Rosemont High School

World Language Course Descriptions

World Language Proficiency Exam

If you speak a language other than English, consider taking the World Language Proficiency Exam. It will help you with your placement in a course, and you may earn credits. If you have any questions about this, speak with your counselor.

Japanese Level 1 -
Prerequisite: None

Japanese level I is a year-long elective course. In this class, we will be covering the following topics: Greetings, Classroom, Friends, Family, Home, School, and Daily Routines. You will also learn about the three writing styles used in the Japanese language and will be proficient in hiragana by the end of the first semester, and katakana by the end of the second.

Japanese Level 2-
Prerequisite: Lv1 Japanese
Japanese level II is a year-long elective course. In this class, we cover the following topics: Daily Life, Fashion, Japanese Events, My Ideal Date, Japanese Foods, Weather, and Health. You will also learn how to read and write level II kanji.

Japanese Level 3/4 -
Prerequisite: Lv2/Lv3 Japanese respectively
Japanese level III/IV is a year-long elective course. In this class, we cover some of the following topics: Future Plans, Japanese Folktales, Cooking, Holidays and Events, My Town, Hobbies, Inventions, and Travel. You will also learn how to read and write level III/IV kanji.

In the Spring of each year, the students take a field trip to Japan Town in San Francisco.

French Level 1  
Prerequisite: None

Students will begin the study of the French language and culture through total communication: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and doing projects. Class participation, which is very important, takes the form of drills, poems, pair work, dialogs, and games. Practice exercises will be assigned daily to re-enforce new material. There will be written and oral assessments. Each unit is built around a theme. The themes for French 1 are: Greetings and introductions, school life and activities, the family, places to go, sports and the weather.

French Level 2  
Prerequisite: French 1 with a passing grade of C or better

Students will continue the study of the French language and culture through total communication: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and doing projects. Class participation, which is very important, takes the form of drills, poems, pair work, dialogs, and games. Practice exercises will be assigned daily to re-enforce new material. There will be written and oral assessments. Each unit is built around a theme. The themes for French 2 are: Clothing, celebrations, travelling, the house and chores, food, the body and health.

French Level 3
Prerequisite: French 2 with a passing grade of C or better

Students will further the study of the French language and culture through total communication: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and doing projects. Class participation, which is very important, takes the form of drills, poems, pair work, dialogs, and games. Practice exercises will be assigned daily to re-enforce new material. There will be written and oral assessments. Each unit is built around a theme. The themes for French 3 are: Cars and technology, getting and giving directions, jobs, nature, art.

French Level 4
Prerequisite: French 3 with a passing grade of C or better

Students will further the study of the French language and culture through total communication: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and doing projects. Class participation, which is very important, takes the form of drills, poems, pair work, dialogs, and games. Practice exercises will be assigned daily to re-enforce new material. There will be written and oral assessments. At this level, students will have the opportunity to watch short movies and read francophone literature. Each unit is built around a theme. The themes for French 4 are: Human rights, diversity, stages of life, science, leisure activites.

Spanish Level 1 -
In Lv 1, students will be exposed to the Spanish speaking world through a general study of the:

1. Language: parts of speech, syntax, subject / verb agreement, present tense verbs, high frequency vocabulary, and interrogatives

2. Culture: compare and contrast other cultural practices and products to our own

3. Geography: knowledge of the countries and their captial cities, their locations around the world, significant land formations within the countries and how they affect the people living there

Communication in the target language will be emphasized from the beginning and will be used to discuss the three previous areas mentioned in the most basic of terms. Students will be expected to use the target language as much as possible to express themselves and to show comprehension. 

Topics to be studied include but are not limited to:

1. People's physical characteristics and personality traits, families, states of being and conditions

2. The house and objects within it, chores, leisure time activities

3. Clothing and footwear, names of stores, basic shopping vocabulary

4. Describing foods and beverages, grocery stores

5. Parts of the body, personal hygiene, illnesses and basic remedies

6. Work, hobbies, free time activities, sports

7. Transportation, basic travel, cities, locations and directions

8. The universe and basic geography, nature and the environment

9. The Alphabet, numbers up to 100, colors, days, months

10. Greetings, goodbyes, basic conversational phrases

11. Describing people, places, things including family descriptions

12. Asking questions for communicative purposes

13. Discussing likes / dislikes and favorites

14. Discussing everyday practices and habits using present tense verb conjugations (but not limited to these)

15. Understanding the basics of verb conjugations with a focus on the present tense (but not limited to the present)

Spanish Level 2 -
Prerequisite: Lv1 Spanish or proficiency based test for Spanish Speakers

In Lv2, students will continue with all the knowledge gained in Lv1 to continue studying aspects in the following areas:

1. Language - adding on parts of speech such as object pronouns, commands, talking about the past and future using a variety of verb tenses, and more complex and compound sentence structures.

