Junior World Languages

Philosophy

The teaching of language at The Sage School seeks to remind students about the primary reason behind the development of language: communication.  Language classes at Sage are meant to encourage this communication.  At Sage, we aim not just to have students acquire the knowledge of a language, but to see its applicability to the real world.  Sage seeks both to educate students and to promote students’ enjoyment of and success with foreign language.  We feel that the pleasure gleaned from experiencing success (i.e. “getting it right”), directly results in the further enjoyment of one’s language studies.  Such enjoyment translates into increased commitment to learning, curiosity about the culture, and a greater willingness to speak (i.e. practice and communicate) in the target language. 

Sage students will gain essential communication skills in a language other than English, while at the same time developing a curiosity about, and a respect for, the world and its people.  We aim to create global citizens. 

A typical Sage foreign language class might involve students playing the role of a television weatherman in French, serving imaginary meals to classmates based on a Spanish menu written at home, reading newspaper articles and discussing current world elections, or working together to modify a script to meet the needs of the class. Regardless of the form the lesson takes, some aspects are always consistent. Primarily, students will be called on to utilize past lessons to generate new responses. In short, students at Sage are required to think about the language that they are studying so that they can converse on topics that we have never directly studied. It is not enough to memorize; students must also demonstrate that they understand and can apply concepts in unrelated areas. Students are asked to converse in the target language, generate sentences, and repeat strange grammatical structures until they become second nature. Classes tend to be simultaneously rambunctious and focused!

In The Classroom: The Sage Way

At the Junior level, progress is more moderate as meetings happen twice a week. A typical class will commence with students fielding questions about the weather, themselves or their families and progress into a more formal lesson regarding basic elements of the target language. Repetition and hands-on activities are more essential for this age group and as such, students are frequently generating posters or culturally based hands-on projects. There is often significant discussion about the target culture, as well.

Goals 

• Students will be able to mimic simple words or phrases
• Ability to mimic pronunciation of modeled language
• Ability to apply learned pronunciation rules of the target language to new words
• Ability to retain, recognize, and verbalize vocabulary words that are readily utilized or studied in class
• Ability to retain, recognize, and verbalize short phrases used frequently in class
• Students will comprehend simple questions with frequently used phrases and to answer appropriately in the target language
  • Students at the upper prime level should be able to do basic analysis of these sentences to identify simple patterns
• Ability to recognize, understand, and apply (sometimes with prompting) simple linguistic patterns (ex: gender rules, adjective placement, basic negative constructions)
• Ability to read simple words or short phrases in the target language
• Students will develop a comfort level with hearing and responding to a spoken language that is not native to them
• Students will be able to confidently provide short answers in the target language and build confidence in taking risks with spoken language
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge in verbal formats
• Students will be able to handle the ambiguity of hearing more spoken language, despite not always understanding everything
• Ability to use context clues (in language, gestures, and affect) to decipher words or phrases they may not immediately understand
• Students will develop the ability to actively listen to others (teachers and peers) when they are speaking in the target language
• Active listening requires consciously analyzing language, and especially repeating it to one’s self when it is heard/used.  Some students resist developing this habit of mind, as they are not accustomed to consciously analyzing English when hearing it. 
• Ability to identify and create properly structured questions in the target language
• Ability to hear or read a question and to restructure the words to form an appropriate answer in a complete sentence
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge in both verbal and written formats
• Ability to translate known pronunciation rules into written language (general spelling rules)
• Students will develop an understanding of verb conjugation at an early level in the junior sequence, and will consistently and accurately use simple conjugations accurately at an upper level in the junior sequence. 
• Students will deal with a larger, age-appropriate level of vocabulary
• Ability to comprehend information in the target language in both written and aural formats
• Students will begin to take structured notes in class on new content
• Students will be able to retain and apply information from class discussions; i.e. content that is not always presented on handouts or packets, but is consistently utilized in class by the student and others (importance of active listening)
• Ability to keep track of and manage classroom materials and homework
• Ability to express independent thoughts, relay information, and make requests in the target language
• i.e. mid-sequence and upper-level junior students will use the language for their own devices, not simply responding to instructor’s questions or prompts

Content

The vocabulary, grammar, and culture listed below are general frameworks for content taught at Sage.  Due to the flexible nature of our curriculum, teachers are able to tailor the content to meet the needs and interests of the students in each class, each year.  Not all students will master the more advanced grammar concepts listed during their cycle at Sage, while others may surpass the skills detailed below.  Likewise, the vocabulary taught to students will vary year to year, reflecting the interests of the students and the intent of the instructor.  The details listed below are provided in order to give the reader an overview of a “typical” language learning experience at Sage, though not one that is locked-in.  Due to class activities, some differentiated instruction techniques, and challenging classes, most Sage students have the opportunity to pursue language instruction at a level that suits their learning style.

