World Language Courses
Arabic I
Students will be instructed in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Focus will be on the development of grammar through thematic units. Students will be able to read, write, and orally communicate about time, daily activities, shopping, eating out, traveling, geography, weather, and clothing. Students will learn culture through celebrations, food, and traveling.
Arabic II
Students will be instructed in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Arabic II will be a continuation of Arabic I. Focus will be on the further development of grammar through thematic units. Students will be able to read, write, and orally communicate about time, daily activities, shopping, eating out, traveling, geography, weather, and clothing. Students will learn culture through celebrations, food, and traveling.
Arabic III
This course is designed to move learners to use Arabic in a wider cultural context. Learners will be widely exposed to Arabic culture and the Arab speaking world via thematic units. The overall arching learning objective of this course is to provide students with the structures and vocabulary to develop the critical and analytical mind in order to discuss pertinent themes in depth.
Chinese I
This course introduces students to the Chinese language (Mandarin) and to various Chinese cultures. A holistic approach is taken, with emphasis placed on developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Chinese characters are introduced early on to provide the necessary foundation for later study. The language will be brought alive by acting out skits and with other role-playing activities involving games, computers, video, etc. Students make use of the language in real-life environments like Asian markets and the zoo.
Chinese II
In this course, students reinforce and build on their acquired skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It includes the topics of family, animals, birthdays, dates, and time. The students will learn about Chinese performing arts, playing traditional board games and practice calligraphy.
Chinese III
This course will reinforce and build on students’ acquired skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing for independent work in the language. The students will perform skits and make multimedia projects to present their Chinese language skills.
*AP Chinese IV
In this course, cultural, historical and social issues will be introduced using a variety of activities. This rigorous course is designed to accelerate the student’s proficiency and achievement in the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
*French I
Students in the first year are introduced to French culture and French-speaking countries. They learn to speak, read, and write in French using simple grammatical structures and basic vocabulary. This vocabulary centers on student interests and everyday activities such as greetings, numbers, family, school, foods, sports, and other hobbies. Acquiring another language requires motivation and individual practice in addition to consistent participation in class activities.
*French II
French II continues to emphasize communication and speaking proficiency. Vocabulary and grammar are more numerous and more complex. Topics include aspects of daily life such as shopping, studying / traveling abroad, French cuisine, castles of France, celebrating holidays, and teenage entertainment. In addition to France, the cultures of other Francophone regions such as West Africa are introduced to show the broad scope of French throughout the world.
*French III
Much of French III is aimed at increasing the student’s proficiency and confidence in speaking, reading, writing, and listening comprehension in French, as well as deepening the student’s knowledge of Francophone cultures. Oral presentations, written essays, readings, and attention to current events all aid students in both reviewing grammatical concepts and approaching more advanced features of the language.
*AP French IV/V
This is college level French aligned to the curriculum framework created by the College Board. French IV and French V continue to emphasize fluency through the reading of short stories, essays, magazines, and novels. Students also study the history of France which acquaints them with not only major historical events, but also with many of the great names who contributed to the political, social, and artistic scenes of France and the French-speaking world.
*German I
This is a hands-on course, which develops the four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Students are actively involved in their own learning, both the language and culture, through TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling), games, videos, group activities such as creating gingerbread houses and much more. This course gives students a greater opportunity to attain language acquisition as opposed to language learning.
*German II
This is a hands-on course, which includes travel survival skills such as trips to an airport, post office, and open-air market. Role playing restaurant etiquette, creating an open air market and learning to exchange money at a bank create real life situations within the classroom. The AATG National test is a part of this class, which gives the students the opportunity for awards and a possible free trip to Germany.
*German III
This course provides students with an opportunity to perfect their skills through a variety of interactive activities. Cultural issues such as shopping in a store as well as a marketplace, sports, festivals, and communication tools will be used as a spring board to help with language acquisition. The language and culture is taught through TPRS, role-playing, and multimedia projects.
*German IV
This course provides students with an opportunity to perfect their language kills through role-playing, literature, radio plays, projects and other activities. Interactive cultural experiences continue to be an important part of this class. This weighted course will help to answer the question: Where do I go from here?
*Italian I
This course is taught in the Tuscan Dialect, the official language of Italy and the opera. The emphasis of this course is on successful oral communication and on developing understanding, speaking, reading, and writing skills, as well as grammar analysis. Elements of the culture of Italy, geography and some history will be included. Students are actively involved in learning both the language and the culture through games, videos, and music.
*Italian II
The emphasis of this course is on successful oral communication and on developing understanding, speaking, reading and writing skills, as well as grammar analysis. Elements of culture of Italy, geography and some history will be included. Students are actively involved in learning both the language and the culture through games, videos, music and singing.
*Italian III
This course allows students to review and expand the essential skill of the Italian language. Also, students write stories and give oral presentations. Films, games, CDs, and tapes are used for learning. Readings of Italian civilization are translated.
