Foreign Language Trip to Quebec, Canada

The Foreign Language Department seeks to provide opportunities for students to enrich appreciation and knowledge of other cultures. This year, we are planning a trip to Quebec, Canada during April 30th – May 3rd, 2009. This trip will be a combined adventure for those students taking Spanish or French. The tour company, which is organizing our trip, has scheduled several activities for both our French and Spanish students.

The cost of the trip is $455.00. This price includes a visit to Quebec, round trip motor coach transportation from Rochester to Quebec, hotel accommodation, night-time security in the hotel, 24 hour trained multilingual tour leader, admission to all services per itinerary, breakfast and dinners. (Lunches are the only expenses not included).

The following are the refund policies for this trip:
1. All applications for this trip are subject to approval by building administrators.
2. Since there is limited space, a $55.00 non-refundable down payment is required as soon as possible in order to secure a place on this trip. Spaces will be filled on a first come first served basis.

Cancellation Policy:
There is a trip cancellation insurance that you may purchase at an additional cost of $29.00. If you desire to purchase this insurance, it has to be paid at the time that the initial deposit is paid. (If you purchase this insurance and if the student is unable to travel, s/he will receive a full refund).
If you have not purchased the trip cancellation insurance and you cancel the trip after December 15th, 2008, there will be no refund unless you are able to find someone who might take that spot. (the tour company charges a fee of $55.00 per name change). If someone else is willing to go in your place, then we will be able to refund you everything minus the $55.00 fee.
Please remember that the tour price is based on 40 paying participants. If anyone backs out, after we have made a commitment with the company, it will affect the trip cost for the rest of the group.

Medical Insurance:
If a student does not have medical insurance, or if the current medical insurance does not cover him/her in Canada, then that student is required to purchase medical insurance for this trip at the cost of $20.00. This insurance may be purchased up to one week before departure.

Payment Schedule:
Our tour company requires all payments to be made 45 days before departure. In order to facilitate payment, please abide by the following schedule:
November 25, or ASAP $55.00 + $24.00 (optional -Trip cancellation insurance)
December 19, 2008 $100.00 January 22, 2009 $100.00
February 13, 2009 $100.00
March 13, 200 $100.00
Total: $455.00 + $24.00 Trip cancellation insurance (Optional)

Fund Raising
We will be working on fundraising, but we will not be able to fundraise for the entire amount. Students are encouraged to save their money, use the trip as a "Christmas/holiday/birthday" present and to earn money though odd jobs (raking leaves or shoveling snow for family or neighbors).

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at michael.brundage@rcsdk12.org

November 10th - 14th

Bonjour -
All 7th Grade scholars got a progress report from French class, AND their tests from Friday back. Each scholar has a graph in the front of his/her notebook to graph the test scores. This is a great tool for scholars to chart their progress.
This week in class we will be working on:
-ordering snacks and beverages in a cafe
-asking about prices and paying for the food/drink
-using French money
Some useful vocabulary:
j'ai faim...I'm hungry (literally - I have hunger)
tu as faim?....are you hungry?
Qu'est-ce que tu veux?...What do you want?
Donne-moi...Give me
S'il te plait...please (informal)
si'il vous plait...please (formal)
je voudrais (I would like)
merci..thank you
merci beaucoup...thank you very much

Eighth and Ninth Grade scholars are continuing to review their verbs (faire, etre, avoir and the -er verbs), plus question words with our new vocabulary. We are still working on our unit covering "Le monde personnel et familier" to be able to describe ourselves, describe friends, ages, describing a bedroom, and talking about and describing everyday objects.

November 3rd - 7th

Bonjour -
Seventh Grade scholars will be using their number vocabulary (I hope you remember them!) to talk about people's ages. In French, like Spanish, talking about age uses the verb "to have". I "have" a certain age will be "J'ai vingt ans".
J'ai ________ ans. = I am/have ______ years old.
Il a ________ ans. = He is/has _______ years old.
Elle a ______ ans. = She is/has _______ years old.
We will be practicing ages with our conversations to focus on our listening and speaking skills.

