The Grier School offers a superb setting for the study of foreign languages. Our international student population serves as a daily reminder for American students that foreign language study is valuable in the global village of the modern world. Our language department offers four years of study in Spanish or French and three in Chinese.
Spanish
Spanish I
Students learn Spanish through audio and visual instruction, an interactive web site, reading, writing, and by speaking the language in class. Geography and cultural issues are interlaced with language basics to create diversity and to broaden their knowledge of the Hispanic world. The students are able to carry on a basic conversation with any adult or peer in the present and past tenses. This course is also offered as an Honors class.
Spanish II
A continued program of audio/visual aides, reading, writing, interactive web sites and programs, plus continued speaking of the language in class enables the student to be able to hold an extended conversation about general topics with any adult or peer. Interest in the culture is nurtured through films, books, and other media. Students continue to add vocabulary as well as many new verb forms to their knowledge of Spanish. This course is also offered on the Honors level.
Spanish III
Audio/Visual aides, interactive computer programs, reading, writing and conversation will continue to help build fluency. The introduction of novels and Spanish language videos will build vocabulary and stimulate conversation. Students will be able to carry on an in depth conversation with adults or peers.
Spanish IV
Students master grammatical forms and are expected to be fluent enough to converse with native speakers of Spanish about general topics. Literature includes mysteries, novels, short stories and magazines. The curriculum incorporates reading, writing, conversation and cultural lessons.
A.P. Spanish Language
The AP Spanish Language course is comparable to an advanced level (5th and 6th-semester or the equivalent) college Spanish language course. Emphasizing the use of Spanish for active communication, it encompasses aural/oral skills, reading comprehension, grammar, and composition. The course objectives are to help students understand Spanish spoken by native speakers at a natural pace, with a variety of regional pronunciations, in both informal (interpersonal) and formal (presentational) contexts; to develop an active vocabulary sufficient for reading newspaper and magazine articles, contemporary literature, and other non-technical writings (websites, letters and emails, advertisements, signs and instructions) in Spanish without dependence on a dictionary; to express yourself by describing, narrating, inquiring, and developing arguments in Spanish, both orally and in writing, with reasonable fluency, using different strategies for different audiences and communicative contexts. In this course, special emphasis is placed on the use of authentic source materials and the integration of language skills. Therefore, you should receive extensive training in combining listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills in order to demonstrate understanding of authentic Spanish-language source materials. Students will be expected to take the Advanced Placement Examination in May.
French
French I
French I is designed to help students become functional in the language both inside and outside of school and to help them to develop a basic knowledge of everyday French. The class aims at improving the overall French ability of the students and will incorporate Speaking (in French!), Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Grammar, Vocabulary, as well as some Writing. Students are expected to participate actively in class and to use French.
French I Honors
The goals of the French I Honors course is to introduce and promote an appreciation of the language, both spoken and written, as well as the cultural wealth and diversity of the Francophone world. After completing the course, students should possess a basic vocabulary, should be able to conduct everyday conversations, have a general concept of the grammatical structures of French, and be familiar with the French-speaking countries of the world.
French II
French II class is designed to help students become functional in the language both inside and outside of school and to help them to develop and reinforce their overall language skills acquired in French I. The class aims at improving the overall French ability of the students and will incorporate Speaking (in French!), Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Grammar, Vocabulary, as well as some Writing. Students are expected to participate actively in class and to use French!
French II Honors
The goal of the Honors French II course is to review the basic French concepts students acquired in Honors French I and to introduce new grammar structures. In addition, students will also be exposed to the French-speaking world and its various cultures. By the end of the year, students will be able to communicate about many topics including travel, ordering food, talking about past habitual/routine actions, and shopping in French-speaking countries. The class integrates all four main language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. It is expected that students in Honors French II will move at a faster pace and therefore will cover more material than their counterparts in regular French II.
French III
French III class is designed to help students become functional/near-fluent in the language both inside and outside of school and to help them to develop and reinforce their overall language skills acquired in French I and II. Once again, this class aims at improving the overall French ability of the students and will incorporate Speaking (in French!), Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Grammar, Vocabulary, as well as more Writing than in the lower levels. As always, students are expected to participate actively in class and to use, at this level, French almost exclusively!
