Farewell 2016!

December 7 agenda 3:30-4:30 pm

Esther's room- off of MS square

Tricia- Service Learning (5 minutes)

Emily- ACTFL share (5 Minutes )

Action plan update (15 Minutes )

Accommodations list- brainstorm (20 Minutes)

US Course Feedback Form (10 Minutes)

Winners of the photo contest!

Thanks to Antonietta and Carolina for their entries!  Prizes given out at the meeting!

Carolina:

Look dad, I know you've told me to grin and bear it, but I just want to curl up in a hole and sleep through the next few months. 

Antonietta:
What do you mean you want to take a foray into the foray? Oh! Into the forêt! I forgot you were taking French lessons!

NECTFL 2017 Conference

Strengthening World Language Education: Standards for Success

New York, February 9-11

http://www.nectfl.org/

Proposed IS names

IS language classes will have new names in Veracross for the 17-18 school year.  The change has come about due to cross over students and transcripts.  The names of the classes need to describe what is being offered in each class.

7th- Spanish, French, Chinese and Latin 1, part 1

8th- Spanish, French, Chinese and Latin 1, part 2

Spanish advanced class:

7th- Spanish 1a (as it does go alongside what the a distinction means in the US)

8th- Spanish 2

Governors school candidates

Thanks to all who replied with candidates names for this summers Virginia Language Academies.  Here are our candidates:
Spanish: Jolie Zhang (yet to be accepted)
French: Tracey Mills
Latin: Tyler Sanok

Please know that these students will be requesting a letter of recommendation from their language teachers.

Abroad updates

IS trips are offered in each language for Spring Break. Countries to be visited are Italy, France and Spain.
We are also excited that Chinese and French are planning on a June program. Countries to be visited are China and Canada.
SYA has come to visit and we are going through the particulars to become a member school. We have two interested US students for next year. Stay tuned.

WL waivers

There are possible waivers in every division.  Each division is a bit different and a waiver is harder and harder to get.

MS- Waivers are granted with documented testing.  During this time, students work with specialist to further
their English language skills in the hopes that they can join their peers in IS language classes.

IS- All students are to take language classes in 7th grade.  Again, with documented testing, some students are able to waiver their 8th grade year.  At this time, it is more of a red flag as students have a longer more rigorous language requirement in the US.

US- Students in the US are to complete 3 years of consecutive language study.  With documented testing and proof of poor performance, students may receive a waiver for their third year of study.  They are able to begin in a level 1 and complete two consecutive years. These cases are seen as rare and they are upon a case by case basis.

Placement updates

We are in the process of reviewing what we use for our placement exams in Spanish.  We are looking to use a common placement like a final exam.  Chinese uses a common assessment for placement as they use midterm and final exams.  We are also looking at the placement rubric for student interviews.
There will no longer be a World Language form in the admissions folders.  In April, a database with the admissions team will be made to go through the files.
Information to be gathered for this database is:
New Students to IS/US
Language taken, for how long
Grades in course
Language level
School name

IS Happenings

Sra. Page’s 7th grade Spanish class in collaboration with Ms. Ashley engaged in a really interesting and pretty cool project.  They created scripts and videoed their weather forecasts in front of green screens.  

 

Premiere of videos will be in the  

                       IS Commons soon!

Something like Google Hangouts

While Google Hangouts can be good for US students (see Daniel to help you if you are interested), the younger IS students need to use something else as they are not ready.  In fact, many other chat apps require students to be 13 years of age.  I am glad that your Spanish text enables that feature.

I did find an app that is both Windows and Mac compatible, and it also has an iPhone app:

https://itunes.apple.com/app/trillian/id412056820?mt=12.  I signed up for an account if you want to try it out.  My username is Mrs_Ashley.

Venn Diagrams on Tech

Read Write Think has an easy Venn Diagram to use as a tool in any language.  Nice vocabulary idea or a way to compare just about anything! 

Click for an example for Dia de Los Muertos and Halloween Venn Diagram

Here is the Read Write Think Venn Diagram Template

Ways to Close a Lesson

Reflect, debrief, relax ...  Click on 5 Ways to close a lesson. 

