Students taking AP Chinese at Hall High School connected with Chinese culture last year in three fresh ways supported by a Foundation grant. They planned and held a Lunar New Year parade in school, learned techniques in Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Dragon dance and Lion Dance and their history from a professional martial arts instructor who came into class, and visited a college-level Chinese class at Yale to see the next steps in language study. Teacher Connie Xu said of the Yale visit, “many graduates wrote to me in cards that this experience is the most memorable in their world language journey.”

A Foundation grant helped Duffy School outfit its first grade listening center with both new recordings and physical books to help students build listening comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and familiarity with paging through books – without screens! Teachers also purchased a felt board and accessories that students used to retell what they’d learned and interact with the stories.​Teacher Katie Lorraine-Mace described the library as “a valuable part of our classroom literacy instruction and will continue to benefit students in the years to come.”

The grants we award fund opportunities above and beyond what the school budget allows. This is why your support is so important to the work we do. Your donation to the Foundation directly supports innovative, memorable opportunities for West Hartford Public School students.

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