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One of the best reasons for choosing Western for your study of Foreign Language is the expertise of our Foreign Language teachers.

Spanish

Spanish I uses the textbook, "Exprésate 1," and students learn introductory vocabulary, culture, conversation, and basic grammar. It utilizes a lot of technology, as seen at http://go.hrw.com/gopages/. It's quite a fun year! Señora Owens usually teaches this level.

Spanish II uses the textbook, "Exprésate 2," and students work on more introductory and intermediate vocabulary, culture, conversation, and basic grammar. Again, it utilizes a lot of technology, also seen at http://my.hrw.com. Now that the students' skills are increasing, their fluency will be getting better and therefore the classroom interaction becomes more enjoyable. Señora Owens and Señor Ruth usually teach this level.

Spanish III uses the textbook, "Paso a Paso Level 2," and students work on more intermediate vocabulary, culture, conversation, and basic grammar. Now that the students' skills are increasing even more, their fluency will be getting even better and students should be able to speak quite well by this level. Señor Ruth and Señora Bukowsky usually share teaching this level.

Spanish IV is an Honors Course, and uses the "Nuevas Vistas" program. A native speaker from Argentina, Señora Bukowski usually teaches this level. 

Spanish V is an Advanced Placement course, and uses a college-level textbook, "Pasajes" for grammar instruction and uses "Barrons" as a preparatory textbook for the A.P. Test. It is an extremely rigorous but satisfying course. The nation-wide A.P. Spanish Test is in May. Señor Ruth usually teaches this level.

French

French I uses the textbook, Discovering French Bleu. Students will have use of many other materials in class and can also access information on line. Coursework includes identification of self, family and friends, numbers, telling time, descriptions, calendar and useful expressions as well as verbs and pronoun usage. There are also cultural notes about life in French-speaking countries. The class is interactive with lots of opportunities for students to speak and hear French.

French II uses the second in the series, Discovering French Blanc. Students will spiral some of the information learned in French I and extend their use of written as well as spoken French. They will use more complex expressions and write short essays, still about personal experiences and in a very controlled framework. They will use adverbs and the past tense to relate events. The emphasis is still on spoken expression, but the students will have more creative writing opportunities.

French III finishes the Allez,viens! textbook series which this group of students began in French I. They will complete chapters 5-12 in the textbook. They will have use of their own workbooks for home assignments. When they have completed French III, they should know all of the basic simple structures for written and oral communication and should be able to navigate the language in a variety of settings. French III is taught as an Honors class at Western so the assessments are rigorous.

French IV-V begins to prepare students to take the Advanced Placement Test to earn college credit. It is offered as a pre-AP class for those who have not taken high school French. For those who have already had French III or IV in high school, they may take the AP exam if the teacher deems them ready. Pre-AP is an Honors class and is evaluated accordingly. AP is a GT class and is evaluated with more demanding requirements. The students use the Barron's AP book and several ancillary materials.

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