Assessments

Language teachers at Sage use a variety of assessments based on the level of the students they teach.  For the most part, assessments for Prime level students are made via observations and in-class work or activities.  As students progress through Juniors in into the Middle School, more in-depth and concrete assessments are incorporated.  Teachers have the flexibility to choose the type of assessments that work best in their class, though make a conscious effort to appeal to the varied strengths of their students. 

Below is a list of assessments that are frequently used in the Sage curriculum.
a. Written or verbal quizzes and/or tests
b. Oral exercises and drills
c. Projects (group or individual)
d. Skits
e. Plays
f. Role-plays
g. Oral presentations
h. Visual presentations (displays, multi-media presentations, etc.)
i. Standardized tests (i.e. National French Exam, National Spanish Exam)
j. Writing assignments
k. Games, rhymes, or songs
l. Extemporaneous speaking

Assessments at Sage have a variety of purposes.  Below is a list of their primary goals.
a. To give instructors a clearer understanding of students’ knowledge
b. To provide students with feedback on their progress and expectations
c. To make learning meaningful to students by providing venues for its application
d. To relate content to real-life scenarios or situations
e. To help students appreciate the differences between native and target cultures
f. To encourage students to make associations with their own experiences or native language
g. To encourage risk-taking through speaking in the target language

Standardized Tests 

While standardized tests, such as the National French or Spanish Exams, are not used in assessing students’ term-by-term progress, they are often a part of the language experience at Sage.  This opportunity provides students and teachers with a frame of reference for comparison with learners outside of the Sage community.  Such language contests are presented and administered in such a way as to encourage a supportive and healthy sense of competition among students.   

Assessment Modifications for Sage’s Gifted Population

Sage instructors are always conscious of how to best meet the needs of their gifted students.  With this in mind, we intentionally tweak traditional assessment methods in order to step-up the level of challenge and abstract thinking that students encounter.  Below are some examples of how this is frequently done at Sage:

Assessments may have an emphasis on critical thinking, or higher-order thinking skills (for example, students may be asked to rewrite a fairy tale giving voice to a silent character).

Project details may be more flexible in order to allow students to create or structure projects based on their own interests.

Methodological skills such time-management techniques and research methods are often explored in classes in preparation for assessments.

Students may be asked to engage in interdisciplinary studies (for example, forming a conceptual theme by uniting a specific art movement and French language studies).

Teachers may differentiate assessments by providing options for students in regards to the type of product they create (for example, after a unit on Argentina, some students may opt to create a tourist brochure, while others create and video-tape a TV commercial to demonstrate their knowledge).

Skills

Vocabulary
1. Greetings
2. Useful words and phrases (please, thank you, I don’t understand, etc.)
3. The alphabet
4. Numbers (Primes 0-100; Juniors 0-1000; Middle School 0-1000+)
5. Colors
6. Emotions
7. Classroom and school objects
8. Days of the week
9. Months of the year
10. Formats for dates
11. Weather
12. Time
13. Parts of the body
14. Family
15. Animals
16. Clothing
17. Foods (à meals, place settings, restaurant vocabulary, etc.)
18. Professions
19. Question words
20. The home
21. Things in the city/town (library, market, park, etc.)
22. Transportation
23. Sports
24. Descriptive adjectives
25. Subject pronouns
26. Action verbs
27. Prepositions
28. Adverbs
29. Themes based on student interest
30. Vocabulary related to readings

Grammar
1. Word gender
2. Article gender
3. Singular vs. plural usage of articles
4. Noun and adjective agreement
5. Adjective placement
6. Possession
7. Expression of likes and dislikes
8. Conjugation of regular verbs, present tense
9. Conjugation of irregular verbs: to be, to go, to have, to make, present tense
10.Negative constructions
11.Conjugations of common stem-changing verbs (eà ie, oà ue), present tense
12.Structure of interrogative sentences
13.Personal “a” (Spanish)
14.Commands (regular and irregular)
15.Reflexive verbs
16.Preterite tense
17.Direct/indirect object pronouns
18.Present progressive tense
19.Irregular verbs in the preterite tense
20.Imperfect tense
21.Future tense
22.Present perfect tense
23. Past participles

Culture
1. Identification of countries where the target language is spoken
2. Basic facts about some target language countries
3. Information about culture specific holidays
4. Birthday customs (quinceañeras, saint’s name day celebrations, etc.)
5. Some geographical features of target countries
6. Family life
7. School life
8. Famous or historical figures from target countries
9. Leisure (pastimes or nightlife customs)
10. Important aspects of history in target countries
11. Related current events
12. Art/artists from target countries

Materials

For Primes and Juniors, the majority of classroom materials are generated by the teacher for the specific needs of the relevant group. These tend to include songs, short films and videos, newspaper articles and books.