NOVEMBER 25, 2024

In Class VIII French, students had the opportunity to Zoom with fellow Middle Schools students in Chamonix, France. During their language lab exchange, all students took turns asking and answering questions in the target language. To ensure that the Nightingale students truly got to push themselves when it came to practicing their French language skills, Nightingale students asked their questions in French and the students from Chamonix responded in French, and when the Chamonix students would ask their questions in English, Nightingale students continued to respond in French.

In a recent Class V Mandarin class, students practiced a fun Chinese tongue twister: “4 is 4; 10 is 10; 14 is 14; 40 is 40; 40 is not 14; and 14 is not 40.” This exercise is an important part of their learning as they focus on recognizing and pronouncing Chinese characters.

The students are practicing by reading only the characters, without any pinyin, to help them better understand and remember the pronunciation of each character. A key aspect of this exercise is that the pronunciations of the numbers 4 (四), 10 (十), 14 (十四), 40 (四十), and 44 (四十四), along with the verb "to be" (是), sound very similar. This makes it a fun challenge for them to distinguish between these sounds and tones. Through this activity, they are working hard to articulate the tones clearly, ensuring that they convey the meaning of each number accurately. This not only improves their pronunciation skills but also boosts their confidence.