through the rhetoricians of the Republic. Students will be given an overview of the city under the rule of the monarchy, the beginning stages of the Republic, and study the tools and speeches of politicians who shaped the Republic.
Students will continue their study of nouns and adjectives by delving further into the Dative Case, including the dative of possession, comparative adjectives, and dative nouns with Special Verbs.
Students will further their understanding of verbs by learning how the verb forms change in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th conjugations for the present, imperfect, and perfect tenses.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Design
Unit 6 Post hoc, ergo propter hoc (After this, therefore because of this)
The final unit of Latin 1 covers the last chapter of the book "Cambridge 1". The story ends with the eruption of Vesuvius, the event which leaves behind everything which we have from Pompeii. The title of the unit is specifically chosen a. because of the use of prepositions and b. because many students create the connection that the anulus aegyptius found in chapter 10 is the "reason" for the eruption of Vesuvius in the book.
The primary cultural piece will be a reading from Pliny the Younger concerning the eruption of Pompeii (6.16; 6.20).
In this unit, students will use all the skills they've developed throughout the year to create a story from the perspective of an object or person left behind at Pompeii. Students will be asked to also consider what we learn from the artifact or art piece. Also included in this unit is the grammar lesson on prepositional phrases, especially the ablative prepositions (SIDSPACE - sine, in, de, sub, pro, ab, cum, ex).
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Inquiry, Alternate Perspectives
Latin 2
Unit 1 Dī immortālēs! – Oh Immortal Gods!
The first unit of Latin II will reacquaint the students with the grammar and vocabulary covered in Latin I, while also introducing the newest region of Roman occupation: Britannia. In this unit, students will reacquaint themselves with Latin, while doing their own investigative research into the Roman gods, culminating in narrative produced by the student about his or her god or goddess. Grammatically, students will also be able to use the verb possum, posse, potuī, (to be able) volō, velle, voluī (to want, wish), and nōlō, nōlle, nōluī (to not want, wish), complementary infinitives, and review conjugations. These will be used in the project to describe the realm of influence a Roman god has and what the god or goddess wants to achieve in his/her myth (e.g. Apollo ea futura praedicere poterat - Apollo was able to predict future things...). At the end of the unit, the students will be responsible for the information presented by the rest of the class. Students will revisit role-playing their gods through trimester 1.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation
Unit 2 Imperator non potest peccare - The emperor can do no harm
The original phrase, "Rex non potest peccare" literally means "The king can do no wrong" and was used in the courts to express the idea that kings had "soverign immunity". Changed to reflect the subject of the unit, the emperors, the phrase will guide the class as we view what the emperors themselves did during their reigns. Starting from the first imperator, Augustus, through Constantine the Great. The unit will cover the themes of imperialism, expansionism, sovereign immunity, and the lives of the Emperors. Students will have studied the Emperors through their busts so as to see how the opinions of the Romans evolved over time. Were Emperors given divine right to do as they willed, or must they also be held accountable for the actions committed in the name of Rome?
Students will reprise their role as a god or goddess in order to put on trial the Emperors post mortem. When an Emperor died, it was thought that their anima became a god through apotheosis. The trial will be conducted in order to prove if the Emperor is deserving to be a god OR if his name should be committed to damnatio memoriae (damnation of memory).
Concurrently, students will study in depth Rome's imperialization of Britannia through the Cambridge stories. Students will read Stages 14-16 and discover how Rome exacted its rule through the governors or kings.
Grammar for the unit will include the remaining tenses (future, pluperfect, AND future perfect), Demonstrative Pronouns, Relative Pronouns, UNUSNAUTA Adjectives (the former three follow extremely similar paradigms), i-stem nouns and the rules which govern them.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence, Alternate Perspectives
Unit 3 sī vīs pācem, parā bellum – If you want peace, prepare for war
Unit 3 of Latin II starts students in Ancient Alexandria. In the 1st Century CE, Alexandria was one of the central hubs of all trade, commerce, and civilization. Alexandria would never have attained this level of multi-culturalism had Alexander the Great not brought his Macedonian army all the way through South-Central Asia. By bringing war through the Ancient World, Alexander mixed up societies, languages, religions, and cultures.
In this Unit, students will study the major wars of Rome, keeping in mind the positive and negative aspects of war. What changes does war bring? Why does war begin? What are the short-term and long-term outcomes to war? Which war was most influential to the development of Rome?
Students will explore these themes through an in-depth study of three Romans wars, as well as seeing how historians use these wars to inform their own study into the past or present through Op-Eds that use Roman History.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Idea Generation, Citizenship
Unit 4 Dum spīrō, spērō - While I breathe, I hope
The final unit of Latin II takes a departure from war and imperialism and introduces the Latin student to the Roman world of Medicine. Over the course of the unit, the student will see some of the more practical Latin they may see in future careers. In this case, students will be exposed to the common language used in the medical field with prescriptions and will learn the main body parts. As they finish Cambridge Unit 2, students will see one of the main characters suffer a nearly fatal attack and the medical responses used to counter death. The PBA will be broken into two parts: in the first, they must take on the role of a doctor and write a prescription and the rationale for the prescription based on what were common medical practices at the time (Decision Making). At that point, the student will take on the role of the patient, take a turn for the worse and begin to die. The second half of the unit will culminate in the students writing their last will and testament (Product Creation). During this unit, students will also explore other bases of knowledge in the ancient world, like mathematics and philosophy.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation, Decision Making
Latin 3 Honors
Unit 1 Dulce et Utile - A Sweet and Useful thing
The Roman poet Horace once said in his work, Ars Poētica, that poetry needs to be a sweet and useful thing--that the poetry needs to be both pleasant to listen to and needs to instruct. The Latin III student's first foray into poetry will be through the poet Catullus. His poems are rather short, easy to comprehend primā faciē, but have so much more beneath the surface.
The focus of this unit will be to read Catullus' poetry and attempt to find deeper meaning within his words. Catullus is considered a master of style for his many rhetorical devices and word choice in his poetry. The Latin in Catullus' poetry is authentic and moving, but at the same time easy enough for the common citizens of Rome to understand superficially.
The first poem the new Latin III student will encounter is probably Catullus' most famous of his love poetry, 85 (Ōdī et amō - I hate and I love). From there, we will analyze how Catullus agonizes with love and loss and end with dedications written by Catullus.
The unit will culminate in the Latin III student reciting and reimagining one of the poems read in class for a modern audience while utilizing some of the rhetorical devices Catullus uses.
Questions for Investigation:
- How does a poet's style enhance meaning?
- How can I find deeper meaning in poetry?
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Idea Generation
Unit 2 Vēnī, Vīdī, Scrīpsī (I came, I saw, I wrote)
Vēnī, Vīdī, Scrīpsī - I Came, I saw, I wrote, An adaptation of the famous phrase by Julius Caesar, "Vēnī, Vīdī, Vīcī" (I Came, I Saw, I Conquered) - Following the students introduction to Roman authors with Catullus, students will be launched into a a preview of Julius Caesar's de Bellō Gallicō (Commentaries about the Gallic War). Students will focus on book 1 of the Gallic Wars, an introduction to Caesar's work written by him to inform and persuade the Senators back in Rome to give them their support for Caesar's leadership.
