Little Red School House
and Elisabeth Irwin High School

A Pre-K-12 Progressive Education

Curriculum Detail

Department Picker

World Language

  • French 5

    Fifth grade French is an introduction to the study of the French language. Pronunciation, cognate recognition, and comfort with speaking are the main goals. Listening activities, workbook exercises, Quizlet, and authentic videos and songs are used to strengthen students’ comprehension and develop pronunciation techniques. Lessons are reinforced with cultural activities – cooking, making menus, creating alphabet books and playing games are included in the curriculum.

  • French 6

    Sixth grade French emphasizes speaking and comprehension. Students’ familiarity and confidence with the language is reinforced with dialogues and skits that they write, using vocabulary and relevant cultural topics. In their second year of formal French studies, the sixth graders learn regular verbs ending in -ER in the present tense, as well as several irregular verbs. The grammar includes adjectives, affirmative and negative sentence constructions, question words, and theme-based vocabulary. A cultural study of the important monuments and sites in Paris includes an introduction to the subway system and other authentic aspects of the French city.

  • French 7

    Seventh graders learn new regular verbs in the -ER  group, and -IR and -RE verbs are introduced. Additional irregular verbs and use of the future proche tense using aller is taught. Reading, writing and speaking are central to this year of French. They study the geography of France, and each student presents a project on a chosen city. They use authentic documents to research history, cultural sites, and food specialties. Listening activities reinforce the material and facilitate speaking. Short paragraphs are written and descriptive conversations are practiced during class time and for homework.

  • French 8

    By the eighth grade, French students have a solid foundation for use of the language in comprehension, reading, writing and speaking. During the first semester, they learn the remaining present tense verb groups and additional irregular verb forms. The past tense is taught in the second part of the year. Students also begin writing short compositions in both tenses. Reading the book Un Eté Pas comme Les Autres is central to the curriculum and reinforces all of the skills. Discussions, written summaries, and vocabulary expansion are successful outcomes of this study. Using authentic documents and websites, they review French geography, study various provinces of France and present a project about about details specific to their respective region choices.  After completing eighth grade French students are well prepared to continue their language studies at the high school level.

  • Mandarin 5

    Mandarin starts from 5th grade in the Middle School of LREI. During the World Language rotation previews, in the seven lessons students experience in Mandarin in each of their splits, based on their interests and curiosities about the Chinese language and culture, their initial Mandarin studies are categorized  into six thematic topics: 1. Chinese numbers and the sound system - Pinyin; 2. Chinese calligraphy and the written system - characters and strokes. 3. Chinese names, schools and learning culture in China. 4. Chinese "Happy Birthday" song and Chinese zodiac animals; 5. traditional Chinese festivals and holidays; 6. how to use chopsticks, food culture and a dumpling recipe. These six topics are also the most important throughout students' Mandarin studies in the Middle School. Through these lessons 5th graders get a general idea on how the language works and how to learn in our Mandarin classes.  Note-taking is an important tool for students to focus and learn in all of these seven lessons. Students also engage in other activities such as math-related Mandarin games, writing characters with a magic drawing slate and watching fun, educational videos (all the links are provided on Connect) in and outside the classroom. From the second trimester on, students start to learn more vocabulary and simple sentences with each of the thematic units.

  • Mandarin 6

    In 6th grade Mandarin, students learn even more vocabulary and basic sentences and dialogues under the umbrellas of thematic units such as fruits/vegetables, colors, world/nationalities/languages, sports, food, etc. Skits, interviews, projects and short improvised dialogues usually are the activities in class. This is the year when students transition to learning about simple Chinese grammar. Also, students’ rise from word level to sentence/short dialogue level in 6th grade. Students learn more about the Chinese culture through calligraphy around the Lunar New Year, learning Tai Chi in the unit of sports and exploring a little bit of the unique food culture in China during this year.

  • Mandarin 7

    In 7th grade Mandarin, students learn primarily Chinese grammar, sentence structures and tenses. Writing is this year’s main goal. In each of the different topical units, students learn more and more grammatical usages and apply them to their compositions, skits and movie scripts . All kinds of writing projects usually are a big part of students' studies this year. Through learning grammar, students understand the target language better. It also helps learners to obtain better skills in listening and speaking.

  • Mandarin 8

    In 8th grade Mandarin, students review the old and learn the new. Thematic presentations are the main goal of this year. Students also take a trip to China in the spring of 8th grade, The thematic units this year include some very practical skills such as buying/bargaining, Chinese cuisine, food culture, cooking and travel. Students also engage in a Mandarin teach-in project in which students choose and learn the topics they're interested in and teach a unit (for a week) to their peers.

  • Spanish 5

    The fifth grade Spanish class reinforces the introductory material students learned in the Lower School. Students learn vocabulary and basic grammatical structures through songs, art projects, worksheets and the Exprésate text and workbook. They are taught regular present tense verb conjugation.  This allows them to talk about themselves, talk to a friend and speak for the group. Lessons are reinforced with cultural activities, singing and playing games.

  • Spanish 6

    Sixth grade Spanish is more formal. Students review basic phrases and concepts and continue formal present tense verb conjugation, sentence structure and more difficult grammatical concepts. They also create and perform dialogues. Classes use a variety of pedagogical approaches, including Total Physical Response (TPR) to teach vocabulary and a range of other concepts. They research and present information about Cuba and Mexico.

  • Spanish 7

    In Spanish, seventh graders master the present tense of all regular and irregular verbs, and learn enough grammar to write increasingly complex sentences. They are introduced to the past (preterite) tense for regular and irregular verbs. Students perfect their skills with written and oral dialogues and dramatizations. They do several researched presentations about Central and South America.

  • Spanish 8

    In eighth grade Spanish, students review the present tense, continue study of the preterite and learn the imperfect tense. They learn new vocabulary in Cuentos Simpáticos to enhance communication with the teacher and other students. In addition to story tests, eighth graders also write essays and dialogues. After completing eighth grade Spanish, students are well prepared to continue their language studies at the high school level.

Faculty

  • Photo of Sharyn Hahn
    Sharyn Hahn
    Middle School French Teacher
    212-477-5316, ext. 365
    Bio
  • Photo of Janet Li
    Janet Li
    Middle School Mandarin Teacher
    Bio
  • Mary Katherine Prehn
Little Red School House
and Elisabeth Irwin High School

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