Foreign Languages
Our Foreign Language program is designed to build students capable of communicating in a different language, gain an appreciation for other cultures, and support their future fields of work.
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Approach
The goal of our Foreign Language program is to enable our students to communicate with people who speak different languages in their fields of work. Our focus is on proficiency in the target language. The languages offered, Spanish and Chinese, were selected with this in mind. Spanish is spoken by about 10% of the US population. Students who pursue a career in medicine will benefit from being able to communicate in Spanish. As future members of the scientific and engineering communities, we evaluated where scientific and technological innovation is occurring outside of English speaking countries and found that significant scientific research is occurring in China .
We believe in immersion provides the optimal learning environment of a foreign language. In the elementary and middle years, we focus on learning the target language through play, which is how children learn to speak in their native tongue. In high school, we focus on conversation and interactions with peers with a focus on fluency. We leverage technology for continued practice at home. In the Upper School, students are assessed on the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) proficiency scale (Novice Low to Distinguished) for reading, listening, writing and speaking. Students are assigned a proficiency rating at the end of each year in which they take a foreign language at school and it is recorded on their transcript.
Students wishing to test out of the two-year language requirement are required to test at an Elementary Proficiency, + level (1+) in reading, listening and speaking in the ILR scale or Intermediate-Mid in reading, listening, writing and speaking in the ACTFL proficiency scale.
We believe in immersion provides the optimal learning environment of a foreign language. In the elementary and middle years, we focus on learning the target language through play, which is how children learn to speak in their native tongue. In high school, we focus on conversation and interactions with peers with a focus on fluency. We leverage technology for continued practice at home. In the Upper School, students are assessed on the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) proficiency scale (Novice Low to Distinguished) for reading, listening, writing and speaking. Students are assigned a proficiency rating at the end of each year in which they take a foreign language at school and it is recorded on their transcript.
Students wishing to test out of the two-year language requirement are required to test at an Elementary Proficiency, + level (1+) in reading, listening and speaking in the ILR scale or Intermediate-Mid in reading, listening, writing and speaking in the ACTFL proficiency scale.
Our Courses
Spanish |
Mandarin Chinese |
Honors Spanish I |
Mandarin Chinese I |
Honors Spanish II |
Mandarin Chinese II |
Honors Spanish III |
Mandarin Chinese III |
Honors Spanish IV |
Mandarin Chinese IV |
AP Spanish Language |
AP Chinese Language |
