Upper School
US Curriculum

Modern Languages

Students in our Upper School Spanish, French, and Chinese language programs take on the intricacies and challenges of complicated grammar and linguistic structures through reading, writing, speaking, and listening, while also gaining appreciation, awareness, and connection with other cultures and sensibilities.
Students in the modern language program graduate not only with an in-depth knowledge of the language(s) they have studied but also with the insights they acquire into the culture, history and literature of the places around the world that speak those languages.
     
     

Chinese Courses

List of 7 items.

  • Chinese I

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    In this beginning Chinese course, students will learn pronunciation patterns, tones and basic grammatical forms, including all elements of language instruction — listening, speaking, reading, writing, culture and history — at a pace appropriate to an Upper School course.

    Students will learn to read and write pinyin (phonetic representation of Chinese sounds) with correct tones, including techniques to input characters for electronic transmission. They will study Chinese character reproduction, including an introduction to Chinese radicals and measure words.

    The course approach will be thematic, and new materials will be incorporated by means of conversations, short articles, cartoons, stories and presentations. A textbook, workbook and character workbook will form the central core of the course, supplemented by other audio-visual and web-based resources.
  • Chinese II

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    In Chinese II, students will continue to work on Chinese conversation forms, augmented by new vocabulary, additional simplified characters and grammatical expressions. Students will expand their basic communication skills and will read and write short passages on familiar and personal topics.

    Chinese history and culture will continue to be introduced to help students develop a broader understanding and appreciation for their study of the language.
  • Chinese III

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    The Chinese III course gives students the opportunity to continue to expand their oral and written knowledge of Chinese so that they are able to discuss daily life topics with ease and confidence, read short stories and write about a variety of topics in more detail. Students will build upon their conversational and grammatical forms with more complex vocabulary and approximately 250 additional simplified Chinese characters.

    Chinese history and culture will continue to be included in the course materials to help students develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the language.
  • Chinese IV

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    The Chinese IV course builds on Chinese III and will give students the opportunity to continue to grow their oral and written knowledge of Chinese at an accelerated pace so that they are able to handle a variety of more complicated communicative tasks with ease and confidence. The class will read short stories and write about a variety of situational topics in more detail and complexity.

    Students will continue to build their conversational grammatical forms with the introduction of new patterns and grammatical expressions, including Chinese adages, as well as approximately 200 more Chinese simplified characters.

    Chinese history and culture, as in the previous levels, will continue to be introduced to help students better understand the language and culture of China.
  • Chinese V

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    The Chinese V course prepares students to continue their study of the Chinese language at an advanced level in college. It will help students to solidify their knowledge of spoken and written Chinese and bring their linguistic abilities to a level appropriate for their age group. Students will continue to build upon their conversational and grammatical forms, vocabulary and retention of Chinese characters.

    Varied aspects of Chinese culture and history will be used as topics for reading and class discussion. The class will be conducted primarily in Chinese. Writing assignments involving both writing and typing in Chinese will be given throughout the course.
  • AP Chinese Language and Culture

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits
    Prerequisite: Chinese IV and recommendation of current Chinese teacher

    This course conforms to the standards and expectations as described in the College Board curriculum for AP Chinese Language and Culture, and it moves at a fast pace. Students prepare authentic testing materials as prescribed for the AP examination in Chinese Language and Culture, and they use media to record original responses and presentations. All students must take the AP Chinese exam in May.
  • Advanced Topics in Chinese Language, Literature and Culture

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits

    This year-long course is open to students who have completed the AP Chinese course or Chinese heritage students who may have strong listening and speaking skills but more limited Chinese reading and writing skills. The purpose of instruction is to utilize previous language background to lay a solid foundation for further studying Chinese language, literature and culture.

    This course is taught exclusively in Chinese and focuses on expanding vocabulary and reading skills through book reading and video and film watching. It provides students with ample opportunities to develop proficiency in all communicative modes via maximum exposure to authentic culture and language. Written assignments, oral discussions, presentations and projects are frequent and important components.

French Courses

List of 8 items.

  • French I

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    At the end of the first year, students will have acquired a broad vocabulary of around 2,000 words and expressions. They will be able to communicate original ideas, in both oral and written form, about a variety of themes, including themselves, their home, preferred activities and academic life. Through readings and listening exercises, students will develop their pronunciation, fluency and confidence.

