Academics
Middle School (Grades 6 - 8)

Languages

Foreign language study in the Middle School provides students with a dynamic, fun, and engaging yet serious-minded program of study. At all levels, teachers aim to instill a strong enthusiasm for the language, which inspires learners to advance their ability to communicate effectively in the target language. In Spanish, the goal of communication is reached by developing the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In Latin, there is a greater stress on reading and grammar, though students do learn to read aloud, to use proper pronunciation, and to understand simple sentences when spoken aloud. In both target languages, teachers encourage students to take risks, to make mistakes, and to learn from those practices.
 
Classes in both target languages aim to provide a pathway to understanding other cultures. As Latin spanned a vast empire 2,000 years ago, so Spanish is a global language today. As the Middle School program aims to instill a passion for the language while providing a firm grounding in linguistic structures, it also offers students a welcoming approach to written and visual works of art, daily modes of living, and idiomatic expressions of universal human experiences.

Middle School Spanish Program

List of 2 items.

  • Sixth and Seventh Grade Spanish: Introductory Spanish

    The Middle School Spanish curriculum begins with a two-year program designed to offer students maximum opportunities to assimilate language structures and vocabulary through learning and practice. Students are introduced to a wide array of language structures and are challenged to apply that knowledge in creative ways. This program offers students a variety of contexts in which they can generate original language in a highly immersive and fun environment.  Collaborative projects and presentations, such as writing and performing Spanish skits or creating Spanish graphic novels, are common at this level. These two introductory years provide students with a combination of structure and communicative freedom that leads to proficiency in many areas, preparing students optimally for more advanced world language studies.

  • Eighth Grade Spanish: Beginning Spanish

    This course provides students with a strong foundation in the Spanish language, a foundation that facilitates communication while building an understanding of the mechanics of the language necessary for success in higher level study. Grammar and vocabulary are introduced systematically throughout the course, and students are provided daily with meaningful opportunities to practice and assimilate what they are learning. Students also have frequent speaking and listening opportunities that help them gain confidence as language learners. This course is conducted almost entirely in the target language in order to maximize student progress.

Middle School Latin Program

List of 2 items.

  • Seventh Grade: Beginning Latin I

    This course introduces students to the basics of Latin grammar, vocabulary, and simple narratives about life in Pompeii immediately before the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 BCE. Students learn to recognize, read, translate, and compose simple sentences containing subject, direct object, and indirect object forms in the singular and plural in three noun groups; they study the present, imperfect, and perfect verb tenses; and strive for mastery of vocabulary (Latin to English, English to Latin) contained in Book I of the Cambridge Latin Series. Students develop the ability to pronounce Latin properly and understand simple sentences when spoken aloud, and are taught to recognize English derivatives from target Latin vocabulary, including the forms and functions of common prefixes and suffixes. Through readings in English and class discussions, students begin to connect the textbook’s narratives and dialogues to the art, archaeology, history, and geography of Pompeii, Rome, and the ancient Mediterranean world.

  • Eighth Grade: Beginning Latin II

    This course continues students’ introduction to Latin grammar and vocabulary. Readings become more complex (both on the level of sentence structure and narrative content) and require a substantially greater command of Latin forms. Working mainly in Book II of the Cambridge Latin series, students review Course I material and then move on to relative pronouns, relative clauses, and other dependent clauses; four different verb tenses; present participles; and comparison and agreement of adjectives and adverbs of all degrees. The textbook presents readings that span the Roman Empire in the first century CE from Britain to Egypt, employing entertaining stories that give students a chance to recognize and discuss nuance and subtext while at the same time honing their vocabulary and grammar. 
     
    Students develop an increased ability to recognize and predict English derivatives from target Latin vocabulary, and they also develop a growing ability to recognize and manipulate common prefixes and suffixes in both languages. Through readings in English and class discussions, students learn to connect the textbook’s narratives and dialogues to the art, archaeology, history, and geography of the Roman Empire, especially its geographical extent and multiculturalism. They are also introduced to Greek mythology, from the birth of the gods to the story of the Trojan War.

The Kew-Forest School

119-17 Union Turnpike
Forest Hills, NY 11375
(718) 268-4667
The oldest independent school in the borough of Queens, The Kew-Forest School is an independent co-educational, college preparatory school for students in Preschool through Grade 12.