Students will be introduced to one of the most important grammatical constructions in Latin, the indirect statement, which is exceedingly common in Julius Caesar and in poetry.
Since Julius Caesar is on the AP Curriculum, students will begin looking at him as an author through a more refined lens: through the themes of the AP curriculum. Unit I, on Catullus, focused on the theme Literary Genre and Style. While Unit 2--and every subsequent unit--will also focus on Literary Genre and Style, students will also be asked to consider more deeply the themes of Leadership and Views of Non-Romans. To that end, students will begin writing their own epics. In this unit, students will be asked to consider possible reasons for writing anything and to begin writing their own epic. Students will begin their epic in the middle of their story, where they will be asked to write about an enemy, the general nature of the people against whom they are fighting, and what qualities they bring to leading the army behind them, if they have an army. As the epic style will not be considered until Unit 3, the focus of this introduction to writing the epic will focus on purpose and message. The epic they create in this unit will be continued through units 3 and 4.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Alternate Perspectives
Unit 3 Tālis, Quālis - Just as, such
Unit 3 of Latin III will plunge students into one of the most famous examples of the Epic tradition: Ovid's Daedalus et Icārus. In the story, Ovid employs several metaphors to help describe the action or deeds within the story, such as the building of the Labyrinth and the comparison of the windiness between it and the living Meander river. Ancient authors use these similes to give the common reader a clearer image of what the author intends, typically by giving something that would be widely understood by the audience. The similes we will study in this unit compare either the gods to nature, or the deeds of human to nature. We will study similes used in Latin, but also English translations of similes used in the Iliad and the Odyssey.
As students will be beginning reading epics, no new "grammar" will be taught, but students will need to learn how to read the meter of epic poetry, hendecasyllabic meter. Students will also be given a review on diagramming sentences and will be asked to recompose sentences into better English word order using that diagramming.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing
Unit 4 Ex nihilō nihil fit - Nothing comes from nothing
The final unit of Latin 3 Honors will take the students through book 1 of Vergil's most influential work, the Aeneid. Vergil's Aeneid, being one of the most complete and well-crafted epics, will serve as a model to the students as they finish up their mock epics. Students will study how introductions to epics are structured using the Aeneid, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Catullus 1, Homer's Iliad, and Homer's Odyssey. Students will also study about how authors utilize the gods in their writing. Are the gods benevolent beings or can they direct their ire against those who are supposed to worship them? What implications could there be to the mythos in choosing one god over another? Students will make educated decisions about these questions before finishing their epic. Students will also revise their work from units 2 and 3 and incorporate transitions in order to make their episodic writing cohesive.
To prepare students for the summer reading of Aeneid Books 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12, students will also be reading Book 1 of the Aeneid in English, taking notes as they go along. Reading the Aeneid in English will help students to understand the Latin and vice versa.
Students will be asked to consider the following:
- What is the prevailing structure of an epic?
- What is the purpose of the gods for an author?
- What can we learn about the values of a people based on their beliefs and utilization of the gods in literature?
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Self-Awareness
Mandarin Grades 9-12
Mandarin 1
"Ni Hao, China" is the Daniel Hand's students' welcome into Mandarin. This unit introduces students to China, its history, geography, and language. Students will discover the important geographical points of China to build their awareness of the Chinese country, people, and its culture. This unit includes the relationship between Taiwan and mainland China.
Students will also learn the initial sounds of Chinese including the Romanized pronunciation guide known as pin-yin and the radicals or components of Chinese character. Students will see how radicals were formed from pictures to express their meanings as characters.
Students will learn the importance of writing with proper stroke order to build muscle memory and promote accuracy.
The Unit will culminate in a PBA where students will collaboratively, as a class, produce a radical catalog, including their own interpretation of the basic meaning.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence, Product Creation
My Family and I - The purpose of the second unit of Mandarin I is to teach students how to count using Chinese numbers, talk about their family members, and combine the two concepts into discussions concerning family members, birthdays, and ages. The unit is broken down into three major components which each are geared toward the repetition and mastery of the aforementioned concepts. Students will learn that in Chinese culture, there are separate names for all family members, even between a paternal uncle and a maternal uncle.
Students will also begin writing and answering questions themselves in order to begin having conversations with each other in Chinese concerning their family members, birthdays, and ages.
Students will also begin working in the Language Lab in order to get used to the functions necessary for assessments and the PBA.
The unit will culminate in the students creating a family photo album which they could bring on a trip to China, which they will present to their fellow classmates both in class and in the Language Lab.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation
Unit 3 I can speak (and type) Mandarin
I can speak (and type) Chinese! - The purpose of the third unit of Mandarin I is to teach students how to describe themselves in terms of their nationality and what language they speak. Students will also use basic map skills to find and name certain countries on the map.
Students will take their language skills and get their first experience writing on a laptop with a Chinese keyboard. Students will find that there are many common mistakes that will happen as they type, including, but not limited to: incorrect pinyin, incorrect tones. Students will compile a list of common typographical errors, and will work through their mistakes to create pieces of writing with minimal errors.
The unit will culminate in the students pretending they are getting off of a plane with a companion. Their companion does not speak any Chinese and needs to speak to the Customs Agent. The students will create a skit and a passport for themselves, which shows how they will interact with the Customs Agent, and how they will interpret the situation for their companion.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Self-Awareness
The fourth unit of Mandarin 1 focuses on the human body. Students will learn how to describe living things based on colors, body parts, description of stature, and other notable features. Over the course of the unit, students will have the opportunity to describe a celebrity of the teacher and their choice.
The unit will be split into two distinct halves. First, there is a special focus on colors in Chinese. Students will learn the importance of colors on cultural beliefs, including the idea that red is good luck or for a celebration of life. Second, there will be a focus on body parts themselves. Students will be able to describe their body parts and others, as well, as create an image based on descriptions.
The students will transfer their describing skills by creating hypothetical Pokemon for the new hypothetical region based on China. The student will create a new monster, describe it, and present it to the class.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Idea Generation
In Unit 5 of Mandarin I, students will be given the opportunity to learn about how a Chinese student would go about his or her day. Students will learn the Mandarin words for objects around the classroom, like pencil, paper, eraser, and so forth. Students will be asked to consider what makes the daily life of a Chinese student different from the American way of life.
Students will then be shown how students in both America and China experience recreational time after school. What sports does each culture play? How important are sports to the whole experience of the student?
Students will also be given a lesson on Tai Chi and will practice Tai Chi during class.
The unit will culminate in students taking on the role of a company representative for Exchange International Enterprises (XIE). The purpose of this (fake) company is to expose students to the culture where they will experience an exchange.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Alternate Perspectives
The final unit of Mandarin I, I'm really hungry, has students delve into the world of food. The students will learn what kinds of food are in China and how to ask for food. They'll even be given a tutorial on using chopsticks! Students will learn the value of the yuan and how to write the prices in Chinese. This will allow students to review the numbers learned in previous units.
