The foreign language department currently offers French and Spanish. We use an immersion method encouraging students to communicate in the target language from the very first day of class. Our three-year language sequence is designed to give students the necessary communicative and grammatical skills to prepare them for college coursework in foreign language.
French 1
In this introductory French course, students learn the basics of communication and gain exposure to various facets of French culture. Students will gain confidence in speaking a foreign language by acquiring necessary skills for effective communication: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students will acquire these skills through cultural activities, role-playing, poetry, and music. As we explore topics such as Conversational Basics, Interests of the Youth and Family, students will discover the ways in which the French language and French cultures are relevant to their own lives not only as students at Essex Street Academy, but also as developing global citizens. This course will be presented primarily in the target language (approximately 90%). Class Website
French 2
This course builds on communication skills and cultural knowledge to which students were exposed in the introductory course. Students will engage with the language through work in small and large groups, as well as through prepared and spontaneous dialogues, songs, poems, film, scripted listening activities and authentic texts. During this second year, students will focus more on reading and writing than in their previous year’s study while focusing on the topics of Personal Identity and Interests, Leisure Activities, and Clothing/Fashion. Students will explore French culture more deeply through research assignments and mini-projects to be completed in small groups based on 5 different regions of France: Aquitaine, Midi-Pyrénées, Languedoc-Roussillon, Pays de la Loire, and Centre. This course is taught almost exclusively in French.
Spanish 1
Spanish 1 is a course designed to introduce students to the basics of the Spanish language, building a strong linguistic and cultural foundation. The development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills is emphasized. Through structured input and output activities, Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS), a variety of projects and classroom activities, authentic materials, and a great deal of partner and group work, students will focus on oral and written communication skills. Students will be asked to be active participants in the language acquisition through choral repetitions, accountable talk in Spanish, and other language-monitoring strategies. The course is designed for novice learners.
AP Spanish
AP Spanish Language and Culture is a college-level Spanish course designed for high school students who hope to further their study of Spanish and receive college credit. The focus of this course will be on three modes of communication: Interpersonal, Interpretive, and Presentational. Within each of these modes, students will be exposed to a wide variety of resources in the target language; they will engage in reading, writing, listening, and speaking as they navigate a variety of materials in Spanish. Students will receive instruction in finer points of grammar and structure in order to carry out a variety of communicative tasks. However, the main focus of this course is to study, appreciate, and understand the multiple representations and manifestations of culture through the Spanish language. As a result, this course will be conducted entirely in Spanish.