This beginner’s course focuses on learning the Mandarin phonetic system (pinyin), including initials, finals and tones. Reading and writing in pinyin as well as using Mandarin to conduct simple conversations are also important objectives of this course. Various projects and hands-on activities allow students to explore Chinese traditions, holidays, festivals and calligraphy. The course is organized around a series of materials compiled and edited by the instructor.

The Chinese B course introduces the Chinese writing system as the students continue to develop their oral accuracy in tones and pronunciation in pinyin. Students learn the structure of Chinese characters, radicals and phonetic components through the following thematic units: school life, food, communication, shopping for clothes and weather, among others. Various projects and hands-on activities allow students opportunities to further enhance their linguistic competency skills and explore in depth the rich diversity of Chinese culture.

Chinese C focuses on the development of reading and writing skills. Students acquire the grammatical structures that facilitate reading and writing, while continuing to develop their listening and speaking skills in Chinese. The course is organized around the following thematic units: community, travel, sports, occupations and traditions, among others. Various projects and hands-on activities engage the students in daily conversations. Students also practice reading simple texts and writing to satisfy daily needs. The course also seeks to refine the students’ speaking skills by focusing on accurate tones, pronunciation and fluency.

This course serves to continue developing foundational skills acquired in Chinese C. Using the Integrated Chinese textbook, the course begins with a review of familiar topics such as greetings, family, dates and times, and hobbies. Subsequent lessons introduce more complex grammatical structures and vocabulary, enabling students to engage in deeper study and develop the skills needed for a smooth transition to more advanced coursework in Chinese at the upper school. Students will enhance their ability to read and write for a wider range of purposes, and participate in meaningful conversations. Hands-on projects and interactive activities further foster confidence and fluency, with a continued focus on accurate tones, pronunciation, and practical communication.  

In this course students further develop their listening, speaking, writing and reading skills in French. Students also acquire the vocabulary, idiomatic expressions and grammatical structures needed to communicate effectively in French. Students practice the use of the most common verbs in both the present tense and the passé composé. Students learn to develop patterns of speech common to French speakers and gain, through simple reading selections, an understanding and appreciation of the culture of the Francophone world.

The primary objective of French C is to continue developing communication skills so that, by the end of the course, students can express themselves with confidence, fluency and accuracy in the most common, everyday situations at the intermediate level. The course emphasizes all linguistic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) with a particular focus on correct pronunciation, conversational skills and vocabulary development. At the conclusion of the course, students are able to communicate accurately using sentence structures and verbs in the present, past and future tenses of the indicative mode, as well as the present subjunctive. Students use technology to give in-class oral presentations and attention is given to French and Francophone cultures through readings, videos and online work.

This course focuses on the further development of communication skills from the French C course, with a particular focus on reading and writing. Students acquire more sophisticated grammatical structures that allow them to read texts of greater difficulty and to write texts that satisfy a more complex range of communication needs. Meanwhile, students continue to develop their listening and speaking skills in French in order to demonstrate both quantity and quality of language production at the intermediate level. At the conclusion of the course, students have reinforced their abilities to communicate accurately using sentence structures and verbs in the present, past and future tenses; they will further develop their abilities to use sequences of tenses, including the conditional, to express hypothetical situations and indirect discourse; and they will use the present subjunctive more confidently to build complex sentences. Students continue to expand their use of technology to investigate and present on topics in French and Francophone cultures.

Portuguese A is a novice course designed for students who have not studied Portuguese or who have had limited exposure to the language. The course, conducted mostly in Portuguese, is based on a communicative approach and focuses on listening comprehension and oral production. Students learn idiomatic expressions that facilitate communication and work toward a mastery of introductory grammatical and communicative concepts and conversational skills. In addition, students learn about the rich, diverse and complex culture of Portuguese-speaking countries and communities. The focus on correct pronunciation is a fundamental part of the language and will be emphasized. The textbook and its online resources promote speaking proficiency and overall language acquisition through a wide array of resources needed to communicate in real-life situations. Knowledge and understanding of Spanish is helpful but it is not required.

Portuguese B is an emergent intermediate course designed for students who have studied some Portuguese or have had some exposure to the language. The course, conducted mostly in Portuguese, is based on a communicative approach and focuses on listening comprehension and oral production. Students learn idiomatic expressions that facilitate communication and work toward a mastery of grammatical concepts and conversational skills. The textbook and its online resources promote speaking proficiency and overall language acquisition through a wide array of resources needed to communicate in real-life situations. Students further develop their listening, speaking, writing and reading skills in Portuguese, with added emphasis on both writing and reading. Students practice the use of the most common verbs in past, present and future tenses. Students learn to develop and gain, through simple reading selections, knowledge about the rich, diverse and complex culture of Portuguese-speaking countries and communities. Knowledge and understanding of Spanish is helpful but it is not required.