We are SMART!

Review the definition and how to set SMART goals with this SMART video

November Department Meeting Agenda:

Wednesday, November 9th 3:30-4:30
Christine and Emily's room, IS room 186

Daniel- hangout share

Diana- Vista- share

Carolina-famous person share

Announcements/shares? (subs/national exams)

Review goals doc- SMART

separate into teams- two goals to hand in

Thanks to all for a great collaborative round of comment writing and conferences!!

Infographics: try something new?

What are infographics again? Infographics are visually simplified representations of complex data, aiming to engage interests, and deliver an easily understandable message. Imagine a simple photo communicating a thousand words to a person (now that is a good metaphor for infographics!). You might be thinking of using infographics as a visual aid to let your students digest your lesson. But there is a lot more you can get out of using infographics.

Ways to use Infographics in class

French Infographics

Spanish Infogrpahics

Chinese Infographics

Latin Infographics

Create your own! Piktochart   or Easel.ly

China Town Hall Wrap Up: Paw Prints

CHINA TOWN HALL DELIGHTS GUESTS IS and US students and parents enjoyed participating in Tuesday's China Town Hall event, hosted by Potomac's World Languages Department. The group had the opportunity to join an interactive webcast featuring former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; they also listened to a presentation by David Shambaugh, author of the book China's Future and the parent of two Potomac alumni.

Clubs:

Happenings around the IS...       

GRACIAS!!! We had a great showing for the first Spanish table at lunch.  It is an open membership club.  It is for all IS students.  Bring a friend or two and grab a seat. We plan on meeting again on November 17th. Put it on your calendarios!

Don't laugh too much at the picture of me!!

US Service Days Coverage (electronic link)

Thanks to Antonietta and Tory, we have a majority of class coverage worked out for the service days. Please click on the LINK to see coverage details.

Building Bridges: LS Buddy classes

We are almost ready to begin our lessons in Lower School library times. Thanks in advance to Giovanna, Daniel, Carolina, Kabahita, Cindy, Brigitte, Emily, Ingrid, Jason and Sara for coordinating students and class times in this effort!
Please review the document where your class times overlap with the Lower School library times. Once you are set, PLEASE send Michelle O'Hara an email about when you are coming at mohara@potomacschool.org

Kindergarten- Spanish
Grade 1- French
Grade 2- Chinese
Grade 3- Latin

Grades 4,5 and 6 are yet to be scheduled.  If you are interested, please talk to Esther Yu or myself directly.  We are happy to give other languages "air time" during our language class periods.

Field Trips/Speakers

Field trips are great to motivate and incorporate culture.  Sometimes it can be difficult to organize trips, especially with large group numbers! Bringing in a speaker is great too! Check out some resources to get ideas!

Gala Theater

Chinatown Community Cultural Center

French Cinema

National Building Museum

Submissions: 

Last school year, we were really great about posting our good news in language classes.  Please post pictures and classroom happening in Paw Prints. Let's make it a goal again to see one of our languages highlighted weekly!

Last school year we also were invited by Phoebus, the Upper School magazine to feature poems or essays in different languages.  Please consider doing this as a class activity.  It would be great to see Phoebus as a multilingual publication.

IS Language Exam dates

May 25 and 26th- one day for oral and one day for written testing

What is a global citizen? How do we achieve it? Who is doing it? Check out these three viewpoints:

High School as a starting point to global citizenship, GEBG Envoys and Holton-Arms global education model: Click on the links to read more.

1.