    Culturally and pedagogically relevant texts, videos and resources are used to reinforce grammar, vocabulary and all four linguistic skills.
  • French II

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    This course is open to students who have completed French I either in one year in the Upper School or in three years in the Middle School program. The course is highly interactive and affords students endless opportunities to develop all four key communication skills. Reading and writing are practiced regularly, reinforcing grammatical constructs and basal vocabulary relevant to a variety of themes.

    At the end of French II, students will increase their personal proficiency and be empowered to navigate many everyday situations in the language.
  • French III

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    As in previous years, reading, conversation and composition continue to be stressed. Students build their themed vocabulary through a variety of authentic and pedagogical realia while broadening their cultural knowledge of the French-speaking world. A great deal of new vocabulary and key idiomatic expressions are encountered. In addition, grammar is reviewed, and many new grammatical structures are introduced during the second and third trimesters.
  • Accelerated French III

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits 
    Prerequisite: “A-” in French II and recommendation of current French teacher 
     
    In addition to the coursework of French III, the Accelerated French III course will include more advanced cultural and historical readings, as well as a greater emphasis on speaking and writing.
  • French IV

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    This class, designed for students who wish to continue their study of French without necessarily matriculating toward the AP examination, is topic-based. Topics covered include health and fitness, education, relationships, holidays and travel, and environment.

    The approach is multi-skill, with an emphasis on the oral use of the language and comprehension skills, both aural and reading. Written work tends to be discursive and/or imaginative by nature, giving students the chance to formulate and express their own opinions and reactions and to practice different writing styles.

    There is also a film component, which begins with a review of the development of French cinema and continues throughout with a number of French films, chosen for their quality and/or their relevance to topics being studied. Some time is also spent each week on grammar review.
  • Advanced Communication in French

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits
    Prerequisite: French IV or AP French Language, as well as recommendation of current French teacher

    Students will continue their studies of French at an advanced level, focusing on the further development of interpretive and flexible oral communication skills. Students will develop their oral proficiency in the language through facilitated discussions, cooking in the target language and a self-guided exploration of recipes.

    The complexity of Franco-African, Franco-Caribbean and Franco-European cuisines will be examined through authentic and pedagogical resources. Topics will range from 17th century colonization to 21st century culinary influences, with the goal of exploring how these complex and dynamic relationships between communities and nations affect social perspectives, current events and culinary practices in both reciprocal and conflicting ways.

    This course will also embrace the varied products and practices of all communities explored, inspiring a sensitive and deeper understanding of the French-speaking and culinary world. Primarily designed to develop students’ verbal communication and oral comprehension in French, this is a conversation-based course where in-class engagement and active participation are heavily weighted.
  • AP French Language and Culture

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits
    Prerequisite: Completion of French III or IV with a grade of "B+" or above, as well as the recommendation of a current French teacher. Students take the AP French Language and Culture exam in May.

    The latest version of the AP French Language and Culture program includes language study at a high level, based around the exploration of certain prescribed themes. Students will encounter many different kinds of French (everyday, literary, journalistic and technical) and will develop and practice all four linguistic skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) via authentic activities and materials.

    The language’s grammar and essential structures will be studied and applied in a variety of realistic situations and for a variety of purposes, such as simple reporting or résumé, personal response, reformulation and persuasive speaking or writing. The acquisition of strong comprehension skills and effective communication strategies are prime goals of the course.

    Alongside its linguistic goals, the course will engage students in an exploration of French and Francophone culture in both contemporary and historical contexts and will develop their awareness and appreciation of its manifestation via the tangible (e.g., books, music) and the intangible (e.g., laws, institutions), via practices (e.g., social interactions within a culture) and perspectives (e.g., values, attitudes). Prescribed themes include global challenges, beauty and aesthetics, contemporary life, and science and technology. Materials will be drawn from a wide variety of media.
  • Post-AP Advanced French Literature

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits
    Prerequisite: AP French Language; occasionally, rising seniors who are strong French IV students may be permitted in this course upon the recommendation of their current teacher

    This course provides an opportunity for students to use and develop their knowledge of France and the Francophone world through an encounter with a carefully selected set of not only literary texts, but also videos, articles, blogs, podcasts and film. If you like to read, and to think and talk about what you read, then this is the course for you. As the course evolves, students will acquire the critical vocabulary needed to discuss and to write about what they read and see. 

    On the literary side, the course will provide a survey of French and Francophone literature from the 19th century to the 21st century, covering prose, poetry and theater. Topics covered will include representations of beauty and ugliness, the 19th century transformation of Paris, and questions of national and linguistic identity in French-speaking places.

