Languages

List of 5 items.

• Ninth Grade: Latin II

  Students learn new Latin grammatical forms (particularly verb and participle forms) and vocabulary and apply them through written and oral assignments. They explore, identify, and analyze syntactical patterns, comparing and manipulating different grammatical constructions. When translating, they discuss and evaluate how to create a smooth narrative flow that accurately reproduces the original Latin in idiomatic English. Students also investigate aspects of the political and social history of Rome, and discuss and evaluate works of Greek literature (e.g., Athenian tragedy) that influenced Roman writing.

• Tenth Grade: Latin III

  Students explore complex grammatical and syntactical structures as they translate selections from Latin prose (Caesar’s Gallic Wars) and poetry (Vergil’s Aeneid). They discuss and analyze the authors’ styles, narrative strategies, and rhetorical aims, paying close attention to the manipulation of traditional figures of speech. They investigate Rome’s transition from Republic to Empire and begin to read and assess Homer’s Iliad and its influence on later literature.

• Eleventh Grade: Latin IV (Vergil’s Aeneid; offered alternately with Latin V)

  Students translate substantial portions of Vergil’s epic poem, scrutinizing the ways in which details of language help to construct a narrative whose beauty, philosophical depth, and ideological sophistication continue to make it one of the central texts of world culture. Students analyze the poet’s interweaving of rhetoric, sound, imagery, and intertextuality as they discuss Aeneas’ story through a variety of critical lenses. They complete reading The Iliad in translation and compare how Homer and Vergil present their visions of heroism and the human struggle for a meaningful identity.

• Ninth to Twelfth Grades: Upper School Intermediate Spanish

  Students review and apply language concepts and skills such as verb forms, agreement, and sentence structure as they master a wider range of grammar structures and vocabulary through contextualized practice. Students make analytical observations about the language as they listen, speak, read, and write to achieve communication goals. Students gain competence in completing communication tasks in a variety of practical situations such as ordering in a restaurant, communicating with an exchange student, or traveling. Moreover, they develop the ability to recognize language structures and apply language concepts to problem solve in unfamiliar situations.

• Ninth to Twelfth Grades: Upper School Advanced Spanish

  Students practice language skills needed for oral and written communication at an advanced level. Spanish students hone listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills while further developing their socio-cultural competence. Developing and evaluating arguments as they express opinions, students explore controversial topics in sociology, psychology, economics, ecology, and politics as they develop their presentational, interpersonal, and interpretive language skills.