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.
Spanish 2
Spanish 2 is a class for students who have studied Spanish 1 at ESA or who have come to ESA with a background in middle school Spanish. The Spanish 2 classroom will be a linguistically rich environment in which students will have constant exposure to Spanish in its written and spoken form. There will be a strong emphasis placed on comprehensible input in the target language. Spanish 2 will focus on thematic units surrounding real events and situations in the everyday life of students. The course content will consist of the vocabulary, grammar, and culture necessary to facilitate comprehension and communication in real-life contexts using Spanish.