May 5th - 9th

Important Reminder for 8th Grade Scholars

***NYS Proficiency ***

Soon your child will be taking the grade 8 NYS Proficiency Examination in French. This test assesses what your child has learned last year and this year. Your child must score a 65% or above to receive credit and move to Level II, a tenth grade course, next year. The test sections include speaking, listening, reading and writing and are given in two parts. Speaking is one part; the listening, reading and writing sections are the second part.

Although we practice speaking/writing/listening/reading French in class, your child should review for ten minutes each night. If he/she has not yet begun to review, perhaps you can have him/her show you the work from class. You, as well as a classmate or older sibling, can review with him/her.

The individual speaking part of the exam (20% of the total test grade) will be administered at the end of May and/or early June. Your child will be scheduled for one day during school, on a one-on-one basis, to take the speaking part of the exam. Each student will be tested on four different conversations with the teacher. Please be on the look out for the dates as it is essential that your child attends school on the testing date scheduled.

The remainder of the final will be given on Monday, June 23th for grade 8. Please send the required blue or black pen with your student. It is a State Exam: “students must be present and on time.” If a student is absent from the test there is no makeup.

Week of April 7th - 10th

Hello -

April already!

7th Grade scholars will be having their test on Unit 3 this week on Wednesday. They should use their graphic organizer to focus their efforts. It will cover our verbs (meanings plus the correct forms for etre and the regular -er verbs), plus putting sentences in the negative form, plus places, people and the prepositions to connect them all. Bonne Chance!

Here are some more movie reviews from the 8th grade scholars. Great work!

Dream Girls est un très bon film avec les actrices Jennifer Hudson et Beyonce Knowles, et les acteurs Eddie Murphy et Jamie Foxx , et des autres. Ca dure pour deux heurs et dix- sept minutes. Je recommende ce film pour les adolescences et adultes. Je ne recommende pas pour les enfants parce que il y a des drogues. Il s’agit de trois femmes qui veulent a convenir célèbre. J’aime la musique excellent et les chansons. Le film est magnifique! Allez aujourd'hui et voyez soi même!
- Jenna Hofmann

Pirates des Caraibes: Le Secret Du Coffre Maudit- c’est un très bon film! C’est une aventure. Johnny Depp et Orlando Bloom sont les acteurs dans ce film. Keira Knightley est l’actrice dans ce film. Le film est deux heures et demie. Le film est pour tout le monde. Il s’agit des pirates pénible à rassembler une-cent essences. J’aime la musique, les acteurs, la comédie, et l’action. C’est le meilleur film parce que Johnny Depp est Beau!
Erica Mason

Our Movie Reviews

The 8th Grade scholars have done a "magnifique" job with their movie reviews. Scholars wrote a brief summary of their movie without giving away the ending, they described actors, actresses, settings, and used persuasive language to explain why their film is the best! Check these out...and be sure to check the site next week for more!

Will your movie review be next?

Little Man

by Hanan Allen

J’aime le film l’histoire de Little Man. C’est un comédie. Le Wayan Brothers sont les acteurs dans ce film. Le film est une heure et demie. Le film est pour tout le monde. Ils s’agit un petit homme qui vole un diamant de $10,000. J’aime cette comédie. C’est un bon film parce que c’est très amusant.

♥♥♥L’amour et le Basket♥♥♥
de Ashlee Henderson

Mon film est L’Amour et le Basket. C’est un film d’amour, de comedie, et du drame. Les acteurs sont Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan et Kyla Pratt. Le film est une heure et demie. C’est pour les adultes. Il s’agit de l’amour, le basket, le travail au lycée. J’aime regarder ce film avec les acteurs jouent au basket. C’est le meilleur film parce que les acteurs et les actrices sont magnifiques et c’est amusant.

Week of March 24th-March 28th

Bonjour!

This week, 7th Grade scholars are continuing to use the regular -er verbs with the correct endings. We are focussing on conversation (listening & speaking), using our -er verbs and our question words.
Do you know what ALL these words mean?

où
quand
à quelle heure
comment

pourquoi
parce que

8th Grade scholars are writing movie reviews. We discussed different genres/types of movies:

les films d'action
les comédies
les films romantique
les dessin animés

aventure (yup, no "d")

and les acteurs et les actrices.

Now they are writing a persuasive movie review about a film of their choice - in French! Look for their completed work in our hallway!

Surrealism and Rene Magritte

Bonjour-

Several students were so impressed and interested in our artist of the month, Belgium painter Rene Magritte, that they found more information about Magritte on the internet. They found one clip with more of his art work set to music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7lr0SYUfEo&feature=related, and two others showing "Magritte in motion", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlfJJsXpCM0&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qCVIelcIYE&feature=related. It is great to have such dedicated and interested learners in our class. Thank you for sharing!

Week of March 17th-21st

A short week with lots of activity!

Homebase 249 had perfect attendance BOTH days for the NYS Math Exam and won the raffle for the pizza party. Pizza details to follow!

Attendance is not only key to winning a pizza party, but obviously key to academic performance. Attendance is a critical component our scholars must be committed to EVERYDAY to be successful at Wilson, later in college and the workplace. Please continue to reinforce this habit with your child.

7th Grade scholars are working on regular -er verbs. We know what they mean already, but now they will be using them in their reading, speaking and writing. In English, we conjugate verbs all the time, but in French we are taking it step by step. These verbs all follow the same pattern:

-Start with the infinitive (- er form)

-Take off the -er to create a "stem"

-Attach the correct ending to the stem (depending on the subject)

For the verb parler, create the stem parl- to create...

je parle

tu parles

il/elle parle

nous parlons

vous parlez

ils/elles parlent

Now students can take any -er verb and use it correctly! Students can access the Quia link to the right for extra practice.

8th Grade scholars are creating flip-charts to help them master expressions using à and de.

All French 1 scholars will be looking into our artist of the month, surrealist painter, Rene Magritte. They will viewing a powerpoint (created by their peers) and creating a graphic organizer to organize their new information. What French-speaking country was he from? What is surrealism?

Ask your child about this fascinating artist!

Week of March 10th-14th

Bonjour -
All French 1B and 1C scholars received progress reports before the February break, along with any missing work. Scholars have been encouraged to complete the work, both for the independent practice, and to improve their grades. Remember that Friday, March 14th, is the last day of this marking period!

Ask your child about Tatie Danielle. We watched part of a French comedy about a cantankerous woman who torments everyone around her.




This week, 7th Graders are working with the regular -er verbs such as parler, manger, travailler and voyager. They will be using the correct endings depending on the pronouns. Students are expected to review these endings at home. The links to the QUIA games are a great way students to get extra practice.

Last week, 7th Graders had a re-quiz on pronouns, the forms of the verb être and different prepositions. We worked with memory cards showing equations with matching answers in French (example: 2x=10, and to solve for x, the answer would be "cinq"). This was a great way for scholars to review their vocabulary and numbers, while preparing for the NYS Math Exam.

8th Graders also had a test last week covering the verb aller, family members, the forms of à and de, and the possessives. We will spend more time reviewing this week, both in class and at home. Then scholars who scored below a 90% will take a re-test on Thursday.