Teaching & Learning: Curriculum - Foreign Language

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Introduction

The Arlington Foreign Language Department provides in-depth instruction in Spanish, French and Latin for students in grades 6 through 12. At the Ottoson Middle School, all three languages are offered as an elective for entering grade 6 students who study their chosen language three times per week. In grades 7 and 8, the classes meet 4 times per week. Students who perform well in the middle school program are eligible to take the same language on the honors level once they enroll in grade 9 at the high school. At Arlington High School, the three languages are available for all four years on both the beginning (CP) level as well as at the honors level. Additionally, high-achieving students are invited to accept the challenge of level IV AP courses in the senior year. Students who enroll in these courses are required to take the AP exam in the spring. Foreign Language study for at least two years has become a graduation requirement at AHS.

Although this is not yet an MCAS area, all courses in the department are in alignment with and assessed in accordance with the Massachusetts Foreign Language Curriculum Frameworks. The major strands of Communication, Culture, Comparison, Connections and Community are reflected in the curriculum documentation and the teaching strategies of the staff. Communication is stressed in the development of aural-oral skills, and cultural background forms an important source of understanding as students compare and contrast our modern world with that of the ancient Romans and our way of life with that of other countries. Foreign language courses are also content-rich in the various additional disciplines touched upon, such as literature, history, art, music, as well as religious and cultural institutions. Overseas travel has also supplemented language study in the form of an exchange program with a high school in the south of France where AHS juniors are invited to spend their April vacation.

As the Arlington schools focus upon the development of skills necessary for success in the 21st century, the department is keeping pace with the implementation of a state of the art language laboratory at AHS. This facility will house the latest software which will allow our students in all three languages to develop proficiency in listening and pronunciation, as well as conversational skills in the modern languages. The language lab is expected to be fully operational by the fall of 2007. In another example of technology integration, the state Department of Education has cited in its frameworks a project developed by the AHS Foreign Language department which is a major component of the curriculum for the French III honors program.

For the past several years, our students in French, Latin and Spanish have been participating in the national exams: Le Grand Concours, as well as the National Latin and National Spanish exams. These assessments, which pit Arlington's students in competition with students across the country, take place in the early spring with results available normally after the April break. Our list of award winners grows longer every year as our pupils show their levels of expertise and excellence in relation to their peers in other schools and other states.