World Languages Department

All students are required to take at least one year of a language other than English (LOTE) in high school. Students working toward their Advanced Regents Diploma will need three years of a language and a passing final exam score at the end of their third year or a five unit technology or art sequence.

World Languages Course Offerings

Latin 7/Spanish 7 (Half year each)

Students will be exposed to basic language skills and cultural understandings of each language. Through active participation in the course, students will gain vocabulary skills, grammar skills, and historical and artistic appreciation of the culture associated with each language presented. At the end of this course, students will select their language of preference for further study in 8th grade and beyond.

Latin 1

Students will continue to build on the skills and concepts presented in their previous studies. Students will continue to develop a more comprehensive vocabulary base and grammatical foundation. Students will take a locally developed proficiency exam in Latin in June. Successful completion of this exam is required for graduation from high school. This class includes both students who are starting the language from the very beginning as well as those who have completed one semester in 7th grade.

Latin II – 1 Credit

Latin 2 students will continue to develop their reading, listening, speaking and writing skills and learn more vocabulary and respective English derivatives. Throughout the Latin sequence, cultural understanding and language learning are intertwined. Students must pass the Latin I Proficiency exam and Latin I before entering Latin II.

Latin III – 1 Credit

A broader and deeper knowledge and Latin vocabulary, culture, and language structure will be the focus of this course. Students will take a culminating final exam in Latin in June.

Advanced Latin – 1 Credit

Advanced Latin Poetry is offered in alternating years with Latin IV Prose. Students who sign up for the University in the High School Program through the University at Albany and successfully complete one of these courses earn four credit hours of college credit; students who take both earn a total of seven college credits. Also, those who enroll in both Advanced Latin Poetry and Advanced Latin Prose will be prepared to take the AP Latin exam in their second year of the class.

AP Latin – 1 Credit

Students enrolled in the second year of Advanced Latin will have the opportunity to take the AP Latin exam in May of their senior year.

Spanish 1

Students will continue to build on the skills and concepts presented in their previous studies. Students will continue to develop a more comprehensive vocabulary base and grammatical foundation. Students will take a locally developed proficiency exam in Spanish in June. Successful completion of this exam is required for graduation from high school. This class includes both students who are starting the language from the very beginning as well as those who have completed one semester in 7th grade.

Spanish II – 1 Credit

Spanish II students will continue to develop listening, reading, speaking and writing skills through thematic units. The acquisition of target language communication, vocabulary, grammatical concepts and cultural learning will continue throughout the Spanish sequence. Students must pass the Spanish I Proficiency exam and Spanish I before entering Spanish II.

Spanish III – 1 Credit

Students in Spanish 3 will take a culminating final exam in Spanish in June. The class will continue to build vocabulary, grammatical and cultural skills and understandings. Students will be expected to demonstrate their speaking, reading, writing and listening skills consistently throughout the course.

Advanced Spanish IV – 1 Credit (3 college credit hours)

Students will continue to build their Spanish skills through conversational, vocabulary, grammatical, cultural and literary study. Students will be expected to demonstrate their learning through speaking, listening, reading and writing at an advanced level. Students successfully completing/passing this course will earn three college credits from SUNY Adirondack (for a reduced fee).

Advanced Spanish V – 1 Credit

This is an advanced conversational course that will build upon previous Spanish language skills and courses, and pursue specific interests of the class through many cultural opportunities.