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!
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
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.
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
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/
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!
Here is the Read Write Think Venn Diagram Template