The unit will culminate in the students taking on the role of a marketer for a supermarket. The students will create a flyer using proper and appropriate measures and prices.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Decision Making
Mandarin 2
Unit 1 Everyday Is a Special Day!
The first unit of the year, Everyday is a Special Day, reacquaints the Mandarin II student with the vocabulary and structures from the previous year. Adding to their base of knowledge, students will be learning about dates and holidays in the Chinese culture. Students will begin with the celebration of birthdays. Students will engage in activities concerning their own birthdays, their families, and each other. Students then will become acquainted with major festivals like the Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat festival, and the Moon Festival. Students will end with looking at the daily routine of a typical Chinese student.
Students will leave this unit with the ability to communicate about time, their daily routine, and their opinions about time and what they like to do.
During this unit, students will be asked to compare these cultural values from their own culture to the Chinese culture. Students at Daniel Hand will become more aware of the cultural differences between the two cultures.
With the students beginning Chinese anew, the skill that will be primarily taught is design. This will be apparent in the revising necessary to type Chinese characters. Student's will be tasked to design a proposal to a School Board in order to enact a Field Day for Madison Public Schools. The design must include some cultural components learned in class.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design
The second unit of Mandarin 2 will take the Daniel Hand student through their home and the home of a Chinese teenager. In this unit, students will learn the prepositions used to show relativity of location, by using prepositions. Students will also learn the vocabulary for furniture and the names of the rooms of the house. In doing so, the Daniel Hand student will be able to speak about their own house and others' houses in Mandarin.
The unit will focus largely on relativity of two objects, and will require students to envision their environment.
Students will take their newfound knowledge of vocabulary and re-design their own House according to the principles of feng shui. Students will need to describe how the house was before, will transform it to how they want it to be in the end, and place a value on this house.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Idea Generation
In the third unit of Mandarin 2, the Daniel Hand student will move from the rooms of their house into their closets. Students will learn the vocabulary for the articles of clothing, as well as the adjectives to describe how clothing fits. Students will use this to build fluency with colors and other adjectives. Students will be able to describe celebrities and each other based on their clothing. Culturally, students will encounter traditional Chinese garb.
The end goal of the unit, is for the Mandarin student to create a fashion catalog for submission to a Fashion Show. The product line needs to include pricing, colors, and descriptions of how the clothing fits.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation
In Unit 4 of Mandarin 2, the students will continue with their study into shopping by exploring the markets, malls, and stores of both China and America. Students will examine the basic types of stores, but will focus on shopping for clothing (review), food (fruit = new), and school supplies (review). Students will experience how to haggle in markets. Students will practice writing dialogues, while practicing their typing and writing skills. The unit will culminate in students creating a dialogue involving haggling and must adhere to a shopping list.
Many of the events listed in stage 3 will happen continuously and repeatedly to help students with Chinese characters and pronunciation.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective intelligence
Imagine a world without iPhones or the internet - a time when you had to pick up a device connected by wires to the wall and turn a wheel or push physical buttons to contact another human being.
In Unit 5 of Mandarin II, students will become acquainted with this bizarre world of the past, and learn how to have appropriate conversations on the phone with other Chinese speakers. Students will practice with speaking politely to adult and unknown figures on the phone.
Students will also learn about the culture of respect between people in China. Many times, the age of both individuals necessitates certain communication types and phrases between those individuals, some of which exist in person and some only on the phone.
The Unit will culminate in the students practicing what it would be like to use these ancient devices to communicate with other human beings. Students will develop the skill of interpersonal communication throughout this unit, while growing to understand how different cultures use and teach respect.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation
Unit 6 of Mandarin 2 takes the students on their final shopping expedition. Over the course of the year, students have learned to go shopping for clothing and food, have learned to ask their date out, and, over the course of this final unit, will learn to order food at a restaurant. Students will learn about the culture of dining out, who pays the bill, how to ask for more food, and if it is appropriate to ask for doggy bags.
Students will learn how to express their preferences about food, including likes, dislikes, and frequency that they eat the food. Allergies will also be included into the unit in order to allow students with allergies learn how to better protect themselves at a Chinese restaurant.
The unit will culminate in a PBA demonstrating students' ability to think on their feet as they would in a restaurant. Students will write a dialogue as if they would perform for the rest of the class. Before presentations, the teacher will swap the waiter for each group, in order to shake up the food specialities, what is being ordered, how the waiter responds to the patron.
Students are encouraged to go to Chinatown to practice their Mandarin.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Decision Making
Mandarin 3
Unit 1 I am the Number 1 Student!
The first unit of Mandarin 3 will give the students a look at their school and the schools of China and Taiwan. Students will learn the names of their classes as well as those of their extracurricular activities. The difference in speaking about talent between academics vs. extracurriculars will be explored by the students. One of the main objectives of the unit is to get students to look at, create, and read class schedules for themselves and for students in China and Taiwan.
Within this unit, students will also begin reading the TPRS book, Susan You Mafan, a book about a 13 year old girl named Susan who by fortune becomes rich. In the first two chapters of the book, we learn about Susan, her likes and dislikes, as well as her academic and extracurricular interests, which makes the book a useful tool for practicing the vocabulary and grammar of this unit.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence
Unit 2 of Mandarin 3 will bring the students for a tour of the streets of the world. Students will learn how to give and receive directions for someone traveling. Students will learn the Cardinal directions, how to use landmarks, distances and times (with travel), and how to communicate about taking or using a form of transportation.
Students will continue reading Susan You Mafan and will use the book to help them to discuss how Susan goes from place to place.
Students will be exposed to maps of cities in China and Taiwan and will use them to create a plan for travel. The unit will culminate in students creating a plan to travel in New York City using Uber (Uber has a website that allows you to plan a trip and even gives you the estimated cost of travel). Students need to take Liqiu, the newest character added to NiHao's story-line through a driving tour of New York City, seeing Landmarks in which Liqiu would be interested.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Decision Making
Unit 3 of Mandarin 3 will introduce the students to some more leisure activities. These leisure activities include t.v., movies, music, and other activities you might expect for a date. Students will be immersed in the world of Chinese Opera, Dragon and Lion Dancing, and even instruments unique to China. Students will learn how to speak in the past tense by placing the character 过 after a verb.
Within this unit there will be a mini-conversational unit, allowing students to practice speaking to another student about hobbies, dating, and general interests.
Students will then start adding the past tense into their conversations, reviewing all that they have done up to this point in Mandarin, and make sentences about their childhood or other past experiences.
The unit will culminate in the students writing an email to their date after going out with them. They will write about their experiences while on the date and will decide whether or not to continue dating or to outright reject them.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Idea Generation
Unit 4 Travel Around the World
Unit 4 of Mandarin 3 will give the students exposure to the world. Students will learn what kind of items they will need to travel around the world and especially to China or Taiwan. On top of more landmarks, modes of travel will be reexamined. Students will expand their knowledge of the geography of China.
Grammatically, students will be introduced to two new tense ideas: The future tense and completed past action.
