PHILOSOPHY OF GCS LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT   

      The purpose of second language education is to prepare young people to become culturally sensitive and communicatively competent travelers, students, and/or future workers in other societies and cultures in the world, to interact positively and more effectively with the culturally diverse peoples of this country and of the world.   

      The philosophy of The Grace Church School Language Department is to instill in our students a desire to continue with language study in the future and to give them the tools necessary to further their language study successfully as well as to compete competitively with students from other schools around the nation in the framework of the New National Standards for Language Education.  

      By employing a multitude of different techniques founded in years of research about language teaching methodologies we strive to create a personal connection between a given language and culture and each student.   Each teacher may choose a slightly different way of presenting material, monitoring success and inspiring students yet our main focus is that language must have personal meaning for the learner—it must be communication based.

       At the end of their chosen language sequence, we expect that students will continue their study of a second language with confidence and proficiency. They will also be better equipped to understand the political, social and economic differences that separate countries and form distinctive cultures, as well as gain a more in-depth knowledge about their own culture. A particular culture's language is seen as a large part, but only a part, of this deeper knowledge about other civilizations. Providing a strong foundation or base in vocabulary and specific grammatical rules will enable students to perform well on high school language placement examinations and in language classrooms across the nation.

    We are dedicated to providing a positive, interesting and exciting framework within which students can learn in various ways and will have successful first language experiences. Because learning another language is a long journey, and eventual fluency in it is a life's work, we hope to foster a desire in students to want to learn, to push forward and to continue with language study.