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Mandarin IA is an introductory course designed to familiarize students with Mandarin Chinese phonetics, writing systems, and basic conversation skills. Students will learn about consonants, vowels, tones, stroke order, and character creation, along with essential vocabulary, approximately 150 characters and 250 words. The course focuses on novice-low to novice-mid level conversations, including greetings, personal information, family, numbers, dates, and experiences related to learning Chinese. Cultural topics such as China’s geography, population, address conventions, and practices related to numbers and names will also be covered.

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 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.

Introduction to Latin is a presentation of the language with two primary goals. First, is to prepare the student for the study of Latin at the secondary school level. In this regard, the student is exposed to basic concepts of acquiring a second language such as vocabulary acquisition, word declentions, verb conjugation and a working knowledge of inflection. Intro to Latin stresses basic grammar, syntax and translation skills. The second goal of the course is to support students in general language acquisition, drawing the important connections between English and its Latin roots. Instruction is geared towards students with a variety of learning styles. Topics on Roman society are discussed, especially the impact of the language, as well as the history of Roman culture upon our society. By the end of this ninth grade class, students should be prepared to begin the study of Latin in high school.

Mandarin II is an intermediate course for students who have completed Mandarin IA and IB or have equivalent experience. The course focuses on topics such as travel, shopping, health, and Chinese songs, poems, and customs. Students will learn approximately 180 new characters, aiming to master around 500 characters and recognize up to 1200 words by the end of the course. They will practice using sentences and engage in conversations, presentations, and short social interactions on familiar topics. Cultural knowledge will include famous Chinese sayings, color symbolism, Chinese Zodiac signs, and discussions about Chinese culture in Mandarin.

Advanced Chinese is mainly designed to advance heritage learners’ reading and writing skills. It also helps students to polish their pronunciation in the standard dialect of Chinese. The course aims to develop heritage learners’ reading and writing proficiency to be as fluent as their listening and speaking level. The course also coaches students to gradually be independent learners in their Chinese studies through the method of “read, reflect, and write”. The selection of the content is based on students’ background, interests, and needs. Moreover, one of the goals is to guide heritage learners as they seek out their cultural roots and deepen their personal, cultural experience in China.

Added for Historic Transcripts Only

Added for Historic Transcripts Only