Portuguese C is a course for students who have studied Portuguese previously or have had consistent exposure to the language. The course continues developing communication skills so that, by the end of the course, students can express themselves with confidence, fluency and accuracy in the most common, everyday situations at the intermediate level. The course emphasizes all linguistic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) with a particular focus on conversational skills, continued vocabulary development, reading and interpreting more sophisticated texts and writing more meaningful and analytic texts. At the conclusion of the course, students are able to communicate effectively using sentence structures and verbs in all of the tenses of the indicative mood, as well as the present subjunctive. Students use technology and other resources to give in-class oral presentations whose focus on the Lusophone cultures is exhibited through readings, videos and online work.

This course focuses on the further development of communication skills from the Portuguese  C course, with a particular focus on reading and writing. Students acquire more sophisticated grammatical structures that allow them to read texts of greater difficulty and to write texts that satisfy a more complex range of communication needs. Meanwhile, students continue to develop their listening and speaking skills in Portuguese in order to demonstrate both quantity and quality of language production at the intermediate level. At the conclusion of the course, students have reinforced their abilities to communicate accurately using sentence structures and verbs in the present, past and future tenses; they will further develop their abilities to use sequences of tenses, including the conditional, to express hypothetical situations and indirect discourse; and they will use the present subjunctive more confidently to build complex sentences. Students continue to expand their use of technology to investigate and present on topics in Brazilian and Lusophone cultures.

Spanish A is a novice course designed for students who have not studied Spanish or who have had limited exposure to the language. The course, conducted mostly in Spanish, is based on a communicative approach and focuses on listening comprehension and oral production. Students learn idiomatic expressions that facilitate communication and work towards a mastery of introductory grammatical concepts and conversational skills. Students acquire basic knowledge of the present tense of the indicative mood and practice correct usage and pronunciation throughout the academic year. In addition, students learn about the rich, diverse and complex culture of Spanish-speaking countries and communities. The textbook and its online resources promote speaking proficiency and overall language acquisition through exposure to the vocabulary and basic grammar concepts needed to communicate in real-life everyday situations.

Spanish B is a novice-high level course for students who have already had a basic level of exposure to the language. The course, conducted mostly in Spanish, further refines students' listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. The communicative approach of this course is reinforced by the textbook and its digital components. The course begins with a thorough review of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammatical concepts. During the second semester, students expand upon foundational skills by focusing on accuracy as well as fluency. As the course progresses, students' capacity to understand, speak, read and write in Spanish evolves from novice tasks to include intermediate level situations and themes.

Spanish C is an intermediate-low level course for students who have already developed some proficiency in the language. This course emphasizes the development of language proficiency at the intermediate level across all linguistic skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. The textbook and its digital components promote a communicative approach to language acquisition focusing on the development of oral proficiency, grammatical accuracy, cultural competence and extensive vocabulary, as well as more complex written structures and verb conjugations in the indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods. This course, conducted entirely in Spanish, provides students with an array of opportunities to communicate effectively and accurately, and to read and write at an intermediate level of proficiency. An important objective of this course is to enable students to learn more about the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world through discussions, projects and interactive class activities. The readings expand the student's active vocabulary and serve as a basic introduction to the study of literature.

Spanish D is an intermediate-mid level course for students who have had significant exposure to the language and may already possess a high level of oral and listening proficiency. The course is conducted entirely in Spanish. It aims to review, refine and enhance reading and writing proficiency within a communicative and cultural approach. Emphasis is given to natural and fluent self-expression, precision in writing, critical-thinking skills, reading comprehension, and sensibility and understanding of the rich diversity of Spanish-speaking cultures and communities. The major goal of the class is to promote accuracy in speaking and writing while continuing the development of the students' abilities in intercultural communication as well as their reading comprehension skills. Students further develop oral-production skills by regularly practicing formal presentational speaking tasks. Throughout the year, the students' vocabulary increases to include more sophisticated and specialized words, as well as synonyms, cognates and formal expressions. The course requires active oral participation and thorough preparation before class. The textbook and its digital components expose students to higher-level readings, listening comprehension exercises and more complex grammatical structures.

Spanish E is an intermediate-high level course for students who have successfully completed Spanish D. In this course, conducted entirely in Spanish, students further refine and enhance their overall linguistic skills. The course is framed within a communicative and cultural approach. Spanish E is organized around the themes of beauty and aesthetics, contemporary life, families and communities, global challenges, personal and public identities, and science and technology. In this course, students begin to familiarize themselves with the different types of exercises found on the AP Spanish Language exam, and they acquire the essential vocabulary needed to express themselves accurately about those topics. Students also learn to analyze various literary texts, have student-centered conversations and oral debates in the target language, and write informational and argumentative essays.

AP Spanish Language and Culture is the highest level offered at the middle school for students who have successfully completed Spanish E. This course refines the students’ use of spoken and written interpersonal modes of communication. In addition, students further develop their interpretive skills in listening and reading. The course consists of formal and informal oral presentations, in-class discussions, debates and writing tasks (poems, essays, advertisements, letters and emails). On a daily basis students practice their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills while learning more advanced vocabulary, grammatical structures and cultural concepts. Students are exposed to authentic materials as they acquire the tools that enable them to express themselves fluently in Spanish on a variety of relevant topics and current issues, such as families and communities, global challenges, science and technology, contemporary life, beauty and aesthetics, and personal and public identities. At the end of the course, students are prepared to take the AP Spanish Language and Culture Exam.