Spanish Courses

List of 11 items.

  • Spanish I

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    At the end of the first year, students will have mastered a vocabulary of about 2,000 words. They will be able to communicate ideas, in both oral and written form, about such topics as weather, school, family, dining, sports, hobbies and travel.

    Through readings and listening exercises, students will develop their passive communication skills. The cultural diversity of the Spanish-speaking world is thoroughly explored in the course. Video and interactive computer programs are used to reinforce grammar, vocabulary and all four linguistic skills.
  • Spanish II

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    This course is open to students who have completed a Spanish I course. It covers a fairly extensive amount of grammatical concepts. As in Spanish I, students will be able to communicate their ideas in both oral and written forms, with significant emphasis on the narrative tenses, the imperative mood, and the future and conditional tenses.

    Students are exposed on a regular basis to the history and cultural components of various Spanish-speaking countries through readings and use of video and audio material. The course is highly interactive and promotes endless opportunities for students to develop their speaking and listening comprehension skills.

    At the end of Spanish II, students will speak with greater fluency and will demonstrate an overall strong command of several key topics of grammar. Students who maintain a high level of performance throughout the year and show a propensity to master the concepts with relative ease are eligible for Accelerated Spanish III, with the recommendation of the current teacher.
  • Spanish III

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    As in previous years, reading, conversation and composition continue to be stressed. Students build their themed vocabulary through three types of readings — historical, literary and journalistic — while broadening their cultural knowledge of the Spanish-speaking world.

    A great deal of new vocabulary is encountered. In addition, grammar is reviewed and several new structures (perfect tenses, continued study of the subjunctive mood) are introduced during the second and third trimesters. The texts are supplemented by video and audio material and outside readings.
  • Accelerated Spanish III

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits
    Prerequisite: “A-” in Spanish II and recommendation of current Spanish teacher

    In addition to the coursework for Spanish III, the Accelerated Spanish III course will include more advanced cultural and historical readings, as well as a greater emphasis on speaking and writing.
  • Spanish IV

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    This class is for students who have completed their third year of Spanish and intend to put their background in the language to practical use. Students are challenged to develop their own ideas and skills as global citizens as they master linguistic principles. Daily conversations, pair activities, readings, journal entries and research projects focus on current themes pertaining to the Spanish-speaking world, such as sustainability in nature, culture and economics. The goal is for students to develop fluency and ease in aural and written Spanish.

    Additionally, students build awareness of common pitfalls for English speakers and master the structure of the Spanish sentence so that they are ready to progress into advanced high school or college coursework.
  • Advanced Communication in Spanish

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    Prerequisite: Spanish IV and recommendation of current Spanish teacher, or AP Spanish

    Students continue their studies of Spanish at an advanced level with special attention given to developing active communication skills. This course is appropriate for students who have completed Spanish IV. The primary objective of this course is the development of students' communicative skills by focusing on the practical applications and functions of advanced grammatical structures. This is a conversation-based course where in-class engagement and active participation are heavily weighted. Further cultural and linguistic competency is fostered by a series of projects and thematic units.

    In this course, students will speak more fluently and with greater confidence about varied themes via extensive vocabulary expansion and fluency practice; they will acquire linguistic independence through better understanding of tense-sequencing and functional language; and they will understand and communicate effectively with native speakers despite rapid speech patterns or strong accents.
  • AP Spanish Language and Culture

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    Prerequisite: Accelerated Spanish III (with an “A-” or above) or Spanish IV and recommendation of current Spanish teacher. All AP students take the AP Exam in May.

    The AP language course will be conducted in Spanish with very few exceptions. Students will be encouraged to practice the target language consistently and to express themselves in a variety of styles, using strategies for different audiences (informal vs. formal).

    The vocabulary will be cyclical, presented in thematic units, and there will be vocabulary quizzes. Throughout the year, students will be expected to give two-minute presentations in preparation for the verbal component of the AP exam. Additionally, students will spend time in the computer lab where they will practice the strategies for both informal speaking and formal oral presentation. 

    Students will do a variety of listening comprehension exercises that include short dialogues and narratives, as well as selections from the BBC and CNN in Spanish. Films are used in order to enhance cultural knowledge, for exposure to varied types of pronunciations and to spark discussion of such topics as history, politics and family life. 