The unit will culminate in students acting as a travel agent, creating an itinerary from Madison, CT through some famous sites in China, and back to Madison.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Decision Making
Unit 5 of Mandarin 3 is the final unit for the year. Students will learn how to use medical vocabulary. This will be especially useful if they should go to China and fall ill or see someone else fall ill. Over the course of the unit, the students will learn the most common symptoms and how to share those symptoms with professionals.
How do you show empathy and concern for someone who is seemingly ill? How do you help someone who needs that help? These questions will guide the students through the unit.
The students will work on their skill of design - students will create a dialogue wherein they will role-play as doctors and patients. During the course of the creation of the dialogue, the students will first be revised by the teacher, then will be tasked with revising their own work. Did they choose the proper character when typing up their script? Does the symptom match the illness? At the end of the unit, students will present their finalized script to the class.
Students should read through Ch. 10 of the Susan You Mafan novel during this unit; last ch. to be read by the teacher if time permits.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design
Spanish Grades K-6
K-3 World Language Curriculum Overview
- Spanish Kindergarten
- Spanish Grade 1
- Spanish Grade 2
- Spanish Grade 3
- Spanish Grade 4
- Spanish Grade 5
- Spanish Grade 6
Spanish Kindergarten
Bienvenidos! Welcome to Spanish class! Kindergarten students will begin their once a week adventure into exploring Spanish. Students will be introduced to the puppet Tomás el Tucán, a new friend from Costa Rica, who will accompany them on their Spanish adventure. This welcome unit will expose students to high frequency words associated with greetings, introductions and farewells, basic courtesies, asking someone how they are, and basic responses. Students will reflect on what makes them a good citizen in their Spanish classroom. Students will acquire high frequency words using the TPRS method. Students will learn TPR gestures for each high frequency word, listen to and participate in engaging mini-stories, as well as activities related to this topic.
21st Century Capacities: Citizenship
Kindergarten students continue on their Spanish adventure (la aventura) through the jungle (la selva). Students met Tomás el Tucán in the previous unit, and will now meet his friend Manny the Mono (monkey) who will continue on the adventure with them. This unit will expose students to high frequency words, including high frequency verbs like is, has, and eats. Students will also learn how to say boy and girl and tell what their names are. Students will learn TPR gestures for each high frequency word, listen to and participate in mini-stories, and other engaging activities. Students will ultimately build on their citizenship skill from the previous unit by producing their own book to give back to their school library/nursery. The class will compile a big book of little stories. The jungle adventure will end when students make it to El Volcán. Put on your sombrero, grab your maraca, and let's have a ¡FIESTA!
21st Century Capacities: Product Creation
Spanish Grade 1
In unit one of first grade, students will be taking an adventure to Machu Picchu, Perú, with a new friend named Billy. Students will be exposed to Perú and its culture, including items of clothing, like chullos and ponchos. Throughout the unit students will create graphic sentence strips to add to their handmade ponchos reflecting the high frequency words they have learned in each section of the unit. The concept of asking for help and being helpful is also addressed in this unit. Students will ultimately participate in a PBA where they will help Billy's abuela in Perú design a poncho to sell in her store, listening carefully to her instructions and accurately representing what she says on a poncho. Students will acquire high frequency words using comprehensible input and the TPRS method. Students will learn TPR gestures for each high frequency word, and demonstrate listening comprehension of engaging texts containing high frequency vocabulary by using accurate images and gestures. High frequency words for the unit include expressions of weather, family members, and high frequency verbs.
21st Century Capacities: Synthesizing
Grade 1 Unit 2
In unit 2 of first grade we continue our adventure in Perú. Students will continue to be exposed to Perú and its culture including llamas, alpacas, and some of the food grown there. Throughout the unit students will go on an adventure with Billy and Camila following a map that will lead them to The Lost City of Machu Picchu. Students will ultimately participate in a two part PBA where they will create two products; (1) their own maps to "sell" at the Abuela's store and, (2) a sign letting customers know that there are maps, and other favorite items, for sale at Abuela's store. Students will acquire high frequency words using comprehensible input and the TPRS method. Students will learn TPR gestures for each high frequency word, and demonstrate listening comprehension of engaging texts containing high frequency vocabulary by using accurate images and gestures. High frequency words for the unit include feelings, expressions of needing/finding something, and interrogative words.
21st Century Capacities: Product Creation
Spanish Grade 2
In unit one of second grade, students will learn how to talk about themselves by describing some of their physical characteristics and personality traits, as well as their family, in Spanish. Throughout the unit, students will create artifacts to capture interesting facts about themselves, while utilizing the high frequency words and other vocabulary they have learned in each section of the unit.
Students will acquire high frequency words using comprehensible input and the TPRS method. Students will learn TPR gestures for each high frequency word, and demonstrate listening comprehension of engaging texts containing high frequency vocabulary by using accurate images and gestures. In addition to high frequency words, students will learn about cognates and their value in second language learning.
During this unit the students will participate in a PBA where they will be presenting their "all about me" artifacts to their classmates. The PBA presentations will serve as the content for a video, the final product to this unit, where the teacher will produce a video with clips from all of the 2nd grade students' individual presentations. This video will be shown to the incoming 2nd graders during the following school year.
By the end of the unit, students will have enough information about themselves and their classmates to be prepared to begin unit 2 and discussions of their being "especial/diferente/único" as individuals, and the importance and value of their differences and similarities.
21st Century Capacities: Presentation
This unit's main theme is "be who you are; it's ok to be you". Second graders will discuss the importance and value of their differences and similarities.
In Unit 2 of second grade, students will continue to learn how to describe and speak about themselves, and will begin learning how to describe and speak about others, in Spanish. Students will acquire high frequency words using comprehensible input and the TPRS method. Students will learn TPR gestures for some of the high frequency words, and demonstrate knowledge through gestures and verbal responses. Students will continue to identify and use cognates, and learn about their value in second language learning. This unit's cultural component will introduce students to some games children play in Latin American countries.
Students will participate in a PBA in which they will be welcoming DJ and DJ's family, who are visiting from Mexico. During DJ's visit, the child's family will decide if Madison is a good town for them to move to. The family would like to stay with one of the students. Students will help the visitors decide which student's family to stay with by gathering, reviewing, and comparing information about themselves and DJ. This information will include identifying similarities and differences pertaining to family, personality traits, physical traits, as well as their likes/dislikes.