Why high school students need to become global citizens

The Sociable 
There is increasing concern in educational circles that American students are not ready to compete on a global level. At the same time, the global economy is growing in power, and youngsters from other parts of the worlds are learning foreign languages, taking part in international study abroad schemes, and foreign internship programs, much more than students from the U.S. However, while living and studying abroad is undoubtedly important in breaking down cultural barriers and teaching young people to adapt to foreign languages and customs, some argue that even studying abroad for one year during college is "too little too late" for developing a global mindset.  READ MORE 

2. GEBG Envoys

The GEBG places great value on offering collaborative travel programs for students and faculty from member schools. The collaborative model brings together students from different schools to work together before, during, and after the travel experience. A set of foundational online courses establishes a common knowledge base, after which teams of students collaborate to conduct their own research and educate the group. Teachers from member schools have opportunities to integrate the program themes and content into their classroom curriculum and make alterations to program elements to best fit the enrolled students.

These programs epitomize the quality of programs GEBG members desire to offer their students—including extensive pre-departure preparation, student collaboration, and itineraries that will students to understand the complexity of development and take action in the global arena. GEBG Faculty Program Coordinators will co-lead the travel program and assist with coordinating the pre and post travel curriculum.

3. Holton Arms Global Education
Holton’s Global Education curriculum prepares students to become agents of positive change locally, nationally, and globally. Across all three divisions, the School creates opportunities inside and outside the classroom for students to explore the world, deepen their understanding of world issues, recognize multiple perspectives, and discover their potential to impact their local communities and beyond. 

In 2014, Holton established the Global Scholars Honors Designation to recognize graduating students who: STUDIED four-years of Upper School Chinese, French, Latin, or Spanish COMPLETED the interdisciplinary Global Issues and Perspectives Class JOURNEYED to China, India, or Peru in their junior year CONDUCTED a four-week senior project focused on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals As a result of making global education an institutional priority, thinking globally is what we do at Holton. Our students graduate with greater intellectual curiosity and self-knowledge which positively impacts their worldview and inspires leadership in the future. 

Photo Caption Contest:

POST ON THE BLOG a caption for this picture! There will be a prize for the best one!! 

Happy World Teachers day! October 5th Let's celebrate with a meeting!

To Learn more click here

October 5th meeting agenda

(US Cindy’s room- E219)

• Welcome new teachers
• Share something going well in your classes
• General announcements
• Copies of philosophy/outcomes
• Departmental goals by languages- What do we want to look like in 5 years?

Odds and Ends:
Parent/Teacher Conferences
US: Friday October 7th
MS/IS Thursday and Friday November 3 and 4

Building Bridges with LS, continues
Michelle O'Hara is the new LS librarian.  Some of you may remember her as an alum and even her mother who also worked in the Lower School library.  She is helping us coordinate the language buddies initiative.  Stay tuned as we will be reaching out to teachers (and their students) to share their language of study with a LS class.
The way it works is that one of your language classes (students) prepare a 30 minute lesson on a language theme (numbers, colors, weather, animals, etc.) We will coordinate with a LS library time for your group to come down to the Lower School library and share the lesson with a LS class. There are many benefits to all the children involved and it gives our Lower School children a chance to interact with a world language during their school day.  We only ask that you commit one of your classes for one 30 minute time and I will reach out to you if your class coincides with a LS library time.  Through our budget we are able to purchase children's books in the target language or a possible resource you or your students may need.  Check out Pinterest and  Teachers Pay Teachers for lots of ideas!

Language related Clubs

MS- Heritage Speaker lunch club (bimonthly)

IS- possible language lunch tables in the dining room (monthly)

US- A.S.I.A. , Chinese Culture Club, Latinos Unidos 
Phoebus magazine accepts essays and writings in other languages

Honor Code and Core values- 

put them up!
I have seen many of you put up the core values in your languages, great! Next thing for us to think about is the school honor code.  Remember that students get their first grades here at Potomac as they finish their 6th grade year.  The beginning of grade anxiety and habits that are less than truthful can begin in IS.  Let's make sure we give students the opportunity to think about their actions.  Here are some honor statement samples for both homework and tests and the full US Code of Conduct.  

Sample honor statements

Upper School Standards of Conduct

Thanks Carolina for cleaning the US Language Office fridge!

No October birthdays

GET THE FACTS ON THE GRADE 8 LANGUAGE TRIPS

Eighth grade parents are invited to a question-and-answer session with IS language teachers about the Spring Break trips to France, Italy, and Spain. The meeting will take place on Thursday, October 13, at 7:00 pmin the IS Commons. Light refreshments will be served.

