Language Department

The Language Department strives to instill in each student a love for language, cultures, and the satisfaction derived from the relative mastery of a second language. We aim to develop in the student the ability to read with understanding and to speak and write correctly and effectively. We teach structures in context through storytelling and immersing the student in the language during the class period. Emphasis is placed on comprehensive input. We build on this by further presenting the language to the students through expanded reading, speaking, writing, conversation, and group work. Finally, we encourage the students to study language at the college level and to experience those languages and cultures first-hand through chaperoned trips and exchange programs creating inter/intrapersonal connections to the languages being studied.

Spanish language students can opt to partake in an exchange with the San Cayetano School in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The Summer Institute in Puigcerdà is an academic and cultural program for students in all levels of Spanish. French students have the opportunity to take a trip to Quebec in the colder weather and experience the Francophone language and culture.

In Latin, students develop reading fluency and cognitive skills. With continual exposure to vocabulary, forms, and grammatical structures within a text, we reinforce the students’ understanding of these topics. We teach the Latin language and topics in Roman culture in context, with a view to enrich the students’ experience of each author covered.

Language courses at all levels are scaffolded to the AP Exam allowing implementation of real life situations and more useful vocabulary to all students.

Note: In addition to fulfilling the three-year language requirement, students may elect to take a second language. In doing so, they must commit to study that language for at least two years. Sixth Formers may not enroll in a first-year language.

The Donovan Center for Learning may waive the three-year language requirement for students with diagnosed language or learning differences. Students for whom English is a second language are expected to meet all of the School’s distribution requirements with the exception of foreign language.

Language courses are listed below; please download the Academic Guide for a complete list of our course offerings.

Courses

FRENCH 1

FRENCH 2

FRENCH 3

FRENCH 4

ADVANCED PLACEMENT FRENCH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Students in the AP Language class prepare for the AP Language and Culture exam. Conducted exclusively in French, the course continues to develop all language skills. The students also compose and express more complex thoughts and ideas, review grammar, and become familiar with the format of the AP exam. Though the AP exam is the final assessment, this class continues the acquisition of structures and fine-tunes language use and skills. The course prepares students to take the AP French Language exam in May.

SPANISH 1

SPANISH 2

SPANISH 3

In Spanish 3 the students complete their study of grammar, focusing on the perfect tenses and the subjunctive. We continue the emphasis on oral and more advanced written communication at this level. Students who have shown a knack for and ease with the language may be selected for the honors Spanish 3 class where we begin to focus on Advanced Placement tasks. Honors section available.

SPANISH 4

ADVANCED TOPICS IN SPANISH — CONVERSATION AND CONTROVERSY

In this post- AP course, students will cover a variety of topics ranging from deforestation to immigration, racism, and the many challenges that arise with these issues. Through authentic documentaries, articles, and podcasts, students will live the issues facing many Spanish speakers in the United States and in their home countries. With the use of debates, speeches, and persuasive writing, the students will culminate their language experience by covering current topics and being able to speak to the topic in the second language. Department approval required.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT SPANISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Conducted exclusively in Spanish, this course continues to develop language skills. Students will also compose and express more complex thoughts and ideas, review grammar, and become familiar with the format of the AP exam. Though the AP exam is the final assessment, this class continues language acquisition and fine-tunes language use and skills. The course prepares students to take the AP Spanish Language exam in May.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT SPANISH LITERATURE AND CULTURE

Students in this class read representative prose (short stories, novels and essays), poetry, and drama from the Spanish speaking world. This is a survey course that follows the reading list published by the College Board. The students make connections between the works read and the historical period and regions in which they were written. Students develop a deeper understanding of the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. The course prepares students to take the AP Spanish Literature exam in May.

LATIN 1

LATIN 2

LATIN 3

Students begin the year by reading excerpts from Julius Caesar’s De Bello Gallico and selections from Catullus and Cicero. In the second semester, the students read selections from books 1-6 of Vergil’s Aeneid as well as excerpts from Horace’s Odes and Ovid’s Metamorphoses within the cultural context of the Augustan age. Finally, they will read post-antique era authors, including Erasmus, Petrarch, and John Parke. Honors section available.

LATIN 4

ADVANCED PLACEMENT LATIN

AP Latin is equivalent to an upper-intermediate level college course in Latin focusing on the in-depth study of selections from two of the greatest works in Latin literature: Vergil’s Aeneid and Caesar’s Gallic War. Students cultivate their understanding of classics through preparing and translating readings and considering themes in the context of ancient literature as they explore concepts like literary techniques, Roman values, war and empire, leadership, views of non-Romans, history and memory, and human beings and the gods.