21st Century Capacities: Analyzing
Spanish Grade 3
Unit | Description |
| This unit begins to introduce grade 3 students to the cultures of different Spanish speaking countries through music. Students will begin to identify where Spanish is spoken on a map, play traditional instruments, sing and dance to music in the target language. With this cultural knowledge students will then identify and discuss the varying weather patterns around the world. Students will collaborate with peers as they work on orally producing Spanish in order to increase their proficiency. Students will ultimately serve as a meteorologist for the International Weather Channel and broadcast the weather of a variety of Spanish speaking countries. 21st Century Capacities: Presentation |
Unit 2Creaciones (Creations) | In Grade 3, students will continue to deepen their knowledge of Spanish as they use the language to describe physical characteristics about themselves and others. All while working closely with peers, students will read, write and listen in Spanish and take part in a personalized skit based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that culminates in the creation of their own mythical monster. Throughout the unit students will focus on learning how to interpret text, and will ultimately analyze and interpret summer camp journals to visually represent various summer camp photos. 21st Century Capacities: Analyzing |
Spanish Grade 4
Unit | Description |
Unit 1Cultura y Celebraciones (Culture and Celebrations) | Cultural Heritage is an expression of the ways of living developed by a community and passed on from generation to generation, including customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values. Throughout MPS' WL elementary school curriculum our students have been exposed to Spanish cultural heritage components. In 1st grade our students learned about Peruvian traditions and artifacts. In 2nd grade students learned about games played by children in Spanish speaking countries. In 3rd grade students were exposed to different Spanish speaking countries through music and weather trends. As a culmination of their journey as elementary school student WL learners, the 4th graders will experience an entire unit focused on Spanish Culture as its main theme. Throughout the unit, the students will discuss the importance and value of passing on these cultural components from one generation to another. Fourth graders will be introduced to a brief history of the Spanish language and its propagation through the world. Students will also learn about Spanish culture through the life and work of renowned Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso. As a 4th grade group, students will share their knowledge about cultural celebrations in Spain and in Spanish speaking countries in Latin America with the purpose of spreading knowledge of Spanish/Hispanic cultural heritage to our schools' staff and student body. Concurrently, students will gain a more in depth insight of cognates, and their value in improving their listening and reading Spanish comprehension. 21st Century Capacities: Synthesizing |
Unit 2FANTASÍA Y FICCIÓN (Fantasy and Fiction) | In unit 2 of fourth grade, students will continue to build on their knowledge and understanding of cognates as they bring their Elementary Spanish experience full circle. Students will become familiar with a version of Little Red Riding Hood in Spanish and the unit will come to a close with a presentation of the story for first graders. Students will continue to persevere as they take their knowledge of the Spanish language and finish off their elementary experience with the reading of a short novel Brandon Brown dice la verdad. 21st Century Capacities: Perseverance |
Spanish Grade 5
Spanish Grade 6
Unit | Description |
Unit 1Tenemos talento! (We've got talent!) | In this unit, students will describe their own personal talents and interests, as well as the hobbies and talents of others. Students knowledge of the structure of the language will be expanded upon, as they will use first, second, and third person verb forms to communicate. Vocabulary throughout the unit will be personalized each year based on students and their own interests. Students will receive comprehensible input through a variety of Movie Talk clips, and through viewing Tiene Talentovideos from the Spanish speaking world. They will be able to describe their own talents, those of their classmates, and even those of people who live abroad. Ultimately, students will be interviewed to be a contestant on America Tiene Talentoand will respond spontaneously in the target language demonstrating their comprehension of content and the use of the 1st person singular. This unit will push students to persevere, finding ways to communicate spontaenously while engaged in dynamic situation. 21st Century Capacities: Perseverance |
Unit 2La aventura de la vida (The adventure of a lifetime)
| In this unit, students will continue expanding their knowledge of the language by using both the 1st and 3rd person of the verb to communicate. Students will begin with discussion of where they travel, where they want to travel, and where they have traveled (using the preterite tense in context). This will springboard into a deeper discussion of what is beyond the sights we see when we travel, touching upon the cultural and historical products that are evident in our sightseeing. "How can travel enrich my life?" Students will receive comprehensible input through various mini-stories based on authentic cultural products, and will read a novel based on a character travelling to the Yucatan with his family. Ultimately, students will create their own mini-stories with high frequency vocabulary using a new cultural product as the context for their story. 21st Century Capacities: Collective Intelligence |
Unit 3Yo puedo cambiar el mundo (I can change the world) | In unit three of 6th grade students will take a closer look at the nature that surrounds them. Students will be exposed to a variety of high frequency words that are related to the environment and also to environmental problems that are being faced globally. As part of the unit, students will take a survey to reflect on their own behaviors as they relate to the environment, for example, use of the school bus/car and using reusable bags. How can I impact the environment? Students will be exposed to a variety of global environmental issues to reflect on and then make connections locally. Students will ultimately be exposed to a variety of scenarios where they have to use their current knowledge to make environmentally conscious decisions. 21st Century Capacities: Engaging in global issues |
Unit 4Leaving your libro legacy | Students' study of Spanish at Brown School will come full "circle" in this final unit of Grade 6 Spanish. In this unit students will participate in the literature circle process where they will work with one of six compelling and comprehensible novels in the target language. In order to work successfully in groups, students will also learn meaningful collective intelligence skills throughout the unit. The classroom library and novels have been an important part of their experience at Brown school. Students will ultimately leave their "libro legacy" for future 5th and 6th grade students of Spanish using a digital recorded QR code in one of the books in the classroom library that has inspired them the most during their Spanish career. 21st Century Capacities:Synthesizing, Collective Intelligence |
Spanish Grades 7-12
- Spanish Grade 7
- Spanish Grade 8
- Spanish Grade 8 B
- Spanish 1
- Spanish 2
- Spanish 3
- Spanish 4
- Spanish 4 Honors
- Spanish 5
Spanish Grade 7
Spanish Grade 8
Unit | Description |
Unit 1Mi viaje a Madrid (My trip to Madrid) | Students will take a trip to Madrid, Spain where they will have several shopping experiences. Students will prepare for their trip by packing clothes based on the current weather report in Madrid, and even learn how to convert their Dollars to Euros. Students will have the opportunity to explore the shopping experience and the cultural differences between Spain and United States. This unit goes into detail about how to express one's preferences about shopping, as well as describe what occurred in the past. Ultimately students will reflect on their shopping experiences and choose the best medium to share their reflection with a friend or relative. 21st Century Capacities: Synthesizing, Product Creation |
Unit 2Manos en la comunidad (Hands on the community)
| In unit two of grade 8, "Manos en la comunidad (Hands on the community)" students will take a closer look at things they do in the community. Teachers will personalize vocabulary based on what students do and are interested in doing to help the community. Within the unit, students will be reading the novel, Robo en la noche, which takes place in Costa Rica. Students will learn more about the country of Costa Rica and further explore MINAE, an organization that exists there. The grammatical structures of indirect object pronouns and additional preterite tense is included within the context of giving back to the community. Students will ultimately participate in a PBA where they will engage in a true community service project and document their experience to their classmates in the form a virtual classroom exhibition. 21st Century Capacities: Presentation, Citizenship |
Unit 3Cuando era niño (When I was a kid) | What were you like when you were a kid? What did you used to play with? Where did you go? What were you like? In this unit grade 8 students will reflect on their own childhoods. In Spanish, the imperfect is the tense used to reflect on these past events. Students will be exposed to this new grammatical concept through the lense of childhood. Students will further examine and discuss a popular book from their youth, El arbol generoso by Shel Silverstein which is written predominantly in the imperfect tense. Throughout the unit students will also explore children's books in their own classroom libraries and focus on what techniques or patterns good storytellers use. For the PBA, students will engage in a design process to synthesize their imperfect and storytelling knowledge to create their own children's book to be shared with Madison's own K-4 Spanish students. 21st Century Capacities:Design, Product Creation |