SYA visit 
Be on the lookout for Uchenna Ezibe the representative from Student Year Abroad who will be visiting on October 11th from 11:30-1:30.  She will briefly speak with students in some classes during D, E and F blocks that day. (TBD)  SYA is mostly interested in talking with classes that have sophomores. We will also set up a place (TBD) where students not in those blocks that are interested can speak with her.  If you do not know about SYA, click HERE. SYA is offered in each language we teach at Potomac.

CHINA TOWN HALL TO FEATURE HENRY KISSINGER 
As part of the national “China Town Hall” event, the Chinese Department is hosting a gathering in the Tiered Classroom on October 18th from 7 to 9 pm. The first part of the evening will feature Ingrid's husband, David Shambaugh, a China specialist and author of the book China's Future. IS and US students and parents  are encouraged to stop by to view a live webcast featuring Henry Kissinger, who formerly served as national security advisor and secretary of state.  Although this event is related to Chinese, it really has impact on world politics, current events and international relations.

Mixed ability groups- Many of us face mixed ability groups in every class.  Click and see an article that can give you tips for dealing with varied abilities in your classes.

Abroad Experiences, Let me count the ways

Virtual in class: Global Nomads Group, YFU Virtual Exchange, Epals, MIXXER, My Language Exchange,7 more sites for virtual exchange  Use these resources to try and connect to other classrooms or talk about world issues in the target language

Potomac sponsored short term programs: customized programs in each language with Potomac chaperones from one of our vetted vendors

SYA- junior year abroad in all 4 languages (our GPAC, SERC, VPAC)

List of quality immersion programs that students can use themselves: updated yearly   Potomac School List- found on Campusnet under summer opportunities

Let’s have a bright year!

Now with students!

Grade book Options

2016 - 2017
Jenny Ashley, innovation coach, put out a doc to help us navigate our grading options.  The Engrade app will no longer be a free app and this document gives us some alternatives.
grade book options



NORMS of ACCEPTABLE USE of RESOURCES in WORLD LANGUAGES September 2016
The above document is to be used when you hand out your course description and syllabus. Thanks to Tracy Jaeger for providing this for us. The IS uses a modified document with similar information.  Please submit your syllabus to me either electronically or in my mailbox by the end of the first week of classes. Thanks!

Accents (Thanks Tricia!):
To get accents on the Mac, hold down the Option key, and while holding it down, type the letter e; then release those keys and type the letter that you want the accent to appear on: á = Opt + e, then a. é = Opt + e, then e. í = Opt + e, then i.

If you are not a member already, you should become a member of ACTFL through the school and with the membership you receive the Language Educator magazine that has lots of ideas and resources.  Click on some sample articles.

Start Planning Your Travel For ACTFL 2016! Boston Nov. 18-10, 2016

Parent Nights

Middle School-  September 13

Intermediate School- September 20

Upper School- September 15th

Talk to me or your language team to help you with your presentation. I'm sure the parents will love you!

Paw Prints

Keep the good news coming!

Last year we did a great job of including our World Language highlights in the school's parent publication, Paw Prints. Please remember to submit your news to the division administrative assistant before Thursdays of each week.

Mailboxes!

Hi all! I will make my rounds but if you need to drop something off to me you are welcome to use one of my three mailboxes.  I have mailboxes in the MS, IS and US mailrooms. You can also come by my classroom in the IS, room 184 or drop by my desk in the US language office.

October 5th- First K-12 department meeting

Be on the lookout!  We will be meeting in different ways this year- as language teams, division departments and as a whole group.  If you have an agenda item during the year please either email me or post it on the blog.  Also, if you have a blog article or item to share, again you can email me or post in the comments section.

Thanks!

2016-17 Happy New Year!!

