Studying a foreign language helps students strengthen their communication skills, become better writers and critical thinkers and improve their cognitive abilities.

Strengths:

• The overall school philosophy dovetails well with the communicative approach used in teaching French and Spanish.
• Small classes at all levels allow for a personalized approach and increased participation.
• Access to a variety of teaching media, including video, cassette and computers, allows for greater exposure to authentic language and cultural information.
• The access to computers allows students at the advanced levels to edit papers.

Courses offered:
 
AP French
AP Spanish
AP Spanish Literature
French 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Spanish 1, 2, 3, 4
Spanish Literature
 
January Term Courses:
Cultures of Mexico
French Culture
Spanish Language Immersion
 
Click here for course descriptions

Vision Statement of the University High School World Languages Department

The World Language Department believes that students living in a global society should learn and/or master more than one language. Studying a foreign language enhances cognitive abilities, helps students strengthen their communication skills and enables them to become better writers and critical thinkers. By studying a foreign language and understanding/learning the nuances of the language and culture, students develop a wider perspective, allowing them to interact with a diverse world on social, emotional and academic levels.
 
University High School offers five levels each of French and Spanish. Difficulty and use of the target language increase as students progress from course to course. At the advanced levels, faculty conducts courses entirely in the target language. Teachers assess the students in the four main skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing as well as cultural knowledge.
 
The World Languages Department integrates the curriculum goals and the school’s core values into its instructional framework. Students learn personal responsibility as they complete frequent and academically challenging homework, learn to ask for help, ask insightful questions and take tests. Teachers seek to motivate students to work at their highest potential and teach them how to listen in an engaged and critical manner, fostering mutual respect, support and trust. Recognizing that students and teachers all possess their own view on the world and that there are many perspectives from which to study a topic, instructors teach the course material through multiple perspectives and endeavor to create a challenging but supportive learning environment. By giving students academic choices, fostering guided discovery, and using games as a teaching tool, teachers unlock the creative spirit of their students. Students, meanwhile, learn to respect differences and view them as positive elements of other cultures. When students and teachers work collaboratively in the learning process, the student becomes the steward of his/her education. Learning is an active and dynamic process. When the curriculum goals and core values of the school come together in the classroom through a carefully designed lesson and in a comfortable learning environment, the mission of the World Languages Department and University High School is achieved.