Middle School Foreign Language Exploration

The key concepts for Language Exploration are:

• Learn about how words are “built” using affixes and explore our native language to become more familiar with this concept for use as we move to other languages
• Understand the structure of different languages (e.g. Does this language use articles?)
• Become familiar with basic introductory phrases
• Gain exposure to differences in the written language
• Practice pronouncing different languages to gain a feel of mouth movement
• Learn about the difficulties and benefits of learning each language in terms of amount of time to proficiency and programs available to students who speak different languages

Minimum content covered in the course include:

• Greek and Latin word roots
• Explore some of languages deemed easiest to learn by native English speakers by the US Government’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI): Spanish, French & Italian
• Explore German (deemed the second easiest level for English speakers)
• Explore at least 2 of the 4 languages (Russian, Hindi, Chinese and Arabic) that are the hardest for English speakers to learn.  We hope to explore all 4.  These were chosen based on US Dept of State’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) – which is a program that helps ensure “Americans have the linguistic skills and cultural knowledge necessary to effectively communicate.” NSLI-Y offers virtual and in-person study abroad options to students who gain fluency in one of the languages represented by the program.

Additional content may be covered depending on the pace of student learning and the direction their discovery moves.

All supplies are provided.

Additionally, students will need technical ability to access Zoom, Nearpod.com, Discovery Education Streaming, Study.com and Canvas (our learning management system).

At home, students may want to access to the internet (home or library) to look up information, related published materials and/or videos and do work through our class learning management system.  Some videos will be subscription-based and issued by illuminat-ED (all students will have accounts for Discovery Streaming and Study.com for additional video support).  Some videos will be freely available.

Live class time will be used to explore a new area of the language/topic area of focus.  Sometimes this will include a guest speaker that speaks the language in question to help with pronunciation, understanding usage, or to guide students in interpreting the written language.

Homework for this class is optional and will determine how much learning your student gains from the course.  During weeks that student learn new words or language, practicing newly acquired language would happen daily for at least 10-15 minutes.  During weeks that we are learning about the written language, there may be a little more time to practice these things. We may also include suggestions for videos in other languages that they (or you!) may want to watch between classes to get a sense of the unique “melody” of the language.

To be fair, when a child’s interest is sparked by a language, we find that they dive into it with passion!  But there is no required amount of time for homework.

Additionally, parents may or may not participate in potential field trips related to the course content, but this is not required as these trips would not be during class time and family schedules vary.

This is a tween-oriented course that will require some focus as we are learning about a new language.  Students aged 11+ should be able to participate meaningfully in a group activity without disruption.

Students will also regularly be on point to repeat words in a foreign language in front of a group.  Shy students will not be bullied into participating by any means; but if your student does not have a habit of “warming up” after getting to know a group–this may not be a comfortable setting for them.  The culture of our organization does not allow for mocking of other students and embracing failure as a growing process.