Welcome back to the new school year.  For our beginning department meeting next week, on Tuesday from 1 to 3 pm, we will be meeting in departments by divisions.  We hope that these smaller meetings give you time to talk about curriculum and planning for the school year ahead. I will be checking in with you all in the MS, IS and US during that time.  As was said prior, Spanish teachers grades 6-11 will meet in the US Language office to discuss new text coordination. Chinese, French and Latin, please use the time in your divisions to co-plan with your colleagues, especially the new faculty.

Class Assignments- Take a look at our fabulous department and what each one of us will be teaching this year!

New Faculty- We welcome our new and returning faculty members! Make sure you say hi!

Spanish-
Esther Yu
Giovanna Bello
Allison Kirsch

Latin- Dick Lillis

Chinese- Emily Liu

View the Year at a Glance calendar 

Many of us use the online plan book website.  Let me know if you are interested in signing up!

Planbook

Here is the link for last year's department meeting minutes

Spanish and French VHL Supersite link: You can review the tutorials here.  We still are in the process of scheduling another training session for this fall.

Icebreaker for the first day of classes in the target language
First Day Jenga!

What are your Individual Goals for this year and Professional Conferences?

ACTFL 2016 Boston November 16-20 (Let's send a team of teachers!)

Global Gatherings: Holton Arms School September 30-Oct. 1

2016-17 WL Year Long Initiatives: 

• Collaboration theme: What is our marshmallow?

• Building Bridges with LS/MS
• Spanish Descubre Text
• IS French DÁccord text pilot and general text review
• US Study Abroad 
• Input on the blog either in comments or articles

Summer stories for comments:

Share a sentence about your summer that we can ask you about!
Post in the comments section- c'mon!

June- the finish line

Professional Development week and the Department

Monday- 

8:15 - 11:30am Spanish and French with Vista Higher Learning representative Cheryl Kincaid

Location: Upper School Tracy Jaeger's classroom (Upper School, room E223)

• please bring computers 
• any Descubre, DÁccord materials you have 
• Please make sure you can login ahead of the training, use the email with access to the super site has been sent to you
• If you have trouble with your login, you  can call Instructor Only Tech Support: 800.922.6003 Mention that you were granted access and have trouble accessing you account

11:30-12:30- Year end department lunch at Evo Bistro in McLean (please carpool)

Thursday- Department meeting 1:00-2:30 (IS room 184) - wrapping up and listing topics for next year

Next Year's Teaching Assignments

CLICK on the link (We still have two pending hires- both part time, one for Latin and one for Chinese)

Next Year Calendar 

CLICK on the link

Take a look at what Vista Higher Learning can offer us:

Vista Higher Learning Textbook Catalog- French, German, Italian, Spanish

SUMMA CUM LAUDE! STUDENTS EXCEL ON NATIONAL LATIN EXAM

Upper School Latin students earned top honors for their performance on the 2016 National Latin Exam, which was taken by more than 140,000 students from all over the world. Of the 44 Potomac students who sat for the test, 21 earned awards of distinction, including freshmen Ellen Oskoui and Carolyn Beaumont (pictured, left to right), both of whom received gold medals and Summa Cum Laude certificates. Carolyn earned a perfect score, a feat achieved by less than 1% of participants.

Meanwhile, junior Ben Lasota earned a silver medal and Maxima Cum Laude certificate for his exam score. Ben was also selected to attend the Governor's School this summer for his success in Latin this year.

