BECOMING GLOBAL CITIZENS, one language at a time.

AT SEVEN HILLS, GUIDING STUDENTS TO BECOME RESPONSIBLE GLOBAL CITIZENS ENTAILS IMMERSING THEM AND ENABLING THEM WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. FROM SPANISH TO LATIN TO FRENCH TO CHINESE , PRE-KINDERGARTEN THROUGH 12TH GRADE, STUDENTS ENJOY THE CHANCE TO EXPLORE AND EXPAND THEIR GLOBAL AWARENESS, ONE LANGUAGE AT A TIME.

Lower School students are first introduced to a bilingual education under the careful instruction and guidance of Doherty world language teacher Kristen Diersing and Lotspeich world language teacher Megan Hayes. Together, the dynamic duo uses story listening to enchant their young learners and facilitate an environment rich with creativity and academic ingenuity.

“I use story listening as my main teaching element during classes. As I tell students a story, I also draw it on the board. It’s a method that incorporates hearing, telling, seeing, and reading for students and is linked to building strong literacy skills,” Hayes said. Aside from story listening, Diersing and Hayes incorporate a myriad of projects to foster a deep love for the Spanish language.

Through the mascota project, Diersing enables students to create a pet, its environment, personality, and eating habits, and master vocabulary words throughout the creation process. Students pick a miniature animal eraser, and over a couple of weeks, name their pet, build a shoebox habitat with five different rooms, and decide its characteristics and how to prepare its food.

“The students absolutely love it. The project creates an emotional bond to the language because it’s how they're building a connection with their pet. There’s a lot of vocabulary word repetition as well as highfrequency words. Without even realizing it, students are forming sentences and paragraphs out of love for their pets. It’s one of the best ways to practice their output of Spanish because it's not only fun but also deeply meaningful to them,” Diersing said.

One of Diersing’s main goals for her classroom is for students to learn and emulate a love for appreciating new languages and cultures and sharing them among students.

“Learning Spanish is only step one to broadening their horizons and stepping outside of their comfort zones. It’s one of the many things I love about Seven Hills, knowing my current students will keep growing and have the opportunity to learn Spanish, Chinese, French, or Latin during Middle School and Upper School. I’m helping them build foundational skills for their future world language classes,” Diersing said.

Hayes frequently uses fairy tales, Aesop’s fables, and folk tales to capture students’ attention while learning about various cultures.

“One of my favorite sources to include are stories and videos from 68 Voices, 68 Hearts, a project that aims to bring awareness to and revive Mexico’s 68 linguistic groups. It’s a fantastic project and shows students another example of how incredible the world is. They also find it fascinating to listen to different linguistic groups, like Tohono, Nahuatl, and Mayan

“Every student gravitates toward something different. I want them to have a solid understanding of the language, patterns, and sound by the time they move on to a different teacher,” Hayes said.

From sixth grade onward, students have autonomy over their academic decisions, including deciding in which language they want to invest, from Spanish, Chinese, French, to Latin.

during a video and understand what the speakers are saying, with the assistance of the Spanish subtitles,” Hayes said. Hayes believes languages are non-linear, meaning there isn't a straight path to learning.

“Our world language teachers expertly craft curriculum that not only meets a student’s current skill set but empowers them to challenge themselves beyond what they believe possible. Learning another language not only enhances a student’s cognitive abilities but also greatly improves communication skills and expands worldviews and understanding Continued on page 30 of other cultures. It equips students to be responsible global citizens and gives them the skills and empathy to truly communicate with people,” Head of Middle School Bill Waskowitz said.

Katie Swinford teaches Middle School students the wonders of Latin and its is with near parental pride that I watch students teach their peers about the Circus Maximus, for example, while we stand directly in the Circus Maximus,” Swinford said.

“To learn another language is to learn about the culture of different peoples. If I can help a student see beyond the walls of Seven Hills — and consider the human experience from a different perspective — I know that it is growing their empathy and their ability to participate in an increasingly diverse and globally connected world. Seven Hills’ world language department, at its very core, teaches our graduates to be global citizens,” Swinford said.

Chair of the world language department Teresa Bardon explained her department’s emphasis on learning about the nuances of languages.

“We want students to be skilled enough to communicate in other languages in their particular target language or languages. It’s important for us to impart the value of the language itself, like what it means evolving presence in the modern world. Because she’s spent years teaching the same group of eager and engaged academics, she’s able to have a “more diachronic view of each student’s academic, social, and emotional growth rather than a one-year snapshot.”