Unit 4Había una vez (Once upon a time) | Ole! Students will explore the culture of bullfighting through various activities. They will engage in activities that familiarize them with the pros and cons of bullfighting. This unit also goes into detail about the differences between the preterite and imperfect tense and how they are applied when describing the past. Throughout the unit, students will also read a novel about a famous "torero" and his family. The unit will conclude with a debate about whether or not bullfighting should be permitted in Spain. 21st Century Capacities: Synthesizing, Collective Intelligence |
Unit 5El noticiero (Newscast) | Students will learn about vocabulary related to natural disasters. They will look at news articles and videos from natural disasters that have happened in Spanish speaking countries. They will further explore the differences between the preterite and imperfect tenses and how they apply them when describing current events. The unit will end with students creating their own televised newscast reporting on current events focusing on a disaster. 21st Century Capacities: Synthesizing, Product Creation |
Spanish Grade 8 B
Unit | Description |
Unit 1Los deportes (Sports) | Students will explore the sports world by talking about their favorite sports as well as what they play. Students will have the opportunity to read about famous Hispanic athletes as well as watch a movie about a Mexican little league team. At the end of the unit students will explore the life of a famous athlete.They will research an athlete of their choice and personify the athlete for their classmates. 21st Century Capacities: Presentation |
Unit 2La amistad (Friendship) | Students will analyze what friendship is and what it means to them. They will look closely at their own friendships and create a tribute to a special friend. Throughout the unit, students will apply the present tense of ER/IR verbs to talk about friendships. They will also apply ir a + infinitive to talk about the future. In addition, students will also read the novel "Piratas del caribe y el mapa secreto" and compare the relationships among the characters. 21st Century Capacities: Product Creation |
Unit 3Cuando era niño (When I was a kid) | What were you like when you were a kid? What did you used to play with? Where did you go? What were you like? In this unit grade 8 students will reflect on their own childhoods. In Spanish, the imperfect is the tense used to reflect on these past events. Students will be exposed to this new grammatical concept through the lense of childhood. Students will further examine and discuss a popular book from their youth, El arbol generoso by Shel Silverstein which is written predominantly in the imperfect tense. Throughout the unit students will also explore children's books in their own classroom libraries and focus on what techniques or patterns good storytellers use. For the PBA, students will engage in a design process to synthesize their imperfect and storytelling knowledge to create their own children's book to be shared with Madison's own K-4 Spanish students. 21st Century Capacities:Design, Product Creation |
Unit 4La corrida de toros (Bullfight) | Ole! Students will explore the culture of bullfighting through various activities. They will engage in activities that familiarize them with the pros and cons of bullfighting. Throughout the unit, students will apply the preterite AR verbs when referring to the past. In addition students will read articles about bullfighting as well as a chapter from a novel about a famous "torero" and his family. The unit will conclude with a debate about whether or not bullfighting should be permitted in Spain. 21st Century Capacities: Synthesizing, Collective Intelligence |
Spanish 1
Unit 1 Quien soy yo en Hand? (Who am I at Hand?)
"Who am I at Hand?" Madison students will take another look at "themselves" in Spanish, this time paying special attention to who they are at their new high school - Daniel Hand. Students will be engaged in learning more about their new identity at Hand, which includes many new online language learning tools and how they will enhance their middle school experience. This unit goes into detail about what it is like to be a middle school student, including specific courses, classroom objects, activities, expressing preferences, and describing yourself. Students will be able to compare and contrast their high school schedules and experience with those of students in Spanish speaking countries. They will ultimately select a school that interests them for a study abroad program and will need to correspond with their host family beforehand.
Following the PBA, students will read their first short novel in the target language, Noches misteriosas en Granada, about a boy who studies abroad in Granada, Spain.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation
Unit 2 Cuerpo sano, mente sana (Healthy body, healthy mind)
"Cuerpo sano, mente sana". Hand students will be able to express their likes and dislikes about a variety of foods, drinks, and activities in the target language. Through a collaborative jigsaw process using the website choosemyplate.gov (in Spanish) students will explore a series of health articles (infographics). They will later reflect on what it means to be a healthy adolescent by designing their own infographic offering tips to their Hand classmates using the Tiger Fitness Center. Through collaborative work students will reflect on their individual contribution to the group process and understand what it means to be "collectively intelligent."
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence, Product Creation
Unit 3 ¡A celebrar! (Let's celebrate!)
During this unit, students will highlight their favorite places to go in and around Madison, and the different activities they do with family and friends at these locations. Students will be able to compare their lifestyle to the main character, as we read a novel throughout the unit. They will also learn about family and adolescent life in Mexico and be able to compare it with their lives (and the main character's) in the United States. The concept of "ir + a + infinitive" will be a focus point as students make predictions for the novel and talk about where they are going to go and what they are going to do at these places. Students will work collaboratively to plan a weekend event in Madison for out of town guests and will share this information on a website they will create using google sites.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence, Product Creation
Unit 4 Mi casa es su casa (My house is your house)
"Mi casa es su casa." Hand students will develop skills to describe their own bedrooms and houses, including making comparisons and using stem changing verbs like poder and dormir in context. Students will participate in an activity to jigsaw information about various houses, as their classmates develop listening comprehension skills to correctly represent the house that they are describing. Students will ultimately play the role of a Real Estate Agent, gathering information about different homes in the Spanish speaking world, and making various decisions between homes based on the criteria provided by their "client."
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Decision Making
Spanish 2
Unit 1 Las tradiciones familiares - Family Traditions
Students will learn about the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) celebration in Mexico while reading Tumba. Students will review the present tense, present progressive, and ser & estar both orally and in writing short letters and/or texts to family members. Students will then explore their own family traditions learning/ reviewing the vocabulary of family relationships and those words needed to discuss and write about their family traditions, such as gustar. The grammar focus will be on adjective agreement, creating plural forms and asking and answering questions.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Decision Making
In this unit students will explore the many different festivals celebrated in Spanish speaking countries using print and online resources. Students will choose which festival they would like to research and will ultimately create a short "book" for children on that festival. Students will learn food and festival related vocabulary and will practice stem changing verbs.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Product Creation
This unit is focused on the traditional sports of Spanish speaking countries and the fans that love them. The impact sports have on family relationships will also be explored. A great deal of time will be spent on the preterite tense and all its irregular forms, with the emphasis on describing what happened at an event. Students will also be introduced to direct and indirect object pronouns in relation to sports vocabulary. Students will watch the movie "Goal" to incorporate themes of hard work to achieve dreams. After practice and repetition in the past tense, students will ultimately perform a newscast about a game that has already taken place.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Product Creation
In this final unit of Spanish 2, students will explore the tradition of the Quinceañera and what goes wrong when a drug cartel gets involved in one girl's celebration in the novel Fiesta Fatal. In addition, students will look at traditional rites of passage at different ages and in different cultures to compare and contrast how children experience growing up. Students will review reflexive verb vocabulary for getting ready for a party, and then learn the Imperfect verb tense and use it to complete a nostalgic written piece about their childhood. Students will be able to recognize when to use the imperfect and when to use the preterite.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Self-Awareness, Alternate Perspectives
Spanish 3
Unit 1 Navegando el mundo (Navigating the world)
Welcome to the Amazing Race - Daniel Hand Spanish edition! In this first unit of Spanish 3 students will become a part of the Amazing Race Latinoamerica. Students will be divided into pairs and explore and present who they really are as a team. In previous years of Spanish students have explored their own identity, their identity as a student, and their family, but now they will explore who they are as a member of a team. The teams will participate in challenges/activities related to Puerto Rico and Mexico, ultimately culminating in creating their own Amazing Race: Daniel Hand Spanish edition challenge. Similar to the Amazing Race program, teams will also create a videobio of their Amazing Race team showcasing who they are as a "team". Throughout the course of the challenges, students will also be exposed to grammar topics related to expressing themselves in the present tense that they can apply to their work. Let the games begin!