As part of a cross-divisional language exercise, 8th graders in Ms. Page’s Spanish class read Spanish books and taught short lessons to 3rd graders in Ms. Edelmann’s class. Also this week, 7th graders in Ms. Jessup’s Chinese class enjoyed a traditional Chinese breakfast of baozi, dumplings, and mantou. FRENCH FUN WITH FIRST GRADERS Recently, 8th grade French students enjoyed teaching 1st graders some foreign language basics. Paired with their Lower School buddies, the 8th graders demonstrated how to introduce themselves and count to ten in French, before saying “au revoir” for the day. This week, juniors in Tricia Crowley's AP Spanish Language and Culture class wrapped up the year with a Fiesta Literaria, where they shared knowledge of the literature they read. Students came dressed as their favorite characters and enjoyed a lunch while discussing major literary themes from the stories they had read, which included works by such authors as Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Márquez. FRENCH STUDENTS EXCEL ON NATIONAL EXAM This week, Upper School French students received the medals they earned for their performance on the Le Grand Concours National French Exam, which was taken this winter by more than 85,000 students nationwide. Of the 51 Potomac students who sat for the test, 38 earned either a gold or a silver medal (scoring in the top 15% or higher nationally), while the other students' scores merited a bronze medal or honorable mention. Tapping into Global Students:  ASSIST  student HOST FAMILY NEEDED FOR EXCHANGE STUDENT We are in the process of identifying an Upper School family who might be interested in hosting rising junior Fangyuan (Abby) Lui, our ASSIST international exchange student for the 2016-17 school year. ASSIST is a nonprofit organization that identifies highly qualified international students to place in independent schools in the United States. We are seeking a generous Potomac family to host this young woman (preferably a family with a rising junior, though this is not a requirement). Thanks for a great school year and see you in August!  Look for a get together to kick off the new school year! Looking forward to even more COLLABORATION!!

Get outside- good weather (is coming!)= fun and learning outside

Get outside- good weather= fun and learning outside

Ideas here: Simple dreams in education

Department Meeting May 17th

Lower School Room 130- 

3:30-4:30
Goodbyes, Birthdays, Subbie awards and 

Abroad Program Possible Vendors: YFU and Jumpstreet
PLEASE READ OVER- Potomac Abroad Programs Mission (draft)

World Language Department Award

This year the department award goes to Aylar Banafshe!

Congrats to all! AP exams are over!

Governor's School

Congrats to Ben Lasota who will be attending the Latin school this summer.

Upcoming June Training on the Supersite (Vista Higher Learning)

Monday, June 13th

Location TBA

All Spanish and French teachers (Latin and Chinese can come for fun but are able to use the time to update your Atlas Rubicon and review your units to update, change and look to order any resources or materials.)

This is the first of three trainings. The next trainings will be in August and October.

One question to ask is how useful something like the practice partner app may be.  Take a look below:

Practice partner app

8th grade Genius Project to help Spanish teachers with tech

Malachy Dwyer, Dillon Weinburg submitted a website in Spanish about games that teachers can use in their classes.  Click to take a look.

Summer Language Work Options for Students

No one wants to do homework over the summer but our students do need to keep up with their language skills so they are not so rusty in the fall.  Some ways that other teachers have worked through this issue is by offering activities that are independent and motivating.

Once "old-school" non-tech idea is just having our students keep a journal of their summer experiences.  We can collect the journal in the fall and capitalize on the error analysis as a place to begin.

Other teachers have used some tech type options.  Here are some:

Duolingo: is a free language-learning platform that includes a language-learning website and app, as well as a digital language proficiency assessment exam. Duolingo is ad-free and offers all its language courses free of charge. As of April 2016, the language-learning website and app offer 59 different language courses across 23 languages; with 23 additional courses in development. The app is available on iOS, Android and Windows 8 and 10 platforms with over 120 million registered users across the world.

Blogs we curate: HERE is a sample blog from last summer with some video clips and questions. Some of the video clips we can use can be films.  CLICK onthe link to see Summer Learning through film by Edutopia.
Online Courses:Students can continue watching Destinos in Spanish or they can use BBC Languages for an interactive course.
Native Speaker Conversation Apps: Here are a few.  I've not used any but it would be interesting to see which ones we could even carry into our classes in the fall.
Hellotalk
Talkabroad
Wespeke

Research

Teachers Report: OER In; Textbooks Out

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 03/09/16

More teachers said that technology has changed how they approach time management (93 percent) than how they approach instructional delivery (88 percent). It has also transformed how they handle parent communication. A solid 7 in 10 reported that they now use tech to do that. On the instructional front, most teachers apply tech to classroom lecture time (84 percent) and differentiated instruction (74 percent).

