All HHS students take Spanish instruction twice a week during regular instruction time. Moreover, a selected number of children also take Mandarin instruction during a special after-school program. Our Foreign Language program is offered in partnership with Global Language Project an innovative educational movement that seeks to equip public-school students with the skills to compete in a globalized world and work force through a curriculum that emphasizes traditional and experiential learning. We offer foreign language instruction because it has been proven to
- Develop functional proficiency in a language other than English
- Emphasize speaking and comprehension
- Enhance reading abilities in both English and the target language
- Increase overall cognitive skills
- Promote and cultivate awareness and appreciation of multilingual cultures
Our teachers support language proficiency development with games, songs and creative activities that bring each student to the next level of proficiency no matter what his or her starting level.
The video below features a class at HHS involved in the GLP Mandarin program.