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence, Product Creation
Unit 2 Heroes y Villanos (Heroes and Villains)
How do heroes and villains shape our world? Students will drive the work in this unit, jigsawing a variety of texts about Fidel Castro and exploring him as a multifaceted figure with both heroic and villainous traits. Students will also reflect on their own personal heroes, and what makes someone heroic or villainous. This unit will culminate in a PBA in which students will investigate several "ambiguous" Hispanic historical figures and present them virtually using infographics. The preterite tense, one of the past tenses, is emphasized throughout the work. The presentations will portray both the heroic and villainous characteristics/actions of these figures, and the student audience will individually have to choose and defend a position, dubbing each figure either hero or villain.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Product Creation
Unit 3 Misterios del mundo (Mysteries of the world)
Spanish 3 students will take a journey into the mysteries of the Spanish-speaking world, interpreting several legends, including the famous chupacabras: the Mysterious Monster of Latin America and comparing them to legends of their own culture. Students will see how the past tenses are used together for different reasons in the authentic context of legends. Students will embark on a task for "The Madison Historical society" to ultimately piece together their own Mysterious Monster of Madison, using the past tenses together, and their imaginations.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Product Creation
Unit 4 Desafios Globales (Global challenges)
In this final unit of Spanish 3, students will explore the difficulties of life in Guatemala and, more importantly, what is being done to improve the situation there. Students will read Esperanza, a true story about a family forced to emigrate from Guatemala to escape violence and create a more hopeful future. Students will view a variety of video clips as well as a documentary, "Living on One Dollar a Day," to better understand daily life in Guatemala. Students will independently explore the efforts of two charitable groups who are working to improve the socioeconomic situation and political climate. After examining Guatemala as a model, students will open up their investigation to the entire global community. Ultimately, students will find an actual charitable organization anywhere in the world to which they will apply for an internship, showcasing their new knowledge of the future and conditional tenses (will and would) to explain in the application how the experience will help them to realize their own hopes for the future, how their efforts will help to improve the situation in the community in which they will work, and explain in which area of the internship program they would like to participate. If we work together, there is hope for the future!
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Citizenship
Spanish 4
Unit 1 De vacaciones a la Isla del Encanto! (On vacation to the island of enchantment)
"The Hidden Gems of Latin America" is the theme for all four units of the Spanish 4 course.
In the first unit of Spanish 4, students will travel to Puerto Rico, La Isla del Encanto! Students will explore their identity as travelers as they learn about different locations and regions of Puerto Rico. They will discover the beauty of the island that is sometimes overshadowed by the economic and political turmoil of the island. They will use the present tenses to investigate island culture, turmoil, and hidden gems of Puerto Rico, as well as the future and conditional tenses to design a future vacation and make recommendations to avoid travel problems. Ultimately, each student will act as a travel agent, and use all of the information he/she has learned about Puerto Rico, supplemented with internet research, to customize a vacation to Puerto Rico for the family of a classmate. Viajemos a Puerto Rico!
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Decision Making
Unit 2 Vivir como un porteño (Living like a person from Buenos Aires)
In the second unit of Spanish 4, students will immerse themselves in the concept of living abroad as a porteno in Argentina and continue investigating "What lies beneath the turmoil?" in another hidden gem of Latin America. Students will learn about daily life in Buenos Aires, including researching how to access the metro and bus systems, viewing traditional dance, and being exposed to customary food. They will read the novel La guerra sucia and view the film Cautiva as a gateway to explore the historical impact and modern-day ramifications of the Dirty War. Throughout the unit, students will utilize the preterite and imperfect tenses as they blog about their hypothetical experiences in Buenos Aires and other regions of Argentina. Salud, amor, dinero, y tiempo para disfrutarlo!
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Product Creation
Unit 3 A la frontera y adelante (To the border and beyond)
Spanish 4 students will journey across the border to Mexico as they explore historical and current events and other aspects of mainstream culture. Students will acknowledge and possibly debunk stereotypes relating to Mexico, and also devise travel safety tips. They will read authentic newspaper articles and use the information to offer advice to travellers, as well as to people with an array of problems. Ultimately, students will research Mexican products and connect them to cultural practices, creating their own how-to videos.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation, Decision Making
Unit 4 Financiando por los Pinoleros (Financing for Nicaraguans)
In this final unit of Spanish 4, students will learn to make recommendations and express subjective thoughts utilizing the subjunctive mood in Spanish. They will learn about the socioeconomic situation in Nicaragua, a country suffering from widespread poverty. They will also explore some current programs that exist to try to alleviate poverty in Nicaragua. Ultimately, students will recommend their own solution to a group of investment bankers, seeking charitable funding for their proposed solutions.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Product Creation, Citizenship
Spanish 4 Honors
Unit 1 Las familias y las comunidades (Families and Communities)
In this first unit of Spanish IV Honors, students will explore relationships with their families and community and seek connections with, and contrasts between, the Spanish-speaking world. While exploring these relationships, students will recall their study and use of the present indicative as a springboard into their introduction to the subjunctive mood and present subjunctive. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. As a culminating demonstration of what they have studied and learned during this unit, students will identify and elaborate upon a specific problem within their surrounding community and propose ways to help rectify the issue.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Inquiry, Citizenship
Unit 2 La vida contemporánea (Contemporary Life)
In this second unit of Spanish IV Honors, students will examine more closely their travel and education pursuits. What do they do in their free time? Are they interested in travel? What are their career aspirations? These are just a few of the questions that students will be asked to consider as they continue to hone their understanding and application of the subjunctive mood. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. To bring closure to this unit, students will investigate and analyze the tourist attractions in one of the Spanish-speaking countries of the world and create a tourist brochure to promote travel to that country.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Design
Unit 3 La belleza y la estética (Beauty and Aesthetics)
In this third unit of Spanish IV Honors, students will delve into their thoughts about beauty and aesthetics as they relate to self-concept, other people, fashion, arts and literature, architecture, and wonders around the globe. While doing so, students will be asked to dive into their past to further examine these thoughts, as they recall their study and use of the preterit and imperfect tenses as a means of learning about the past subjunctive. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. Students will use their creativity as they work in small groups to present a new line of clothing to their classmates that will shake up the fashion industry.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Product Creation
Unit 4 Las identidades personales y públicas (Personal and Public Identities)
In this fourth unit of Spanish IV Honors, students will reflect upon their own identities and the importance of public, ethnic, and national identity. During such reflection, students will recall previous study and use of the future and conditional, diving deeper into the intricacies of both, as they additionally learn more about the correct use of possessive and demonstrative adjectives and pronouns. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. Having acquired a greater understanding of the power of identity, students will design a postage stamp that they hope to be selected to celebrate our national identity.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Product Creation
Unit 5 Los desafíos mundiales (Global Challenges)
