I can’t believe that summer is almost here! I’m so glad we got to have Language Workshop together this year. Over the break, here are some things you can do to continue to explore languages and cultures:
- Review the posts for your class from this year. You can remember what we did together, and you can use the many recordings, videos, and links to discover more if you like.
- Take a walk around your neighborhood, or if you are able to travel somewhere, listen and look for new languages around you. Do you hear them? Do you see them written? Can you name what language it is? Can you understand what you see or hear, or do you have a guess about the meaning based on certain clues (pictures, gestures, context, …) ?
- Explore languages right in your own home, or as you are traveling, using the Hello Atlas app. Try listening carefully to each phrase in a new language carefully and repeating it as best you can. You could do it a few times to get it just right.
- Enjoy practicing ASL, or American Sign Language. Many of us have discovered some signs in ASL together, but you can use the website and/or app ASL Kids to learn more.
- Have a conversation with a friend or family member who speaks a language that is new to you. Ask if they can teach you a few words in that language. Also ask if they can share any information about the culture of the place they come from, or from some place where people speak that language.
- Watch a familiar movie, but put on a different language track. You might be surprised how much you can understand, and what words you might pick up!
Have a wonderful summer! I can’t wait to see you all in the fall and hear all about the languages you explored during your vacation.
Au revoir ! Bonnes vacances !
Ms. Patterson
Noah’s mom Jiye shared the Korean language and culture with class 1-233. She showed us how boys and girls would traditionally bow, and how they might dress. She read us a 
1-231 was lucky enough to have their own teacher, Ms. Aleksandra, share her Russian language and culture. She showed us some examples of Russian nesting dolls and a doll dressed in fancy traditional clothing. We discussed the many time zones across Russia and around the world. She sang “If You’re Happy and You Know It …” for us in Russian, and it was so fun to play along while hearing the sounds of the language through song! Finally we observed the letters of the Russian alphabet, and we compared their shapes and sounds to the letters of the English alphabet we use. And Ms. Aleksandra wrote everyone’s name using Russian letters — wow, many of them looked very different!
Finley’s mom Seher came to visit 1-215, Ms. Valerie’s class. She told us that she was born in the United States, but that her parents come from Pakistan, and they speak to her in Urdu. We spent a lot of time exploring the Urdu alphabet, which we noticed is written from right to left, instead of from left to right, as we see in English and French … and the letters are completely different! We learned some of the names and sounds of the letters, and we even tried writing some of them in our notebooks — what an experience! Also, Seher showed us some beautiful embroidery from Pakistan, and we got to watch a 
Seiji’s mom Yuko shared the Japanese language and culture with class 1-207. She told us how she came to the United States as an adult and how it was challenging to speak a new language in a new country … We especially loved her story about ordering a sandwich in English for one of the first times, and what strategies she used to get her message across! What a great illustration of the courage of multilingual people for these young kids. Then, Yuko showed us the different writing systems used in Japanese. We got to learn how to write a few words we already know in English — like sushi and ninja — but this time, in Japanese, from Yuko and Seiji! Finally, we were touched that Yuko had made beautiful origami animals for all of us to choose from and take home. Arigato Yuko! 
Amaris’s mom Melissa came to visit class 1-213, Ms. Lewis’s class. She, along with Amaris and Raphaelle, who both speak Mandarin at home, shared a bit of the language with us. Melissa told us that she was born in Singapore, a city of many immigrants who speak many languages, like New York City. Her grandparents and great-grandparents immigrated from China to Singapore, so she is a third-generation Singaporean of Chinese heritage. She learned to speak Mandarin with her mother, which she said is similar to the way some of the students learned to speak French with their family members at home even though they were born in the United States. Melissa showed us that Mandarin is a pictorial language; we saw how the simplified character for “hand” looks a bit like a hand, and how the characters for “mouth” and “mountain” also bear a resemblance to those things! At the end of the visit we all said thank you to Melissa, Amaris and Raphaelle … 
1st grade & 2nd grade DLP students have continued exploring the Spanish language together. After studying the numbers from 1-10, we learned this fun song to help us review those words … do you remember what we are counting in the song?
If you’d like to practice more at home, you can use these Quizlet sets to review some of the words and phrases we’ve been using in Spanish:
Diez deditos
Both 1st grade and 2nd Grade DLP students are now spending a few weeks exploring some of the Spanish language together. Many students know a few words in this language, and a few Spanish-fluent children now have the chance to share their language with their classmates. It’s a great opportunity for all of these classes to discover a different language together, perhaps finding new nuances, comparing it to the French and English languages, and maybe having the experience for the first time of learning new words in an unfamiliar language, for students who have been raised bilingually at home.
Right now, all the way across the globe, the 
You will also likely hear 
You might also see the 
In Language Workshop, we sometimes take time to explore other languages and cultures of our diverse community, so this week, students in all Kindergarten and 1st Grade classes have been discussing the Lunar New Year, a special holiday coming up in early February that is celebrated by many people around the world.
This week, to celebrate 
The students in the 1st Grade DLP classes recently had an introductory exploration of American Sign Language. We discussed who uses ASL, how it’s different from other languages, and how learning specific signs is different from using certain gestures in everyday conversation. In particular, we practiced the signs of the ASL alphabet, and we tried fingerspelling our names and the names of some of our classmates.