Are you looking to learn a new language or improve your current skills? Schools in Brooklyn, New York offer a variety of foreign language classes for all levels. Whether you're in business, construction, law, or any of the health professions, proficiency in a foreign language will make you competitive in New York City. Berkeley Carroll believes that contact with other cultures and learning languages, in addition to English, are fundamental to its mission to help students become global thinkers. In high school, students can study Spanish, French, or Latin, or some combination.
About a quarter of students choose to study two languages. High school students can also learn Mandarin through a small, individualized program, or Arabic through an online program offered by the Johns Hopkins Center for talented youth. Academic travel opportunities to study at the Ithaca Institute in Granada (Spain) and at the Centre Mediterranéen d'Etudes Françaises in Cap d'Ail (France) provide advanced students with the finishing touch of their language studies at Berkeley Carroll. These experiences foster a deep respect and interest in foreign and ancient cultures, and help to create an open-minded climate about global learning.
Starting in the ninth grade, students are grouped according to their level of proficiency, meaning that many language classes have students from various grades and that students can progress as much as their interests and language proficiency allow them. Higher level electives not only involve conversational fluency, but they also allow students to choose topics and content that interest them especially. In this intermediate to advanced level course, students integrate language, literature, and film to help them develop their communication skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) and, at the same time, acquire in-depth cultural and historical knowledge. Immigration from Latin America to the United States and the corresponding growth of the Latino population in New York City are two vital events in recent history.
Students develop and perfect their ability to express themselves in writing, as they also gain confidence and fluency in speaking the language. Students will also practice the language in simulated real-life situations and perform mini-plays in class. Those who wish to continue studying a foreign language that they started in high school must follow certain guidelines to register. Students who have completed a year or less of language study in high school normally enroll in level 1 at Brooklyn College.
In this course, for those who have achieved a basic level of understanding of Spanish I topics, they expand their knowledge of the Spanish language and move towards expression in a more complex, meaningful and idiomatic way. Learners can begin studying a language at Brooklyn College or continue studying a foreign language that they started in high school.