*Italian IV
This course provides students with an opportunity to perfect their skills through a variety of interactive activities. This course reviews and refines grammatical concepts covered in the previous levels and explores other moods and tenses such as the imperative and the subjunctive. It increases awareness of the Italian culture, history, literature, geography, and customs through reading and writing assignments. The language and culture is taught through TPRS. This course will provide an opportunity to acquire intermediate fluency in spoken Italian.
*Japanese I
This is a hands-on course, which develops the four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Students are actively involved in their own learning, both the language and culture, through TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling), games, videos and group activities. This course emphasizes cultural topics which include geography, education, seasonal festivals, sports, Manga, history, tea ceremony, calligraphy, Japanese cooking, and much more.
*Japanese II
Students continue the path of language acquisition through TPRS in Japanese II. In addition to stories, students will learn listening skills by watching Japanese anime and TV shows. Cultural emphasis will be on the Japanese society, and students will learn about educational issues, Japanese business, and status of women, etc.
*Japanese III
Students continue the path of developing aural communication skills and basic reading and writing skills. Students are encouraged to communicate with Japanese students regularly on Skype, and host Yamanashi students in March and August.
*AP Japanese IV
This course is designed to prepare students for the Japanese AP test. Students primarily use the computer to type Japanese, answer simulate aural communication questions, and record cultural presentations. Students are required to communicate with Japanese students regularly on Skype, and encouraged to host Yamanashi students in March and August.
*Spanish V S1 (WL571) | *Spanish V S2 (WL572)
PREREQUISITE: WL418 or WL515|Offered: Fall|.5 credit PREREQUISITE: WL571|Offered: Spring|.5 credit
This course is offered at Central Academy and available to all students that complete AP Spanish IV or Heritage Spanish Language Arts. This course is dual credit with DMACC’s FLS241 and FLS242; the grade will impact college transcripts. This course is offered at no charge to students. Throughout the course, students focus on increasing oral production of Spanish in multiple tenses and with fluid speech patterns. Students will read, write, listen, and speak Spanish every class period. Students can anticipate 90% of class being taught in Spanish and might need to complete work outside of class due to the nature of this college course. This course is appropriate for heritage Spanish students and any student successfully completing AP Spanish IV at the home high school. Native Spanish speakers need to have one year of Heritage Spanish courses completed prior to enrollment; no minimum English proficiency is required for this course. This course is not repeatable. Heritage or native Spanish speakers can anticipate taking Advanced Spanish Grammar and Voces Latinas as the next course. Non-native speakers can enroll in Medical Spanish Interpretation following this course.
Medical Spanish Interpretation S1 (WL391) | *Medical Spanish Interpretation S2 (WL392)
PREREQUISITE: WL212 or higher, CNA student|Offered: Fall|.5 credit PREREQUISITE: WL391|Offered: Spring|.5 credit
Medical Spanish Interpretation is a course offered at Central Academy and designed to meet the growing demand for multilingual medical professionals and satisfy any world language requirements for college entrance and graduation. Any student enrolled in the CNA program is invited to join this class during their second year of CNA classes. Students not enrolled in the CNA program should successfully complete Spanish II prior to enrollment. This course will focus on learning key conversational skills to access immediate medical needs, question asking and response, and necessary vocabulary. Students should anticipate a vocabulary-heavy semester 1 and a focus on oral production in semester 2. Students can anticipate role-playing, hands-on activities, and developing cultural awareness about medical practices from around the Spanish-speaking world. Semester 2 of this course is dual credit at no charge to the student and will impact college transcripts. Spanish speaking students need to complete one Heritage Spanish course prior to taking this class; no minimum English proficiency requirement for native Spanish speakers. Students wanting a fourth year of Spanish can take Spanish III after this course or AP Spanish IV with teacher recommendation. Heritage Spanish students can take any additional Heritage Spanish course or AP IV after this class.
*Advanced Spanish Grammar S1 (WL491) | *Voces Latinas S2 (WL496)
PREREQUISITE: WL418|Offered: Fall|.5 credit PREREQUISITE: WL491|Offered: Spring|.5 credit
These courses are offered at Central Academy and designed to continue the Heritage Spanish course pathway. Both semesters are offered for dual credit with DMACC’s FLS181 and FLS281 and will impact college transcripts. Heritage and native Spanish speakers will focus on building additional skills in reading and writing to best-communicate their ideas, experiences, and needs. Students will polish and publish at least one written sample to create a class anthology and have it published. Second semester focuses on identifying and using register and language selection to communicate their ideas, experiences, and needs best orally. Students will work in small groups and present their voices to address an audience. These courses are not appropriate for non-Latino or Hispanic students. There is no minimum English proficiency required for these courses. These courses are not repeatable.
*Indicates weighted course. Japanese, Italian, French and German are weighted in the second semester only and receive DMACC in the second semester of each year.