Lausanne always encourages global mindednesses and because of this, students across all grade levels are able to appreciate and expand their knowledge of other cultures and languages.
As a part of the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) at Lausanne, students participate in daily Spanish and Mandarin lessons from Pre-Kindergarten until Fourth Grade while they are in the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP). Their daily lessons help prepare the students as they enter middle school in Fifth Grade and begin the Middle Years Programme (MYP). During the MYP in middle school (5-8 Grade), foreign languages become a part of their core classes, French is introduced and students have the opportunity to strengthen their Mandarin and Spanish skills. As students transition to the MYP in Upper School (9-10 Grade) they can choose which languages they want to continue studying and begin taking courses that are taught completely in a foreign language. This, in turn, prepares them for the IB Diploma Programme (DP) in 11th and 12th Grade when they begin their most challenging foreign language classes.
On March 30, a group of Middle School and Upper School students had the opportunity to showcase what they have learned at Lausanne when they went to the University of Memphis to participate in the annual Language Fair.
The Fair, sponsored by the foreign language faculty at U of M, allows local middle and high school students to compete in different foreign-language events. This year’s theme was Cracking the Cultural Code and our students participated in French, Mandarin and Spanish themed categories.
The Middle and Upper Schoolers had a great time engaging with students from other schools in the area and displaying their talents, which earned them numerous awards during the competition.
Congratulations, Lynx!
This year’s Language Fair winners:
FRENCH:
Anjali Borschel ’21- 1st place, French song
Elizabeth Fenno ‘23 - 2nd place, French poetry recitation level 1
Dima Chemaitilly ‘24 and Gabriella Graves ’24 – 1st place, French poster
Abby Trott ’24 – 2nd place, French craft
SPANISH:
Saad Khan '20 - 3rd place. Spanish solo
Malaika Kumar ‘23 - 3rd place, Spanish vocabulary quiz level 1
Josephine Bonnot ‘23, Nikhita Srinivas ‘23, Malaika Kumar ‘23, Jasmine Younes ‘23, Risha Manga ‘23 - 1st place, Spanish group song performance
MANDARIN:
Britney Okhiria ’21- 1st place, Mandarin vocabulary quiz level 4
Jordan Pendleton ’22- 2nd place, mandarin art
Ella Simpson ’22- 3rd place, Mandarin vocabulary quiz level 3
Brendan French ‘23, Elizabeth Brown ‘23, Whit Faughnan ‘23, Nathen Baer - 1st place, Mandarin video
Whit Faughnan ‘23- 1st place, Mandarin poetry
Will St. Clair ‘23 - 2nd place, Mandarin poster
Zair Barlow ‘24 and Jordan Krishbaum ‘24- 1st place, Mandarin research project
Zair Barlow ‘24 and Jordan Krishbaum ‘24 - 1st place, Mandarin music
Connor Magdovitz ‘24-1st place, Mandarin vocabulary quiz level 1
Ryon Ghodoussi ‘24 - 2nd place, Mandarin vocabulary quiz level 1
Jordan Krishbaum ‘24– 3rd place, Mandarin vocabulary quiz level 1
Michelle Liu ’24 and Ryon Ghodoussi ‘24- 3rd place, Mandarin craft
Middle School winners
Ella Simpson '22
Jordan Pendleton '22
Brittany Okhiria '22