Foreign Language

FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

The Weiss School Foreign Language Center of Excellence provides gifted students with comprehensive educational experiences in the foreign languages of Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. The objectives of the Foreign Language Center of Excellence are to 1) Equip Weiss School students with the skills and cultural experiences to be successful in the 21st century global workforce, 2) Develop enhanced respect and awareness for other cultures, and 3) Provide authentic learning experiences. The Foreign Language Center of Excellence provides instruction in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese during the normal school day and French through the Extended Day Program. Foreign language classes at The Weiss School have a low student to teacher ratio and immersive classes are scheduled according to the differentiated proficiency levels of students. A diverse faculty, which includes a North Palm Beach County Teacher of the Year Award winner who was selected to present at the Florida Foreign Language Association, encourage students to develop their second language and cultural skills through a diversified Foreign Language curriculum.

The Weiss School Foreign Language Center of Excellence abides by the philosophy of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the 5 “C’s” of the National Standards of Foreign Language Education (NSFLE): Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. Weiss School students are exposed to second language acquisition at a very early age and experience the various stages of language acquisition: Exploration, pre-production, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. Using the four basic language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, Weiss School students become equipped with the essential tools they need to communicate in a culturally diverse society.

Spanish: Early Childhood – 8th Grade

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Spanish: Early Childhood – 1st grade

Weiss School students explore the Spanish language through thematic units that explain the basic concepts of a different language than their native language. Students engage in projects that emphasize the creation of a family tree, digital ads, and posters about their community, school life, animals, and their habitats.
Spanish: 2nd – 5th grade

Weiss School students explore the Spanish language through thematic units that teaches students new Spanish concepts and cultural awareness skills. Differentiated instruction provides students with authentic material that introduces students to cross curricular connections, grammatical points, and present indicative tenses of regular and irregular verbs. 3rd – 5th grade students participate in Spanish competitions including the National Spanish Spelling Bee and the Declamation Contest. Student projects and products include iBook author projects, graphs and poster boards that compare pastimes and school life between cultures, a “My Community” poster board, and digital ads, comic strips, and memes.
Spanish 1: Beginner (6th – 8th grade)

This course prepares Weiss School students to learn the application and usage of Spanish at a beginner middle school level. Through a comprehensive instructional approach that incorporates diverse methods for second language acquisition, Weiss School students gain the necessary tools to continue learning Spanish. Differentiated instruction provides students with authentic material that emphasizes productive and receptive skills, cultural awareness, and cross-cultural connections. The curriculum emphasizes the following language grammatical concepts: Present indicative, challenges between “ser” and “estar”, introduction to preterite, and the differences between regular and irregular verbs. 6th – 8th grade students participate in Spanish competitions including the National Spanish Examination, the National Spelling Bee, NASA/NSS Ames Space Settlement Contest, and the AATSP Poster Contest. Student projects and products include the following: Multilingual exchanges via Skype with native Spanish speakers from Latin American countries and Spain, iMovie projects, development of PowToon presentations, and the creation of brochures, digital ads, comic strips, memes, and short plays.
Spanish 1: Intermediate (6th - 8th grade)

Depending on the level of content, Weiss School students continue to develop productive and receptive skills through a comprehensive review of the concepts introduced in Beginning Spanish. The course challenges gifted students and differentiates instruction to meet all student learning styles and needs. The development of various language skills gradually increases through the incorporation of authentic material that enriches instruction. Cultural aspects of the language are presented through activities that foster 21st century skills.
Spanish 2: Advanced (8th grade)

For advanced Spanish speaking students, all instructional material presented in Intermediate Spanish is addressed in addition to supplemental grammatical concepts and constructions. Advanced reading comprehension and writing production is provided through the introduction of literature excerpts from prominent writers. An appreciation to Latin American and Peninsular Literature is highlighted. 1 High School credit is awarded following the successful completion of this course.
Spanish: Native Heritage Speakers (6th - 8th grade)

The program is designed to provide students whose heritage language is Spanish with opportunities to develop, enhance, and maintain their receptive and productive language skills.

Mandarin Chinese

The teaching of Mandarin Chinese is enhanced with techniques that are adapted from total immersion programs such as those used at the Berlitz School of Languages. The core principles utilized at The Weiss School to teach Mandarin include the following instructional guidelines:

The best way to learn Mandarin is by speaking the language. At The Weiss School, the faculty seeks to maximize the personal speaking time of each student by maintaining small class sizes and encouraging interactive dialogues in teams of two students. Utilizing props and simulated actions, students can avoid using their own native language.
The teaching of grammar is often not necessary in Mandarin classes. The faculty helps each student produce hundreds of real-life examples in which students can acquire grammatical rules based on what “sounds right".
Oral speaking and comprehension are the first priority in the instruction of Mandarin Chinese. The natural order for learning Mandarin consists of the following learning sequence: 1) Understanding, 2) Speaking, 3) Reading and Writing the language with Chinese alphabet Pinyin, and 4) Reading and Writing in simplified Chinese characters.

Mandarin Chinese: 3rd – 8th Grade students

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3rd – 5th grade

Weiss School students explore Mandarin through thematic units that teaches students new Mandarin concepts and cultural awareness skills. Differentiated instruction provides students with authentic material that introduces students to the Chinese alphabet Pinyin, the formation of characters to phrases and sentences, and the development of listening, speaking and reading skills. Students also practice grammatical points, basic sentence patterns, and are provided with Mandarin cultural and historical concepts. 3rd – 5th grade students participate in Mandarin competitions including the Florida International University Chinese Speech and Skit Contest and the “Chinese Bridge” Speech Competition. Student projects and products include singing and performing Mandarin songs and plays, the development of books, comic strips, and iMovie projects that feature Chinese festivals, arts, and food.
6th – 8th grade (Beginning and Intermediate Mandarin)

Weiss School students further exploring Mandarin through thematic units that engages students in everyday conversations in Mandarin. Through differentiated instruction, students learn Mandarin reading, paragraphing and writing, and presentational appearance skills. Individual assignments focus on the Mandarin culture and history awareness through songs and poems that promote language literacy skills. 6th – 8th grade students participate in Mandarin competitions including the Youth Chinese Test, which is an international assessment of Chinese language proficiency, the Florida International University Chinese Speech and Skit Contest, and the “Chinese Bridge” Speech Competition. Student projects and products continue to include singing and performing Mandarin songs and plays, the development of books, comic strips, and iMovie projects that feature Chinese festivals, arts, and food, and the creation of Chinese art projects and posters.

The Weiss School

4176 Burns Road
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33410
Phone: 561-627-0740
Fax: 561-775-7794
info@weissschool.org

The Weiss School is a co-ed private school that serves gifted students in PreK-3 through 8th grade in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. A Weiss School education prepares students to think analytically and creatively, act socially responsible, live vigorously, and create imaginatively in a warm and supportive educational environment.