French IV
French IV class is designed to help students reach fluency in the French language and to help them to reinforce their overall language skills acquired in French I, II and III. Once again, this class aims at improving the overall French ability of the students and will incorporate Speaking (in French!), Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Grammar, Vocabulary, as well as more Writing than in the lower levels. As always, students are expected to participate actively in class and to use, at this level, French almost exclusively!
A.P. French Language
The Advanced Placement French Language course is a specialized class designed for those students who have successfully completed Level IV French. Students should have demonstrated competence in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, as well as a fundamental knowledge of the culture of French-speaking peoples. Students will continue to explore the literature and culture of the Francophone world through film, drama, poetry, and group projects. Students will be expected to take the Advanced Placement Examination in May..
Chinese
Chinese I
This course is for students with little or no background in Chinese language. The emphasis of class work will be equally on listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students will master basic conversation and composition, and will learn approximately 250 characters.
Chinese II
Students must have approximately one year of experience learning Chinese for this class. The emphasis of class work will be equally on listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students are taught oral and written expression and comprehension, to deal with specific topics in daily life. Around 250 additional Chinese characters will be added to the students vocabularies over the course of the year.
Chinese III
This course is designed for students who have taken the equivalent of two or more years of Chinese in high school. Through extensive reading and writing in both Chinese characters and pinyin, conversation drills, listening exercises, daily homework and regular tests, students will advance their level of Chinese while simultaneously preparing to take the SAT II Subject Test in Chinese. This course will be both grammar intensive and culturally informative, with students reading actual Chinese literature, including classical poems and tales, as well as contemporary material, and studying various aspects of contemporary China. Prerequisite: Chinese II
Faculty
Francois "Frank" J. Lambert was born and grew up in Montreal, Canada. He earned a B.A. in 1982 at Middlebury College in Vermont with a double major of Italian and Art History. During his time at Middlebury, he spent his junior year at the University of Florence in Italy. He later earned his M.A. in Italian and European Languages from the University of California at Berkeley in 1984.He then set out on the road for 25 months, became a backpacker, and discovered an appetite for overseas living, which led him to accept a teaching position (ESL/French) in Seoul, Korea. He spent a total of nine years there, met his wife Yong Sook, and started a family consisting of daughter Francesca and son Niko. He obtained his T.E.F.L. certificate in 1991 from the Scottish Learning Centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has taught a variety of classes in several languages, including AP French and TOEFL preparation classes. Mr. Lambert, his wife and family have most recently travelled to the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand. He was selected to be part of a team of language teachers chosen to climb 6000 meter high Mount Therpa in Nepal in 1998.
Frank joined the teaching staff at The Grier School in 1999 and has since taught ESL, French, Spanish, Introduction to Language/Linguistics and A.P. Art History. He leads an annual two-week spring break trip to Paris for groups of Grier students. He loves the natural beauty of the campus here, the abundant wildlife, but most importantly, the cultural diversity of the students which allows him to indulge his wanderlust while at home in Pennsylvania.
Kim Silverman holds a B.F.A. Stephens College, and is pursuing a M.Ed from St. Francis University. Kim teaches Spanish I-III, Pyschology and Theatre Arts.
Kimberly Brennan grew up in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. She earned her B.A. in French from Saint Francis University. During her college career, Kim also spent a semester abroad studying French in Paris and participated in a summer immersion program at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi. She teaches French I-IV.
Lucas Ledbetter grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He earned a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Ethnomsicology and Modern Languages from the Friends World Program (now Global College) of Long Island University in 2004. His studies included language study at lUniversite de Bourgogne in Dijon, France in 2000; language and cultural studies at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China while on a National Security Education Program Undergraduate Scholarship from the Pentagon in 2000-2001; and studies in South Indian classical music in Bangalore, India in 2002.
He then began a graduate program in 2004 at the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan, where he concentrated on modern and ancient Chinese history, and was awarded a Republic of China Ministry of Education Fellowship to study modern and classical Chinese at the International Chinese Language Program of National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan for the year of 2006. He is currently finishing his Masters thesis on Confucian philosophies of ritual performance, and is teaching Chinese I, II, and III as well as an Introduction to Economics at the Grier School.
