Spanish
All these courses cover cultural topics, knowledge of daily life in Spanish-speaking countries, art, folk/native music and songs. In advanced courses, contemporary topics and literature will be introduced. Games, videos, audio tapes, and computer aids will reinforce the understanding of the language. Spanish will be used in class at all times

Spanish 1
This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the Spanish language. Students learn vocabulary, question formation, positive and negative sentences, and verb conjugations in the present tense. Frequent conversation will prepare them for more advanced levels of communication.

Spanish 2
This course is designed to reinforce and expand on concepts that were learned in Spanish 1. Spanish conversation will be encouraged at every class. Students will begin to master irregular verbs in the present tense, stem changes, reflexive verbs, present progressive tense, and the participle.

Spanish 3
Beginning with a review of first and second year grammar, students will expand their knowledge of verbs with the preterit and future forms. They will continue to work with irregular verbs, stem changes, and reflexive verbs, and will add direct and indirect object pronouns. Students will exercise their conversational skills and increase their phonetic accuracy. They will write letters and short essays.

Spanish 4
At this level, students will be able to read more sophisticated texts about various Spanish-speaking countries. We will read about culture and contemporary issues, and begin to read literature. Class discussions will be in Spanish. Forms and use of subjunctive verbs will be introduced and practiced.

Middle School French A and B
We teach half of the Discovering French, Bleu book in French A, and half in French B. This division of the text gives middle school students a firm foundation in grammar, language functions, and vocabulary, while leaving plenty of time for language-related games, kinesthetic learning, and presentations created especially for 6th and 7th graders. At the end of French B, students will be ready to enter French 2.

French 1
We begin by looking at a map to find places all over the world where French is spoken. Throughout the year, students gain cultural insight into France, Senegal, Martinique, Quebec, and many other French-speaking regions. Students learn basic French grammar, including present tense of regular and irregular verbs, articles, possessive adjectives, and how to form negatives and questions. Language functions include greetings, introductions, ordering food, describing people, and giving directions. Skills: Listening comprehension, speaking, pronunciation, reading, writing. Text: Discovering French, Bleu.

French 2
This course is designed to reinforce the concepts learned in level 1, to expand students’ command of grammar, and to increase fluency. We use the second level text, Discovering French, Blanc, audio cassette tapes, videos, music, and outside readings to give students exposure to French in various contexts. Language structures learned in level 2 include the past tense (passé composé and imparfait), object pronouns, and the use of il faut. Topics and functions: Shopping for food, recipes, making phone calls, describing feelings and needs, understanding street directions. Culture: Le Tour de France bicycle race, using le métro, cuisine in France, Morocco, Algeria, Louisiana.

French 3
In French 3 we continue to build vocabulary, grammar skills, reading, writing, speaking, and listening comprehension. Students begin to become more independent in their learning and are able to choose methods which work best for them. For example, they may choose to spend more time with French interactive computer programs, and less time with textbooks. Individual students may opt for more use of video or audio cassettes or translation. At this level we use French in Action videos along with the Discovering French Blanc text and audio tapes. . By the end of the year students know irregular adjectives, future and conditional verb tenses, more irregular verbs, idiomatic expressions with faire and avoir.

French 4
Using Discovering French, Rouge, students learn to recognize the literary past tense (passé simple) and begin to do longer translations. We begin by translating articles in the text on history, art, and literature. Increasingly, students read about topics of their choice outside the textbook. Classroom conversations are in French. French films are used in class and as homework. Students are encouraged to use the internet as a language-learning tool.