The fourth grade's curriculum is about the theme of traveling. Students will review numbers from 1-100 and learn to use the numbers with the Chinese currency. They will role-play for shopping and bargaining, which is a customary concept when traveling in China/Taiwan. Learning about other countries in the world and the language spoken also give students a global perspective and enhance their motivation for foreign language learning. 

In 5th grade, students will learn to type using Pinyin to reinforce their pronunciation and literacy skill. Moreover, our 5th graders will take a field trip with 4th graders to a Chinese restaurant and supermarket to put their oral communication into practice and have fun. As the last year in LS, the 5th graders will put out a skit/play from a classical Chinese tale as their graduation performance. 

In third grade, students will be officially introduced to both simplified and traditional Chinese characters about their structures and meanings as an introduction to literacy. In third grade, students also start practicing asking and answering yes/no and WH questions to form short conversations. Students will be expected to recall vocabulary learned in the past through regular quizzes, individual projects, games, etc. They will participate in authentic conversation about ordering food at a Chinese restaurant during their field trip in May. 

In the first grade, we are expecting our Chinese learners to take advantage of their precious period of second language learning for Chinese Mandarin, which is a tonal language. The first graders will be exposed to simple and short vocabulary that are more concrete and tangible for them in their prior knowledge of the world. They will be able to distinguish the four tones of the Mandarin Chinese, and pronounce basic characters and simple sentences with correct tones. They will be recognize and write 50 - 100 basic characters. Singing and acting out are two major elements in first grade Chinese. There are also holiday celebrations through food and folk tales to familiarize themselves with Chinese cultural practices. 

*   Communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, communities… It is with this philosophy in mind that FR IV is taught.  

 Communication is at the heart of the second language study, whether the communication in a language other than English takes place face-to-face, in     writing or across centuries through the reading of literature.

• Cultures gain knowledge by understanding and respecting other cultures.

• Connections with other disciplines to acquire information provide additional bodies of knowledge.

• Comparisons and contrasts develop insight into the nature of language and the concept of culture, realizing that there are multiple ways and styles of viewing the world.

• Communities are expanded when all of these elements enable you to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world in a variety of contexts and in culturally appropriate ways.

 

* Knowing how, when, and why to say what to whom.

While grammar (review and new rules) and vocabulary (extensive new vocabulary) are essential tools for communication, it is the acquisition of the ability to communicate in meaningful and appropriate ways that is the ultimate goal of the class.

Readings: Jean-Paul Sartre- Gilbert Cesbron- André Maurois- Françoise Sagan- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry- George Simenon-

Films: Marie- Antoinette- Indochine- Est-Ouest - Sagan- Coco Chanel-

French IV students are expected to have mastered the fundamentals of written and oral expression in view of the more complex and linguistically sophisticated material under study. Student’s review and study major grammatical structures, read extensively, and develop increasing accuracy in written and oral expression through discussion of literary texts and essay writing. Instruction is in French, and a variety of classroom activities and media are employed to maintain and build oral and written proficiency. French IV course involves further study of grammatical structures, verb tenses, increased vocabulary through short audio narrations, and a rich selection of articles, opinion polls and statistics, exploring the best of ancient, modern and contemporary art, complete with the historical background for each work and its artist. Designed to build the comprehension and the verbal expression of the students, this informative course develops elements of the present French civilization, contains geography, history, economy and involves current events and international relations.The class is conducted primarily in French and students are expected to participate verbally on a daily basis.