Languages, Literature and Culture

We speak our world into being. We speak our world and listen to its echo reflected to us in turn in the speaking of another. We write our world as art in word and read the art of others’ writing and discover there a world much like our own.

~  Oral Expression

~  Principles of Grammar

~  Composition

~  Reading Texts

Sparhawk middle school offers modern language instruction in Italian and Spanish. Classes are richly interactive and simulate, to the greatest degree possible, an immersion experience. The four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are emphasized in an organic fashion, i.e., in the natural order of skill acquisition. Students are encouraged to hone their listening and speaking skills first and, over time, to read and write at ever higher levels of ease and fluency.

We celebrate living with and through language, and we encourage our students to pursue their studies dynamically. Through diligence and dedication to class time experiences, Sparhawk students come to appreciate the many lenses that  multilingualism provides. In addition, multilingualism is an everyday component of the Sparhawk School experience. Many of our faculty and staff were born outside the USA or have lived abroad. They, and our foreign exchange students, share their various experiences generously with others, and thereby deepen the cultural understanding of all members of our community.

In accord with a European model, students, having mastered the fundamentals of their first language of choice, may, in high school, begin the study of additional ones. We are preparing Sparhawk graduates to live successfully in, and contribute to, an increasingly complex world, a world that requires a deeply multicultural perspective.

Classical Languages: Ancient Greek & Latin

Romance Languages: Italian, French & Spanish

Classical Culture Series