2. Culture - a continuation of the study of cultural practices with a more in depth focus.

3. Geography - exploring the various areas within a country and how those areas are similar or different to each other depending on the topography of the country

A strong emphasis on communication within the target language will guide the instruction and practices within the class. Students will be required to use the target language for basic communication and question asking. Using the target language to complete all tasks will be strongly supported and required.

Topics to be studied include but are not limited to:

1. Relationships, personal & physical characteristics, emotional states of being

2. The home: furniture, rooms, objects, appliances, and the neighborhood

3. Clothing, accessories, stores, shopping

4. Foods, cooking in and dining out, shopping for food

5. The body, personal hygiene, health, healthy habits and lifestyle, illnesses and symptoms

6. Trips and excursions, hotels, modes of transportation,

7. School, professions, hobbies, sports

8. Geography, weather, nature and the environment

Spanish Level 3 - 

Prerequisite: Lv2 Spanish or proficiency based test for Spanish Speakers

In Lv3, students will continue with all the knowledge gained in Levels 1 & 2 to continue studying aspects in the following areas:

1. Language - creating complex and compound sentence structures to provide in-depth descriptions, share opinions, hopes, and desires, react to stimulus, engage in interpersonal dialogue with minor hesitations

2. Culture - a continuation of the study of cultural practices with a more in depth focus while looking at the connections between societies

3. Geography - understand how the environment and natural disasters play a role in the development of societies in specific regions

Topics to be studied include but are not limited to:

1. Family and personal relationships including biographies

2. Extending and accepting or declining an invitation, talking on the phone

3. Personal belongings and obligations

4. Healthy habits, foods and visits to the doctor

5. The working world, technology, volunteering, and the community

6. Leisure time, events, traveling, and finding lodging

7. Nature, environmental issues, weather and natural disasters, natural resources

8. Historical figures, events, societies, politics, government, society as a whole

Spanish Level 4 - 

Prerequisite: Lv3 Spanish or proficiency based test for Spanish Speakers

In Lv4, students will continue with all the knowledge gained in the previous three levels to continue studying aspects in the following areas:

1. Language - creating complex and compound sentence structures to provide in-depth descriptions, share opinions, hopes, and desires, react to stimulus, engage in interpersonal dialogue and debates with minimal hesitations and share research from in depth studies of the Spanish speaking countries

2. Culture - take a deeper look into understanding cultural differences and similarities by making comparisons to our home culture(s)

3. Geography - gain insight as to how geography affects the societal and political developments in relation to the rest of the world.

All aspects of language study will be utilized with interpersonal and presentational communication skills being the focus. Students will elevate their writing skills to essay level and be able to present evidence to support their thesis statements in the target language. Students will be able to pull from a variety of sources to support their claims either in spoken debates/discussions or in written format. The class will mirror AP Spanish Language with a slightly lesser degree of rigor per the grading scale

Students will be graded in the following for areas for non-AP courses:

Rubrics for each task will be shared with the assignments. Students will be graded using the following scale: 

• 25%- Interpretive: Reading & Listening (IR & IL)

• 25%-Interpersonal: Writing & Speaking (IW & IS)

• 25%-Presentational: Writing & Speaking (PW & PS)

• 25%-Grammar / Language / Active Participation (OTHER)

AP Spanish Language -
Develop your Spanish language skills and learn about the cultures in Spanish-speaking parts of the world. You’ll practice communicating in Spanish and study real-life materials such as newspaper articles, films, music, and books. Skills you will learn include:

• Understanding Spanish when you hear it and read it

• Holding conversations in real-life situations

• Writing stories, letters, emails, essays, and other texts