World Language
Our world language program is designed to create a solid listening, speaking, reading, and writing foundation for further studies at the secondary school level, and a cultural component is integral to the curriculum. Students can be found discussing and researching places where the target language is spoken, listening to French and Spanish music, or sharing recipes and food during a class period. Our program seeks to inspire curiosity concerning other cultures and places and to develop proficiency in a second language.
Brookwood students begin the study of French or Spanish in Grade One and the study of Mandarin in Grade Five. Early exposure to a new language assists students in acquiring an authentic accent at an age when they are most receptive. Grade One and Two students engage in activities such as songs, games, and stories intended to develop listening and speaking skills, simultaneously exposing them to different cultures. Students are introduced to reading and writing in the Middle School, where they begin to create their own illustrated sentences. The Upper School program is designed to cover material typically taught in first and second-year high school language courses.
The World Language Department is fortunate to have its own dedicated center comprised of four classrooms and an eighteen-station computer lab, complete with a Smartboard. The lab provides students with access to oral and listening activities, voice recording software, and interactive Web-based activities. Brookwood makes an effort to hire language teachers from many different backgrounds, thereby exposing students to other cultures and a range of accents, including those of native speakers.
World Language Curriculum Goals
In general, the World Language Department seeks to have Brookwood students:
- Acquire an awareness of and sensitivity to cultures other than their own
- Develop authentic pronunciation in the target language
- Use oral and aural communication skills in the target language
- Use acquired skills to read short books, stories, and magazines and to engage in discussions about same
- Write complex narrative and descriptive paragraphs in the target language
- Become familiar with the countries in which the target language is spoken
Mandarin in Grades 5 - 8
In fifth grade, students have the option to begin the study of Mandarin. Students are exposed to the Chinese-speaking world and cultures, and they begin to learn and differentiate tones as well to study the language with Pinyin (Mandarin using the Roman alphabet). Students also learn to recognize and write common Mandarin characters. In the Upper School, students delve further in the study of characters. Similar to our French and Spanish programs, Brookwood's Mandarin program aims to prepare students for second year high school placement.
The program is being implemented by Elizabeth Hammett. Fluent in all aspects of Mandarin, Hammett holds a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and a master’s degree in education from Harvard University with a specialized major focusing on Global Competence. Grade-level benchmarks are forthcoming.
French and Spanish Grade Level Curricular Goals and Focal Points
At each respective grade level, our goal is to have students:
Kindergarten:
- Understand that other cultures and languages exist
- Be exposed to different cultures and languages through songs, readings, and activities
Grade One:
- Recognize and recall the following vocabulary blocks:
- Family members
- Body parts
- House and farm animals
- Clothing
- Numbers 1-20
- 11 colors
- Letters of the alphabet
- Common action verbs
- Respond with the appropriate actions to several classroom commands and action verbs
- Answer simple questions:
- How old are you?
- Do you have….?
- Develop some understanding of the countries in which the language is spoken
Grade Two:
- Perform short skits
- Answer increasingly complex questions:
- What do you like to do?
- Classroom objects
- Additional verbs
- Where is….?
- Do you like….?
- What you want
- Read, write, and recall the following vocabulary blocks:
- Rooms in the house
- Food
- Zoo animals
- Learn songs, stories, and traditions from countries in which the language is spoken
Grade Three:
- Ask questions
- Write basic sentences using correct word order
- Recognize, name, and spell new vocabulary blocks
- Say what you have
- Numbers 1-50
- Action verbs
- Adjectives
- Nature
- School supplies
- Write descriptions about themselves and others (introduction of the third person singular)
- Create dialogues using common phrases and vocabulary
- Learn songs, stories, and traditions from countries in which the language is spoken
Grade Four:
- Recognize, name, and spell numbers 0-100 using math problems and puzzles
- Describe what they are wearing
- Describe the weather
- Write and say the date and seasons
- Recognize, name, and spell months, days of the week, and seasons
- Tell time
- Additional nature
- Additional action verbs
- Learn songs, stories, traditions, and history from countries in which the language is spoken
- Increased focus on writing
Grade Five:
- Begin to distinguish verb forms in a few common phrases
- Identify and locate French and Spanish speaking countries on a map
- Use plural articles and adjectives with appropriate agreement and placement
- Read paragraphs
- Explore points of interest in countries where the language is spoken
- Begin to understand cultural nuances
Grade Six:
- Conjugate regular and irregular verbs in the present tense
- Describe themselves and others
- Describe activities and school
- Ask informational questions using correct word order
- Continue to develop an understanding of cultural nuances
Grade Seven:
- Conjugate more regular and irregular verbs in the present tense
- Give commands and directions
- Discuss future plans using the immediate future (“going to”)
- Replace direct and indirect objects with pronouns
- Learn about different French, Latin American, and Spanish foods
- Speak and write more precisely using adverbs, possessive and demonstrative adjectives
- Read and discuss a short book
- Identify and appreciate cultural nuances
Grade Eight:
- Distinguish the imperfect from the preterit (Spanish) and passé compose (French)
- Describe daily routine using reflexive verbs
- Continue work with direct and indirect object pronouns
- Write descriptive paragraphs in the past using the preterit and imperfect tenses
- Write and present in target language a comprehensive project
- Read and discuss a short book
- Identify and appreciate cultural nuances
- Use the target language exclusively in class