NOTRE DAME HIGH SCHOOL BELMONT

Academics

World Languages

Philosphy

The World Languages Department endeavors to encourage discovery of new cultures and their languages and to foster creative and critical thinking about people throughout the world. With the development of new insights, it is hoped that a student will come to responsible non-prejudicial acceptance of others. By developing and concentrating on the four skills of reading, listening, writing and speaking, students will be able to communicate effectively with native speakers of the foreign language.

Our Essential Standards

  1. Students will engage in oral expression, listening comprehension and reading comprehension, through conversations, providing and obtaining information, expressing feelings and emotions and exchanging opinions, as well as understanding and interpreting both written and spoken language on a variety of topics.
  2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices, products, and perspectives of the culture studied. Cultural practices refer to patterns of behavior accepted by a society and deal with aspects of culture such as rites of passage, the use of forms of discourse, the social "pecking order", and the use of space. Products may be both tangible (paintings, works of literature, chopsticks, etc.) and intangible (oral tradition, dance, sacred ritual, system of education, etc.) and reflect the underlying values and beliefs of the culture.
  3. Students will reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the learning of a foreign language and recognize distinctive viewpoints specific only to the foreign language and its culture.
  4. Students will demonstrate further understanding of the foreign language by comparing the language studied with their native language. The comparisons enable students to enhance their understanding of cultural practices and grammatical structures in both languages.
  5. Students will use the language both within and beyond the school setting and show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment. The use of the newly acquired language outside the classroom enables students to access and enjoy cultural experiences that will engage them in further understanding and study of the language.

9th Grade World Languages

Placement tests are administered in early spring to insure that the students begin at a level appropriate to their background. Girls who come from homes where Spanish or French is spoken are required to take the placement test given to incoming students in April. Girls who have previously studied their language of choice and hope to be placed at the second or third year level are strongly encouraged to take the placement test given to incoming students in April.