Welcome to the World Languages Department

Margarita Dominguez - Department Chair

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.” -Marcel Proust

 Philosophy:

The World Language program aspires to develop facility in a second language as a comparative expression of thinking, feeling and judging, to create an awareness of other cultures and to become familiar with the relationship between language and culture, and between language and values.

The language program develops global awareness by enabling students to communicate in a second language at various levels of sophistication, discover new and different cultures, and become global citizens able to travel, study and work in different parts of the world.

The nature of our language classes creates a deeper understanding of ideas that transcend other disciplines generating meaningful connections between studies and the real world. As a result, our courses expand into interdisciplinary areas such as literature, philosophy, history, geography, and science.

We offer eight Modern Languages

Middle School: ESL, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish

Upper School: American Sign Language, ESL, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish

Upper School Electives: Russian & Russian for Heritage Speakers

We believe in the immersive approach. Constant exposure to a language and its culture is the best way for students to acquire authentic understanding. We are a dynamic community of teachers with widely varying backgrounds, interests, and theoretical approaches that bring the native experience into the classroom. All of our teachers are native speakers of the language they teach, and all are multilingual. Students are placed in classes according to ability and not by grade.

Cultural Events:

We host the community to celebrate several cultural events such as the Chinese New Year, Day of the Dead, and Japanese Spring Festival.

Our students participate in national Haiku and Poetry competitions, the French National Exam and our students produce the Language Gazette, a publication of student creative work in their subject language. 

Travel Abroad:

We organize language exchange programs as well as cultural and service trips annually. Students also have the option to study abroad for a period of their choice up to one school year.