French Culture: This course explores the country of France and its culture by focusing on a variety of cultural topics such as:  food, music, film, sports, Parisian monuments and basic French vocabulary (greetings & numbers). The essential question for 6th Grade French Culture is What is French Culture? The course is taught mostly in English with a brief introduction to the French language. 

Spanish Culture: This course explores the country of Mexico and its culture. Students will learn about a variety of cultural topics including art, music, food, sports, holidays, games, and basic Spanish vocabulary (greetings, emotions and numbers). The essential question for 6th Grade Spanish Culture is What is Spanish Culture? The course is taught mostly in English with a brief introduction to the Spanish language. 

Exploratory French & Exploratory Spanish: 

This course includes 1 quarter of French and 1 quarter of Spanish. These classes are designed to be an introduction to the languages and cultures of French and Spanish speaking countries as well as aid in choosing a language to study in 8th grade. The class is taught 90% or more in the target language using Comprehensible Input (CI). 

The curriculum for Exploratory French and Spanish is content-based and focuses on high frequency vocabulary words. The essential question for 7th grade French is How would life look if I were growing up in France? The essential question for 7th grade Spanish is How does learning a second language spark curiosity? Both classes explore basic commands, greetings, numbers, high-frequency vocabulary: verbs, adjectives and nouns. Additionally, students will explore various cultural topics such as: food, music, holidays, and film from the target country. Exploratory French focuses on France and Exploratory Spanish focuses on Spain. 

French 1: This course is the first of five sequential levels that are available to students. Students will acquire skills in reading, listening, writing and speaking in French through comprehensible input. Students will also gain cultural understanding by exploring various French-speaking countries. Participation is key for student success in this course. The course is conducted in French and students are encouraged to use the language each day. 

Spanish 1: This course is the first of five sequential levels that are available to students. Students will acquire skills in reading, listening, writing, and speaking in Spanish through comprehensible input. Students will also gain cultural understanding with an emphasis on hispanics in the United States and various Spanish-speaking countries. Participation is key for student success in this course. The course is conducted in Spanish and students are encouraged to use the language each day. 

Level 1 French & Spanish: Both courses are taught in the target language using Comprehensible Input (CI) and all curriculum is content based. Both languages have the same units with a target country focus. 

• Unit 1: Introduction to Commands, Essential Question What does culture mean to me? 

  • • French Country Focus: Middle East (Lebanon, Israel) 

    • Spanish Country Focus: Latinos in the USA

• Unit 2: Family Unit, Essential Question: How do families differ? 

  • • French Country Focus: Quebec, Canada 

    • Spanish Country Focus: Mexico 

• Unit 3: Me Unit, Essential Question: Who Am I? 

  • • French Country Focus: France

    • Spanish Country Focus: Spain

• Unit 4: Secret Agents Novel by Mira Canion Unit, Essential Question How is art powerful? 

  • • French Country Focus: France continued...

    • Spanish Country Focus: Spain continued...

• Unit 5: School Unit, Essential Question Who am I as a student? 

  • • French Country Focus: Africa: Ivory Coast, Algeria, Senegal 

    • Spanish Country Focus: Argentina