Prime World Languages

 "Sage Habla Espanol"

Beginning in the 2009-2010 school year, Sage will be offering Spanish instruction to all students.  By focusing on simply one language in modern language classes, The Sage School will be better able to meet the needs of its academically gifted learners, as well as more closely adhere to our core vales. Offering one foreign language allows us to create a community of language learners, enhance academic rigor, enrich depth and flexibility of content, and increase flexibility of pacing and grouping. 

What this means is that learning Spanish as a second language will become an integral part of the Sage experience, or la experiencia Sage.  Our initiative to incorporate Spanish language and culture into the whole-school community is off and running and has numerous possibilities! 

Here is a snapshot of things to come this year:

• An in-house, whole school bilingual presentation of a Zapotec legend from Mexico
  
• A “Caught Using Spanish” program involving teachers and students
  
• Classroom teachers sitting in on Spanish classes with students in an effort to improve their own language skills
  
• After-school leisure activities centered around Spanish language or heritage
  
• Cross-disciplinary lessons, infusing culture and heritage into students’ non-language classes (examples: Latino civil rights movement studies in Humanities, choreography of José Limón in Dance and Movement, etc.) 
  
• Student-written articles or puzzles in the Junior Newspaper, in Spanish or centering around Hispanic themes

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. 

In The Classroom: The Sage Way

For Primes, foreign language is primarily about creating awareness of the language, generating interest and allowing the kids to feel satisfaction from learning. Classes tend to move quickly between activities, which on any given day might include a song and dance, a story, or simply learning important terms and phrases.

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

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.