Skip to main content
Menu
search

Middle School World Language

For our students, learning a world language is essential in gaining a broader, more balanced, and more nuanced view of the global community.

Learning Language and Culture

Starting in Middle School, we offer four languages from which students can choose: Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish. With an emphasis on fostering real-world communicative skills and a deep understanding of linguistics, we give students the opportunity to develop an enthusiasm and excitement for language study that leads them to become inquisitive scholars of culture, history, and literature.

Accordion

The focus of this course is to serve as an introduction to the Chinese language and culture. Level 1 in Chinese is divided into two years. The first year covers basic grammatical points and conversation. Pronunciation and tones are particularly stressed. Topics are related to students’ daily life. Chinese characters are introduced in this level so that students will have a basic concept of the writing system and feel comfortable in reading and writing at a beginning level.

This course builds upon the knowledge gained in Chinese 7 and completes the first formal level of the language.

In this course, students may:

  • Learn more vocabulary, phrases, sentence structure, and characters. In this course, listening, speaking, reading, and writing are equally emphasized
  • Conduct and understand longer conversations and present themselves and their interests such as family, hobby, daily life, etc.

Level 1 of Latin is divided into two years: Latin 7 and Latin 8. Students are introduced to the fundamental components of the Latin language and the cultural and historical context in which it was spoken and written.

In this course, students may:

  • Learn Latin vocabulary with an emphasis on English derivatives, morphology, and the grammatical concepts needed to compose simple Latin sentence
  • Read adapted Latin texts and explore aspects of the Roman world through history, mythology, and culture

Latin 8 builds on the foundation in basic vocabulary, morphology, and grammar and improves students’ ability to read and understand Latin texts and to compose in Latin.

In this course, students may:

  • Complete their exploration of the tenses and voices of Latin verbs
  • Master the remaining noun and adjective families
  • Consolidate their knowledge of Latin pronouns
  • Explore the history of the Roman Republic, examine daily life in Rome, and travel into the city through the eyes of an ancient Roman family

During the alternate semester, sixth grade students take French. This class presents introductory grammar and simple vocabulary. The class studies Francophone cultures including geography, music, art, and daily life.

Level 1 in French is divided into two years. The first year covers basic grammatical points, including the present and indicative forms of the major verb groups, and conjugations of irregular verbs.

In this course, students may:

  • Learn thematic vocabulary, idioms and expressions to describe people, ideas and situations
  • Study curriculum that emphasizes the four linguistic skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Included is cultural information that relates to the Francophone countries around the world

In this second year, students complete the first formal level of the language. Students learn more vocabulary, verb conjugations, including a continuation of the indicative forms of the three major verb groups, and more sentence structure. Orally and in writing, the students use simple descriptions to discuss their lives, school, home and friends. 

This course integrates language learning and cultural studies through a focused exploration of four countries in the Spanish speaking world. Working with functional chunks of language, students practice interpretive, presentational, and interpersonal communication couched in cultural comparison. The course is designed to build off of linguistic skills initiated in the lower schools, while creating space to initiate language exploration for students new to the school. Students learn concrete vocabulary and functional phrases with simple grammatical concepts in order to communicate meaningfully about themselves and the cultural topics at hand including celebrations, family dynamics, and geography. This course meets for 40 minutes at a time, four times in a 10-day cycle.

Level 1 in Spanish is divided into two years. The first year covers basic grammatical points, including the present and indicative forms of the major verb groups, and conjugations of irregular verbs.

In this course, students may:

  • Learn thematic vocabulary, idioms and expressions to describe people, ideas and situations
  • Study curriculum that emphasizes the four linguistic skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Included is cultural information that relates to the Hispanic countries around the world

In this second year, students complete the first formal level of the language. Students learn more vocabulary, verb conjugations, including a continuation of the indicative forms of the three major verb groups, and more sentence structure. Orally and in writing, the students use simple descriptions to discuss their lives, school, home and friends.