Those results came out of a survey of nearly 1,000 American teachers who were contacted in January and February 2016 by TES Global, a company with a teacher community and marketplace. The findings were shared during a panel at SXSWedu taking place this week in Austin, TX.

The survey found that most teachers have enough computers and tablets in the classroom. Just under 3 in 10 respondents (27 percent) said they lacked a sufficient number of those devices. At the same time 4 in 10 (37 percent) noted that they'd still like more of those in their rooms. The next most popular wish list item would be the addition of game-based technology, cited by 25 percent of teachers.

This year far fewer teachers lack the Internet connectivity they want for getting their students online (16 percent) compared to last year (35 percent).

A profusion of tech has also shifted the kinds of educational materials used in the classroom. Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73 percent) said they now use open educational resources more than textbooks.

"We are thrilled to see improvements around access to technology and high-quality open resources," said Rob Grimshaw, chief executive officer of TES Global, who shared the survey findings at the conference. "Arming teachers with the tools they need to succeed is the right way to ensure that innovative technologies can impact student performance."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business for a number of publications. Contact her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.

Learn language and culture through hand gestures

Shared Space- WL Office

A couple teachers tend to leave a student in the language office alone with a quiz or test (they drop the student off and then leave the office). The office is a space for us to use for more private work (printing tests, grading, storing materials and documents, make phone calls), but I also realize we don't always have the tutorial to use for testing. How should we handle students left alone?  Are sensitive materials left out? 
Put your ideas in the comments! 

In the News

FESTIVUS MAXIMUS

Over Spring Break, 23 eighth grade Latin students stepped back in time during a trip to Italy to explore the wonderful attractions of Pompeii, Rome, Sorrento, and Tivoli. Students enjoyed seeing the country's many sites and immersing themselves in Italian culture!

LE VOYAGE EN FRANCE

During their Spring Break trip, IS students didn't just explore the geography, history, and culture of France; they lived it. Over the first half of the eight-day trip, students visited the cities of Nice, Monaco, Nîmes, and Avignon, where they danced on the famous medieval bridge Pont d'Avignon.

A TASTE OF LANGUAGE

On the last two Fridays, the Intermediate School has hosted 6th graders in its foreign language classes. By experiencing lessons in Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish, the younger students have been able to get a sense of what language classes are like in the IS.

STUDENTS EXCEL ON NATIONAL FRENCH EXAM

Upper School French students earned top honors for their performance on the Le Grand Concours National French Exam, which was taken this winter by more than 85,000 students nationwide. Of the 51 Potomac students who sat for the test, 38 earned either a gold or a silver medal (scoring in the top 15% or higher nationally), while the other students' scores merited a bronze medal or honorable mention.

IIE Awards $50,000 to Teachers to Globalize K-12 Classrooms

1,000 Teachers Join Generation Study Abroad, Pledging to Motivate their Students to Study Abroad

http://www.iie.org/Who-We-Are/News-and-Events/Press-Center/Press-Releases/2016/2016-03-01-IIE-AIFS-Foundation-Award-Teachers-Who-Globalize-Classrooms

IIE’s Generation Study Abroad Voices Video Challenge

Submission Deadline: June 15, 2016 | Learn More IIE is pleased to announce, in partnership with The New York Times in Education, the 2016 Generation Study Abroad Voices Video Challenge.  By hearing and seeing study abroad alumni articulate the value of their study abroad experience, we hope to inspire Generation Z and others to seek out an international experience as part of their college education. Study abroad returnees are encouraged to submit digital story submissions between 0:30seconds and 2 minutes long that demonstrate how study abroad gave them an edge, the impact it had on their personal or professional life and the world, and how The New York Times content helped them navigate, enhance or make sense of their experience.  Winners will receive a $1,000 cash prize, an iPad, a trip to the IIE Summit on Generation Study Abroad in Washington D.C., and a video spotlight on The New York Times in Education website. Winners will also be recognized as a Generation Study Abroad Voice.  Check out last year’s winners Alejandro Alba and Christine O’Dea on IIE’s Generation Study Abroad YouTube channel.