Foreign Language Department

Mrs. Peace and Yolanda Bowman

Our Vision

     The Foreign Language Program of Studies is designed to enable students to use oral and written language for meaningful and culturally appropriate communication in the situations they are most likely to encounter. The program helps students appreciate linguistic and cultural diversity and the contributions of other peoples
to world civilization.Students begin to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for effective participation in an economically, socially, and politically interdependent world.

The goal of the Montgomery County Public Schools’ foreign language program is to educate students in a language and culture in order to make them knowledgeable and active members of a global society. Students will learn to use foreign languages for meaningful communication in both spoken and written form. The foreign language program emphasizes language as it is used in real life situations that students are most likely to encounter. Through foreign language study, students develop sensitivity to the cultural and linguistic heritage of other groups, understand their influence on American culture, and become prepared to participate in a society characterized by linguistic and cultural diversity.

Enduring Understanding
• As the world moves towards a global community, it is increasingly important to be able to communicate in languages other than English.
• It is important to understand the cultural perspectives that generate patterns of behavior, ways of life, worldviews, and contributions.
• Proficiency in a foreign language is a vehicle to gaining knowledge that can only be acquired through that language and its culture.
• The study of a foreign language enables students to develop insights into the nature of language and culture.
• Learning a foreign language enables an individual to participate in multilingual communities.

Organization of Content
Students of a foreign language learn to use language for specific purposes in a variety of situations with ever-increasing linguistic and cultural accuracy. In addition to gaining communication skills, students acquire cultural knowledge and culturally appropriate interaction skills essential for communicating with native speakers of the language. They develop insights into their own language and culture through linguistic as well as cultural comparisons with the foreign language and culture they are studying. The interdisciplinary focus of relating the content they are learning in other academic areas to content in their foreign language class also enhances their foreign language experience. Students become aware of the use of foreign languages in their community as well as the ability to access the foreign culture and people via technological connections.

Gifted/Talented Spanish 1 – This course follows the standard high school curriculum with a required standardized final exam. Students will receive high school credit after successfully completing the subsequent course in high school.