The Eighth and Ninth Grade scholars had their test last Thursday about faire and question words. This week we will be starting a new unit covering "Le monde personnel et familier" to be able to describe ourselves, describe friends, ages, describing a bedroom, and talking about and describing everyday objects.

Week of October 27th -30th

Bonjour -

Seventh Grade scholars are beginning our unit on La Famille (the family). We introduced words with our powerpoint featuring the Simpsons. Our new vocabulary includes:
une mère
un père
un frère
une soeur
une grandmère
un grandpère
un cousin
une cousine
un chien
un chat
*please note that the masculine words have the article "un" and the feminine words have "une".

This Thursday, Eighth and Ninth Grade scholars will be having our next test for French 1C and French I. Students will be reviewing this week. This test will cover:The verb faireExpressions using faireAsking questions using “est-ce que” and “est-ce qu’”Asking questions using inversion (flipping verb and subject)Question words including: où, quand, qui, avec qui, de qui, À qui, Pourquoi, comment, À quelle heure…Culture including Vietnam + schools and classes in France

Week of October 20th - 24th

What's Happening?

Seventh Grade scholars are getting their Marking Period 1 test back on Monday. Most students did a great job. This test included reading, listening, and writing in French. It is impressive how much these scholars have learning already!
This week we are working on some new vocabulary:
Tu connais..?
Il est...
Elle est...
Il s'appelle...
Elle s'appelle...
le
la
les
l'
cent
mille

Eighth and Ninth Grade scholars also got back their Marking Period 1 tests. Most of these scholars did a great job combining the review with the new vocabulary. We will continue to use the verbs être and avoir in our speaking, reading and writing, but we are also moving on to new and exciting verbs and vocabulary!
This week we are working on "Qu'est-ce que tu fais le weekend?" - looking at asking questions and responding to questions about activities using the verb faire. We are looking at different question works to determine the most logical responses.
qu'est-ce que
est-ce que
qui
à qui
avec qui
pour qui
où
pourquoi
combien
comment
quand
No homework?! Students should also be spending at least 10 minutes each night to review and practice vocabulary.

Week of October 14th - 17th

Bonjour!

Seventh Grade scholars are working on numbers 70-100, and looking at the articles un, une, le, la, les and l' this week.

**Seventh Grader scholars will be having a quiz this Friday. They will have a graphic organizer so they know what will be covered.

**Notebooks are also due. As we are focussing on organization, the notebook check is equal to a test grade for the 1st marking period. Scholars should have the following in their notebooks:
-Class Expectations
-Introduction conversation
-Why Learn French
-Colors
-Maps (France + Africa)
-Nationalities (masculine and feminine forms)
-Test Score graph
-un/une chart
-Numbers 0-69
-Telephone numbers

8th and 9th grade scholars will also be having a test this Thursday (jeudi). They have a graphic organizer to show what will be covered.

****Notebooks are also due. As we are focussing on organization, the notebook check is equal to a test grade for the 1st marking period. Scholars should check the list in class to be sure they have everything in their notebooks.

Week of October 6th - 9th

Quoi de neuf? (What's new?)

French 1B (7th Graders ) are working on numbers (1-69), friends and family and using the articles un or une for a/an. Learning and using the correct articles will help students remember if the object/word is masculine or feminine which will help later with adjectives.
This week's vocabulary includes...
un ami
une amie
un copain
une copine
un garçon
une fille
un prof
une prof
Tiens!
Voici
Voilà
Qui-est-ce?
C'est...
.................................................
French 1C and French I (8th and 9th Graders) are working on regular -er verbs in the present tense. We are taking the infinitive (-er form), dropping the -er ending, and adding the correct ending depending on the subject/pronoun.
je parlE
tu parlES
il/elle parlE
nous parlONS
vous parlEZ
ils/elles parlENT.

* Rememember the pronunciations for the endings of je, tu, il, elle and ils/elles are identical.
** Also remember these forms have 3 meanings (I play, I do play, I am playing...).

Students should be reviewing the meanings of the pronouns, and continue to review the verbs etre and avoir.