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Mandarin III
- Global Languages
Mandarin III is an upper-intermediate language course that prepares students to develop their competency towards an advanced level. After studying Chinese in Mandarin IA, IB, and II at IMS or equivalent, the students will continue to develop their language skills on the following topics: online shopping, family gatherings, social and festival events, nature and environmental protection, sickness and healthcare, tourism, and exploring Chinese Culture. The students are expected to have learned approximately 1000 characters in total upon completion of the upper-intermediate level. The students will be able to express themselves, share points of view in discussions, and communicate in paragraph-length conversations on familiar topics as well as some new social and academic topics.
Spanish II
- Global Languages
Spanish II is a second-year Spanish course that follows the successful completion of Spanish 1A and 1B. As a high school level course, the pace is necessarily rigorous. The emphasis is on solidifying the foundational concepts taught in the Level I course, while building the student’s mastery through the study of advanced verb tenses. This class is taught primarily in the target language and students are expected to participate only in Spanish. Skills that emphasize reading, writing, listening, and speaking are woven into every lesson. Cultural studies include the history of Mexico, the diversity found in different regions of the Spanish-speaking world, and the culinary contribution of Spanish and Latin American kitchens to the world palate. Upon successful completion of Spanish II, student are prepared to advance to Level III at IMS or in secondary school.
Spanish III
- Global Languages
Spanish III is a third-year Spanish course that follows the successful completion of Spanish II. The curriculum follows a standard high school level Spanish III course, and for this reason is taught entirely in Spanish. During the fall term, a thorough review of the advanced verb tenses learned in Spanish 2 help to set up the student for their active participation in class discussions. Students are evaluated on their ability to incorporate the comprehensive grammar learned during the previous year into meaningful conversations spanning a variety of sources. Listening and speaking exercises are a major part of the course, as is the written analysis of the selected reading. Authentic sources from around the Spanish-speaking world, including news articles, poetry and short stories, are employed to help students strengthen and internalize more deeply their knowledge of grammar and idiomatic structures in Spanish.
Mandarin IB
- Global Languages
Mandarin IB is an elementary language course for beginners. After learning Chinese in Mandarin IA at IMS or equivalent, the students will continue to develop their language skills on the following topics at the novice-high level: colors, clothing, friends, sports, pets, languages, shopping, routines of a day and ongoing actions, weather, directions, and trips. Approximately 250 new characters will be learned in the course. The learners are expected to have learned approximately 500 characters in total upon course completion. The students will be able to use complete sentences, hold simple conversations about everyday topics, as well as ask and answer questions on familiar topics.
Latin IB
- Global Languages
Latin IB, the second half of the two-year program, begins with a thorough review of the material covered in IA. Once the class has demonstrated a solid understanding of the basics, the course moves on to more difficult concepts, including the passive voice, demonstrative pronouns, adjectives, and participles. Passage translation becomes more prevalent, and more emphasis is placed on reading involving Roman mythology and history like in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Latin IB also studies a Roman author that each student gets to choose, research and even pretend to be. The class ends the year by creating their own Roman frescoes out of plaster and chalk. The successful completion of the two-year course earns credit for Latin 1 at the secondary school level.
Spanish IA
- Global Languages
Spanish 1A is an introductory course and the rough equivalent to the first half of Level 1 Spanish in high school. The class begins with verbal practice in greetings, introductions and to introduce rules for pronunciation. Throughout the year this course covers foundational rules of grammar primarily in the present tense. Lessons related to school, food, family and daily activities help build a foundation in basic vocabulary. Daily activities include all four modalities: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Class participation is encourage through verbal exercises. A variety of cultural units are studied in order to bring a relevance to the student as they explore the richness in the lives of the people of Latin America and Spain. Successful completion of this course advances the student to the next level, Spanish 1B.
Mandarin IA
- Global Languages
Mandarin IA is a basic introductory language course. The course begins with an introduction of the phonetic and writing systems of Mandarin. This includes consonants, vowels, tones, the logic used in the creation of Chinese characters, the movements of writing strokes, and the rules of stroke order. Students will be able to hold conversations on the following topics at the novice-low to novice-mid level: greeting, introduction, age, nationality, school, grade, family members, address, days of a week, current date, favorite food, and ordering in a restaurant. The vocabulary learned in the course is approximately 300 characters.
Fifth Latin
- Global Languages
Latin 5 is a full year Latin course for the 5th grade. The course uses the text Minimus in its exploration of the Latin language, Roman culture, daily life, and mythology. Connections between English and Latin are stressed within the course through Latin derivation of English vocabulary and similarities between English and Latin grammar. The course aims for a cursory introduction to the Latin language through the study of a family living in the village of Vindolanda, situated in Roman Britain along Hadrian’s wall. The book is supported by primary archaeological sources as evidence of the life and communications of people living in this settlement.
Spanish IB
- Global Languages
Spanish 1B is a continuation of introductory course and is the rough equivalent to the second half of Level 1 Spanish in high school. The class begins with a thorough review of the present tense and related grammar units, reinforcing the foundation that was begun in Spanish 1A. Vocabulary lessons related to ordinal numbers, places in town, superlatives and comparatives, and reflexive verbs add to the strength of this foundation. Being about to speak about events in the past as well as to respond to instructions are key components to the Spanish 1B curriculum. For this reason, the major units studied at this level concentrate on the preterit (past) tense and the imperative verb tense. Daily activities stress all four modalities: speaking, listening, reading and writing. The cultural units studied in Spanish 1B will vary, depending on the specialization of the teacher. In the past, topics have included peninsular cuisine, pre-Colombian history, and how to bargain in the marketplace. These lessons help bring relevance to the student as they explore the richness in the lives of the people of Latin America and Spain. Successful completion of this course advances the student to the next level, Spanish 2.
Latin IA
- Global Languages
Latin 1A is the first half of a traditional high school first year Latin course taught over two years. Latin 1A stresses vocabulary acquisition, a working knowledge of inflection, basic grammar, and syntax and translation skills. Topics on Roman society are discussed, especially the impact of Latin language and culture upon our society. By the end of the first year, the class has studied four conjugations of verbs in all six tenses of the active voice, five declensions of nouns, adjectives, and the uses of all six cases.