In this fifth unit of Spanish IV Honors, students will have a look into the challenges we face in our global society, specifically those of global warming and global conflict and terrorism. Students will be challenged to use effectively the many types of commands from the target language, say and write correctly in Spanish cardinal and ordinal numbers, and learn and use when appropriate comparative and superlative constructions. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. Students will examine in depth a global challenge not studied during the unit to promote action and further awareness related to the issue.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Idea Generation, Collective Intelligence
Unit 6 La ciencia y la tecnología (Science and Technology)
In this sixth and final unit of Spanish IV Honors, students will probe the constantly-evolving world of science and technology. While investigating and discussing these unit themes, students will be tasked with learning and putting to use the Perfect/Haber tenses, past participles used as adjectives, and the passive voice, including the impersonal SE. Throughout this unit, students will be exposed to a variety of unit-related, authentic written and spoken texts, recordings, and prompts to further their growth in the language. Students will be forced to analyze the limitations of an existing product and imagine, and present, an innovation to it.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Idea Generation
Spanish 5
Unit 1 Los "foodies" en España
There are many different types of travelers; art lovers, hipsters, history buffs, etc. In the first unit of Spanish 5, students will act as foodies and will examine regional differences of Spain. Focusing on food, but also considering some broader regional aspects (languages, attractions), students will take an adventure through Madrid. Throughout the unit students will present other autonomous regions of Spain to their classmates, based on their personal interests. Later, in the PBA, students will use this information to plan travel to another region. Students will work on the skill of perseverance by initiating communication in the target language and circumlocuting to successfully overcome challenges in speaking. One of the most exciting parts of this unit is that students will not only have the ability to taste 5 different traditional Spanish foods in class, but will also eat authentic food from a restaurant.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Product Creation
Unit 2 Un país, 5 aspectos (One country, 5 ways)
Using what they learned as foodies as a jumping off point, in the second unit of our exploration of Spain students will focus on their own personal travel interests in an investigation of different regions. Students will act as art lovers, sports fans, history buffs, luxury travelers, among others. Students will also further advance their grammatical study with an introduction to and application of the imperfect subjunctive in the context of travel. Student will conduct research based on the idea of "One country five ways," and present their findings in groups, but based on their individual travel preferences. Throughout the unit, students will express recommendations and possible travel situations in the past tense, in which they employ the highest level of grammatical structures. Other skills in this unit include presentational and interpersonal speaking, reading of authentic articles, as well as listening comprehension of peers' ideas. Students will work on the skills of synthesizing and reflecting by incorporating their knowledge of Spain, their personal interests, and teacher and peer feedback into informative writing as they journal about travelling through Spain as their preferred type of traveler.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Product Creation
Unit 3
El mundo real (The real world)
All students will learn to apply their Spanish skills in the real world as they take on the roles of patient and medical personnel. The exploration of medical Spanish will help prepare students in the event that they need medical treatment during any future travel abroad, and also will benefit any students who plan to enter the medical field professionally. In the second portion of this unit, students will explore their intended career, learning Spanish vocabulary that will be applicable in the real world. In addition to medical and career vocabulary, students will learn about cultural practices that are professionally relevant. Along the way, students will write a resume and prepare for a job interview in Spanish. Ultimately, students will write a cover letter and participate in a mock interview for their dream job. Welcome to the real world!
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Decision Making
Unit 4
Las tertulias (Social gatherings) In the final unit of Spanish 5, students will engage in Daniel Hand's version of tertulias, social gatherings to converse about topics of interest, particularly with artistic, political, or literary overtones, which originated in Spain and Latin America. Students will apply all that they have learned in Spanish in this conversational unit, as they engage in different discussions. For each week of the unit, conversations will center around a different theme, such as causes of stress, controversial topics, global challenges, book review, film critique, or simply friendly conversation. Students will persevere to stay in the target language, stretching their vocabulary and structural repertoires and employing circumlocution as they make meaningful contributions to paired, group, and class discussion. Charlemos!
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Inquiry, Collective Intelligence
Students in Action
American Sign Language
American Sign Language 1
Unit 1
Getting to Know You, Getting to Know Deaf Culture
In the first unit of American Sign Language (ASL) I, students will be introduced to the history of Deaf culture in America, including an overview of how ASL was created, the American School for the Deaf, and who uses ASL. Students will learn how to do basic fingerspelling in order to spell words and their names. Students will be able to give basic descriptions of themselves and others.
The unit will function as an introduction to the routines and procedures of the classroom. Assignments will utilize online receptive assessments provided by the teacher and ASL Deafined, an online ASL resource for students.
The unit will culminate in a simulated conversation where students will act out meeting a roommate for the first time while at the American School for the Deaf.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence
In the second unit of American Sign Language (ASL) I, students will be introduced to the process of creating a script for interpretation, called a Gloss. A gloss simplifies written English into signable language, an important skill since signing does not necessarily use all the grammar or vocabulary that written English would use. Fingerspelling and numbers will be highlighted again, as students will give personal information about themselves and others.
Leisure activities will be discussed.
The unit will culminate in the students creating a script where they will introduce themselves. Since the unit is focusing on design, the creative process is more important than the result. The skill of glossing will remain a process and skill throughout all ASL units and classes.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design
In the third unit of ASL I, students will use their newfound skills of writing a gloss (Unit 2) and fingerspelling in order to talk about places, homes, and vacation locations. Students will interview each other and practice their receptive skills. The emphasis of in-class time will focus on improving the fluency and recognition of signs done by others.
In terms of topics, students will be working on locations and directions, animals and house-pets, and the numbers 30-66.
The unit will culminate in students creating a script about a dream home or vacation with another student by creating a gloss and submitting a practiced video of their final skit.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Design, Product Creation
In the fourth unit of ASL I, students will learn to describe themselves more in relationship to their own family members. Students will be asked to sign more in a live setting, including many class activities that will allow students to practice in front of each other and the class. The unit will culminate in the students talking about their own family and a favorite childhood memory in a live setting. In preparation for the end of the year, students will also engage in goal-setting and self-reflection, looking forward to next steps in their experience with ASL.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Self-Awareness
In Unit 5, students of ASL 1 will be exploring how to discuss their preferences for hobbies, plans for activities, and even look at events they've done in the past. This unit will cover not only hobbies, but also how to discuss time and dates. Students will be working on their collaborative and presentational skills in this unit, with activities and the PBA focusing on the ability to present information and to work as a team. The unit will culminate in students presenting their summer plans to the rest of the class in whichever live format students feel most comfortable with.
Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence, Product Creation