Foreign Language

Philosophy

The foreign language department is aimed to provide students to function in Spanish and French cultures in order to use the languages for a lifetime. In a current global society, it is important to master more than one language, knowledge and skills for general world communication and better understanding of these two major cultures.

Essential Agreements

1. Students from 5th to 12th will be engaged in writing process assignments a minimum of once per week.
2. Students in 3rd and 4th will be engaged in writing process assignments every two weeks.
3. Students in 4th and 5th grade will be engaged in activities related to real life situations throughout the year.
4. Students from 6th to 10th will complete an investigation and presentation at least once per quarter.
5. Students from 3rd to 10th will be engaged in 6+1 activities in order for teachers to observe their writing performance.
6. Students from 5th to 10th will read a book of their own choice and turn in a report once per semester.
7. Students will be assessed weekly with a short quiz and with a test every two or three weeks from 2nd to 10th grade.
8. Students will be engaged in oral activities in order to enrich their vocabulary and their listening comprehension skills through realia (news broadcast, movies, magazines, songs, etc.).
9. Students from 4th to 10th grade will be engaged in the study of historical events of Venezuela in order to understand that specific individuals and ideas had a great impact in history.
10. Students from 4th to 11th grade will be engaged in the study of geographical aspects of Venezuela in order to understand climate, political division, and economics, among others.
11. Students from 6th to 9th will be involved in research on at least two universal literary authors per year.
12. Students in 10th grade will be involved in research on several Latin American authors per year.
13. Students from 5th to 12th will be required to write an amount of words in a written assignment:
    • 11th and 12th grades

    A1 (WLW from 1000 to 1500 words)

    A2 (Written Tasks from 1000 to 1500 words)

    A1 and A2 (Paper 1 and Paper 2 from 800 to 1000)

    B and ab initio (French SL) from 150 to 250 words

    • 10th grade from 900 to 1000 words
    • 9th grade 800 words
    • 8th grade 700 words
    • 7th grade 600 words
    • 6th grade 500 words
    • 5th grade 400 words
14. Students from 5th to 12th grade will be required to apply in their written assignments a standard format that includes the following:
    • Indent
    • Justified margins
    • Heading (type of work, word count and title of the assignment)
    • Double line spacing.
    • Font size 12, times new roman.
    • Foot notes/citation.
15. Students from 6th to 10th will be graded as follow:
    • Homework 10%
    • Classwork 20%
    • Exams 20%
    • Quizzes 15%
    • Project 25%
    • Effort/participation/discipline 10%
16. Late work policy:
    MS
    
    • Minus 10% per calendar day for three days. After the fourth day, the student will receive a 0%
    HS
    • Minus 30% the first day
    • Minus 20% the second day
    • 0% thereafter