    This course also requires reading of short stories by Hispanic authors, leading to subsequent class discussion and related writing assignments. Through frequent writing assignments, students will be exposed to different strategies in preparation for the informal and formal writing component of the exam.
  • Post-AP Spanish: Literature & Film

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits

    Prerequisite: AP Spanish Language & Culture
    Advanced heritage speakers may request departmental permission in lieu of prerequisite.

    In this seminar-style course, we will explore seminal literary movements through individual works of literature and film of the Spanish-speaking world. Each literary movement will be accompanied by historical, artistic and cultural units that frame the literary movement in its full context and incorporate film adaptations of some of the major texts. The course will prepare students for college-level writing and discussions of novels, short stories, poetic verse, dramatic texts and film.

    Units of study will include the poetry of the Generation of ’98 lamenting the end of the Spanish empire, the vibrant poetry of Modernism in the early 1920s, the world of Magic Realism in the 1960s, Afro-Cuban identity literature and the influence of American writers in the literature of the Spanish-speaking world. The course will enable students to develop the critical tools to view and analyze literary film adaptations in order to evaluate the creative liberties that directors take when transforming works of literature into works of cinematic art.
  • Post-AP Spanish: Language & Culture

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits
    Prerequisite: AP Spanish Language & Culture

    This course seeks to develop further our most advanced Spanish students' ability to communicate comfortably, fluently and accurately. Through a series of thematic units of varying lengths, students will expand their knowledge of functional language and lexical groups, improve precision in written and spoken language, explore contemporary aspects of the Spanish-speaking culture and experience the practical application of Spanish through an extensive, long-term service-learning project in Westchester County.

    Our most advanced Spanish language students are given the opportunity to use the language to connect with and learn from our Spanish-speaking community while engaging in meaningful service. This conversation-based course requires a high level of class engagement and active participation.

    The course will include such units as: 
    • Effective cross-cultural communication;
    • Historical survey of the music of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean;
    • Latin-American immigrant experience(s) in the United States; 
    • Contemporary issues of the Spanish-speaking world; and
    • Los Romani — origins, myths and cultural legacy in Spain
  • Post-AP Spanish Level II: Mastering Fluency

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits
    Prerequisite: Post-AP Spanish Language and Culture or Post-AP Spanish Literature and Film

    Students continue their studies of Spanish at a superior level with special attention given to developing active communication skills. Students at the superior level are able to communicate with accuracy and fluency in order to participate fully and effectively in conversations on a variety of topics in formal and informal settings from both concrete and abstract perspectives.

    This course is appropriate for students who have completed Post-AP Spanish Language and Culture and/or Post-AP Spanish Literature and Film. The primary objective of this course is to help the learner develop increased accuracy and sophistication in writing and speaking in Spanish. Students will further develop their ability to express their interests, explain complex matters in detail, and provide lengthy and coherent narrations with ease, fluency and accuracy.

    To this end, there will be ample writing and revising practice, with a focus on specific grammatical and lexical areas, customized to the needs of the students enrolled in the course. All writing will be based on a particular theme relating to the Spanish-speaking world, with a focus on film, literary texts, newspaper readings and conducting an interview.

    Authentic texts from across different genres of film, newspapers, fiction, songs and essays will be used to develop all skills with emphasis on oral production, as well as intercultural and pragmatic competence.
  • Many Tongues: Linguistic Diversity and Identity

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits

    Languages reflect the diverse and rich human experience and shape the way we see and understand the world. This course will explore the ways in which language shapes and is shaped by cultural identities in different geographic regions of the world through a set of carefully selected case studies based on music, film, literature, articles, interviews, blogs and other media. Topics will include endangerment and revitalization, multilingualism and language contact (including code-switching, language borrowing and the creation of new languages), the relationship between language and power, language policy and language activism.

    Students will recognize and articulate how sets of linguistic interactions, encounters, exchanges and — sometimes — conflicts are integral dimensions to the making of complex identities. While reflecting on the formation of linguistic and cultural identities, students will develop empathy for a variety of groups and actors across the globe and will think of their own role as global citizens, while relating the material to their own experiences of belonging.

    At the same time, students will also have mini-lessons in many of the world languages they will be discussing, such as Arabic, Swahili, Haitian Creole, Indonesian, Quechua and Romansh. These lessons will allow them to gain a better appreciation of the wonderfully varied ways in which different languages structure thoughts and make meaning of the world. At the end of the class, students will be asked to prepare a plan to start learning a language they have never learned before.